Thoughts on Theses: Meenakshi Jani

Meenakshi Jani (she/her) is an environmental studies and history major writing a thesis about colonial forestry in India and the Philippines. Her thesis looks into the role of forest officers and forest department employees in the larger colonial project in these places.

Thoughts on Theses: Melanie Schwimmer

Melanie Schwimmer is an American studies major who is writing a thesis on fatness and fatphobia throughout history. Her thesis advisor is L. Stanton Williams 1941 Professor of American Studies and English Karen J. Sánchez-Eppeler.

Thoughts on Theses: Anna Buswell

Anna Buswell is a music and psychology double major who is writing a thesis in each department. Her psychology thesis examines how children evaluate other people, and her music thesis delves into Christian passion music.

Thoughts on Theses: Renee Rosenkilde

Renee Rosenkilde is a biology major whose prospective thesis title is “Character Displacement in Vegetative Traits of Impatiens capensis and Impatiens pallida.” Her thesis advisor is Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Ethan Temeles, and her research partner is Ella Rose ’23.

Thoughts on Theses: Max Hoffman

Max Hoffman is a chemistry major. His thesis looks at the computational modeling of excited nanocrystals. His thesis advisor is Professor of Chemistry Jacob Olshansky.

Thoughts on Theses: Tim Song

Tim Song is a neuroscience and music double major. His thesis looks at how K-pop affects mental health and Asian American identity. His thesis advisor is Professor of Music Jeffers Engelhardt.

Thoughts on Theses: Lena Lamer

Lena Lamer is a Film and Media Studies (FAMS) major. Her thesis looks at scent as an underdeveloped and generally divisive sensory component of film and television. Her thesis advisors are Professors of English in Film and Media Studies Amelie Hastie and Joshua Guilford.

Thoughts on Theses: Lianbi Ji

Lianbi Ji is an English and mathematics double major who wrote theses in both subjects. Her English thesis focused on the writings of the Chinese writer Lu Xun, and her math thesis studied elliptic curves. She also has a passion for education — having volunteered to teach in China, India and the U.S., she is currently a Math Fellow for “Introduction to Analysis” and an aspiring math teacher. Q: What are your thesis topics? A: My English thesis is titled “Translation as a Mode of Thought: Non-T

Thoughts on Theses: James Logan

James Logan is a graduating senior writing a physics thesis. A double major in physics and mathematics, he is also a member of Spectra, the college’s  physics and astronomy club, and will be attending Dartmouth College for graduate studies in physics. His advisor is Chair of Physics Jonathan Friedman. Q: When did you decide on your majors, and what led to that decision? A: Back in high school was when I really got interested in physics. My junior year, I had a great teacher for my first physi

Thoughts on Theses: Yusrah Kaudeer

Yusrah Kaudeer ’21 is a chemistry and math double major from Mauritius. Her thesis investigates alpha-crystallin: a protein in the eye whose malfunctioning causes cataracts. Kaudeer has investigated this protein since her first year at the college and is advised by Amanda and Lisa Cross Professor of Chemistry Patricia B. O’Hara. Kaudeer will be continuing her research in graduate school at CalTech. Q: Can you give me a timeline of your academic journey thus far? A: For my freshman and sophomor

Thoughts on Theses: Jackson Lee

Jackson Lee is a film and media studies major. For his thesis, he wrote, casted and directed a film set in the city of Hong Kong. His thesis advisor is Elliot Montague, a visiting lecturer in Film Media Theater at Mount Holyoke College. Q: What is your thesis about? A: Sure. So I’m doing a thesis in film and media studies (FAMS). Usually FAMS theses consist of a creative component and a critical component — the creative component usually being kind of a film or some other project and a critica

Thoughts on Theses: Andrew Swenson

Q: What is your thesis about? A: My thesis is at the intersection of urban economics and industrial organization economics. What it’s looking at is competition between landowners who own retail centers. It’s essentially thinking about how the landowners’ choice[s] of retailers within the centers affect each other. At the start of [brainstorming for] my thesis, I identified two effects that the number of retailers within a center can have. The first [is that] if you have more retailers within yo

Thoughts on Theses: Samuel Grondin ’21

Samuel Grondin ’21 is a biochemistry and biophysics major. He is writing a thesis on the discovery of small and previously unknown proteins in the bacteria pseudomonas aeruginosa, which could prove crucial in fighting hospital-acquired infections. His thesis advisor is Assistant Professor of Biology Mona Wu Orr. Q: What is your thesis about? A: I work in [Assistant Professor of Biology] Mona Wu Orr’s lab. She’s one of the new biochemistry professors this year. My thesis is on pseudomonas aeru

Thoughts on Theses: Vivian Cordon

Vivian Cordon ’21 is a double major in economics and law, jurisprudence and social thought (LJST), for which she is writing a thesis with Senior Lecturer in LJST David Delaney. Her thesis is about sanctuary cities and how Americans find identity within their cities and nation. Q: Can you describe your thesis? A: I’m writing a [Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought] LJST thesis. It’s on sanctuary cities and legal imaginaries, which essentially means ‘how do people imagine law.’ [It’s about] h

Thoughts on Theses: Ben Gilsdorf

Ben Gilsdorf is a history major. He is writing his thesis on the history of voting rights in Hawaii. His thesis advisor is Professor of History and Environmental Studies Ted Melillo. Q: What is your thesis about? A: Broadly, I’m looking at the history of voting rights in Hawaii and how it relates to U.S. colonialism, specifically looking first at the way in which democracy and voting rights [were] conceived in the 19th century as a way for the U.S. colonizers to legitimate their presence in g

Thoughts on Thesis: William Balmer '21

William Balmer ’21 (they/them/theirs) is an astronomy and physics double major. They are writing their thesis on the astrometry of an object forming within the accretion disc of a larger, forming star. Their thesis advisor is Assistant Professor of Astronomy Kate Follette. Balmer next to a telescope used for their research. Photo courtesy of William Balmer ’21.Q: What is your thesis about? A: My thesis is about trying to measure a lot of the properties of a very young and very small star. So,

Thoughts on Theses: Abigail Offei-Addo

Photo Courtesy of Abigail Offei-Addo ’21.Abigail Offei-Addo ’21 is an English major. She is writing her thesis on the adaptable nature of webtoons, a digital comic that originated in South Korea. Her thesis advisor is Visiting Assistant Professor of English Amanda Henrichs. Q: What is your thesis about? A: My English thesis is on webtoons, a form of graphic narrative which started in South Korea in the early 2000s. In the last 10 years they have gained huge popularity abroad, and a lot of them