CMC gives yearly awards for the best theses. Search on the award title in quotes will result in a list of the award winning theses:
- Best Senior Thesis in Biological Sciences
- Best Senior Thesis in Environment, Economics, and Politics
- Best Senior Thesis in French
- Best Senior Thesis in Gender Studies
- Best Senior Thesis in Government
- Best Senior Thesis in History
- Best Senior Thesis in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- Best Senior Thesis in International Relations
- Best Senior Thesis in Literature
- Best Senior Thesis in Mathematical Sciences
- Best Senior Thesis in Military Science
- Best Senior Thesis in Modern Languages and Literatures
- Best Senior Thesis in Neuroscience
- Best Senior Thesis in Philosophy
- Best Senior Thesis in Psychology
- Best Senior Thesis in Psychological Sciences
- Best Senior Thesis in Public Policy
- Best Senior Thesis in Religious Studies
- Best Senior Thesis in Science Management
- Best Senior Thesis in Spanish
- Robert Day School Prize for Best Senior Thesis in Economics and Finance
- Robert Day School Prize for Best Senior Thesis in Economics (Accounting) and Finance
- Robert Day School Prize for Best Senior Thesis in Finance
- Fulbright Fellowship
Please NOTE the theses in this collection are Undergraduate Senior Theses completed by Senior Undergraduate students who have received a bachelor's degree. Many are made Openly Accessible at the request of the Author. Some authors have chosen to keep their These closed to the current faculty, students, and staff of the Claremont Colleges. If you are not a current member and cannot download, note that we cannot provide you access to the Theses.
Senior Theses from 2026
Small Farms, Big Problems: Climate Adaptation Policy and Smallholder Vulnerability in the Mountain West, Katherine M. Galindo
The Aporia of Divinity: Hegel's Metaphysics in Conversation with Spinoza and Schelling, Abhinav Ganesh
EMG and Gait Changes in Older Adults During Dual Task Walking, Gabriel J. Gangi-Saroukhanioff
Beyond Guns and Butter: Structural Fiscal Priorities and the Politics of Welfare in OECD Economies, 2000-2023, Nyassa Garg
Hidden Fragility: Leveraged Loan Risk and Tail Exposure in the CLO 2.0 Era, Francis P. Gehring IV
The Impact of ASU 2023-08 on Reported Profitability of Cryptocurrency-Exposed Firms, William C. Graff
Goods, Practices, Excellence, and the Law: Steps to an Internal Theory of Value, Rowan Gray
The Disease Locke Spread — And the Cure He Inspired: Prescribing Specificity to Restore Indigenous Land Ownership Rights, Eva Marie Gregory
Controlling the Risks of Artificial Intelligence: A Comparison of European Union, Chinese and American Legal Frameworks and with a Proposed New Model, Adam Guggenheim
Macroeconomic Resilience and Sentiment Dynamics in the Global Luxury Fashion Industry, Mehr Gupta
Endometrial Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Possible Driver of Inflammation in Endometriosis, Elizabeth Gutierrez
Lessons Unlearned: Cultural Competence and the Limits of U.S. Army Doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kylie W. Ha
Why Dining Out Stayed Cheap in Japan, Taketo Hayashi
Does Forecast Complexity Pay? Evaluating Machine Learning Models in Realistic Implementation Conditions, Blaise J. Heher
Ancestral Resistance: Women and LGBTTI+ Lenca Activism Against Extractivist Projects, Stephanie Hernandez
The Effect of Burn History on Nocturnal Avian Communities in Southern California Montane Chaparral, Aaron Herst
Emotional Intelligence in Effective Leadership, Shelby Honda
Volatility Modeling with an Application to Risk Parity Portfolios, Kenneth Hou
Suboptimal Exercise and Portfolio Performance in Covered Call Writing, Michael B. Houk
Transformed, Not Resolved: Ethnic Federalism and the Politics of Conflict in Ethiopia, Melayae L. Houser
Hahai Nō ka Ua i ka Ululāʻau: A Proposed Study on the Impacts of Invasion on Forest Infiltration Capacity in Hawaiʻi, Carol Hutchison
Revisionist Political Coalitions, Queering, and the Transmission of Violence, Tom Y. Inouye
