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Academics

Senior Thesis

The Senior Thesis represents the culmination of a Haverford student’s academic experience, and is one of the most important and rewarding ways that Haverford realizes its educational mission. It is an opportunity to do original research at levels usually reserved for graduate students, in partnership with faculty mentors. Haverford College is one of a very few institutions in the country that includes a Senior Thesis project as part of every student’s academic program.

Students become true scholars, and come to understand at a deep and practical level what it takes to create knowledge and to seek answers to challenging questions. In turn, they become more effective and influential agents for change in whatever field they choose.

What They Learned

A series exploring the thesis work of recent graduates. Read more on the Haverblog

  • Presenting a Theatrical Thesis
    Rory Kennison, the authorRory Kennison ’18 wrote a two-act play for his independent theater major thesis, and with the help of seven student actors, presented his production as a poignant staged reading.
  • What They Learned: Alana Tartaro’17
    The psychology major, who also minored in environmental studies, used her thesis to explore the role hope plays in environmental activism.
  • What They Learned: Grace Thiele ’17
    Grace Thiele '17 works in Lou Charkoudian's labThe research that the chemistry major conducted for her thesis contributed to a paper she co-authored with her advisor and other Fords that was recently published in the American Chemical Society journal Biochemistry.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Natasha Daviduke ’17
    The political science major and education major wanted to understand how to fix the problem of persistent school segregation, so she conducted a policy analysis of two different socioeconomic, status-based school integration methods.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Rebecca Miller ’17
    For her thesis, the mathematics major explored how statistics are used (and can potentially be misused) in legal proceedings.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Hannah Weissman ’17
    The classical culture and society major sought to understand a modern comic masterpiece through the lens of Homeric epics.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Zoë Lewis ’17
    Inspired by endangered species from her home state, the fine arts major made paper lithographs of animals on colorful graphic backgrounds for her thesis exhibition.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Abigail Corcoran ’17
    The history major was inspired by diaries she found in Quaker and Special Collections to craft a thesis on the transition to womanhood in mid-19th century Philadelphia Quaker communities.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Malia Wenny ’17
    The chemistry major and environmental science minor used machine learning to search for compounds that could most efficiently function in solar cells.
  • WHAT THEY LEARNED: Matthew Abruzzo ’17
    The astrophysics major simulated galaxy formations to test the efficacy of galaxy merger detection methods.