Policy Recommendations to Reduce False Confessions by Juveniles in Wrongful Conviction Cases, Rohit R. Iyer
Microbial Community Structure in Global Soils, Matthew Jabro
Too Much of a Good Thing? Generic Entry, Drug Prices, and the Innovation Tradeoff, Kiara Jacob
Estimating Risk in Early-Stage Venture Capital: A Real Options Approach, Luke H. Jacobson
Legalized Backsliding: Constitutional Emergency Powers and the Undermining of Democracy in Bangladesh, Tanzila Jamal
A Clean Break? Chinese Green Industrial Investment and Domestic Value Capture in the Global South, Arlo Jay
From Collective Punishment to Collective Action, Samuel N. Johnson-Saeger
Determinants and Consequences of Corporate Spin-Offs: Evidence from U.S. Public Firms, 1990–2025, Ryder D. Jones
Short-Window Market Reactions to Real Estate M&A: A Comparative Event Study of REITs and Real Estate Services Firms, Aryan Kaila
Developing Livelihoods: A Comparative Analysis of Bank-Based Microfinance Institutions for Women in Gujarat, Parishi C. Kanuga
Converging, But Not Together: Regional Growth after EU Enlargement, Armine Kardashyan
No Self, Not Spiral: Attribution and Regret in Venture and Retail Investing, Jian Ke
Politics of a Silent Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance and State Capacity in India and Nigeria, Mia Kelly
From Seed to Series A: Founder Signals, Bayesian Screening, and Venture Financing, Mehrin S. Khan
Moving Toward a People’s Transportation Plan: A Look at Community-Catalyzed Planning in Los Angeles, Jiyeon Kim
Lipid Metabolic Reprogramming Confers Cellular Resilience With Insights Into Neurodegeneration, Kaitlyn Kong
Testing the Governance Premium: Board Gender Diversity and Crisis-Period Returns During the Pandemic, Rhea Kulkarni
Moving the Goalposts: Saudi Arabia, Football, and the Changing Rules of Global Legitimacy, Sanskriti S. Kumar
Why We Can’t “Get Over It”: Offense and the Moral Limits of Epistocracy, Yui Kurosawa
A (Re)Working of Alcoholics Anonymous: Agency, Community, and Spirit, Louis Layman
The Price of Feeling: How K-pop and Western Stars Monetize Intimacy, Esther Lee
Two Essays on COVID-19: The Impact of Booster Access Restrictions and Therapeutic Binding Dynamics, Kaia Lee-Guest
A Reevaluation of South Korea’s Economic Rise: The Defense Industrial Base, Timothy Lee
School Reopenings and ADHD Medication Utilization: Evidence from COVID-19 Policy Variation, Madeline C. Levey
Interpretable Sample Uncertainty Measures for Ranked-Choice Election Polls, Jason Liang
The Dark Web: Governance Failure or Structural Outcome?, Ethan Ligon
Venture Capital Investment as a Leading Indicator of Economic Growth, Jaden B. Lind
Attention and Technical Analysis: State‑Dependent Predictability of CNN‑Based Stock Return Forecasts, Crystal Y. Ma
Market Reactions to Software M&A: Cross-Border vs. Domestic Evidence, Aaryan Magan
Has Liberalism Failed? Analyzing the New Right’s Critique of Liberalism Through Its Historical Arc, Frederick (Gus) G. Mahler
Insider Trading as a Signal of Overvaluation: Evidence from AI and Non-AI Firms, Shaan Malik
Section 232 Tariffs and U.S. Manufacturing Employment: A Shift-Share Analysis, Jason Malley
MetricPath: Cultivating better health habits through research based metrics in heavy terminal users, Kevin Steven Marin
Using Digital Art to Understand Expertise and the Reorganization of Neural Representations, Winnie Mauto
The Influence of Injury Stimuli on Stress Levels in Female Rugby Players Post Injury., Hannah L. Maycock Miss
Understanding How Exercise Affects Gut Microbiome Composition and Cognitive Decline, Mackenzie Mayfield
Ruby Red Gem State: How Idaho Became a Republican Stronghold, Malia McColl
Revenge of the Interceptors? The DOD, Congress, and the Return of Space-Based Missile Defense during Trump 45, Chad McElroy
Constitutional Rights, Human Dignity, and the American Dream: A Historical Analysis of U.S. Immigration Policy After 9/11, Shelby McIlroy
Gender and Corporate Finance Decisions: Evidence from CEO, CFO, and Board Representation in S&P 500 Firms., Brooke R. McKee
Eurovision as a Platform for Cultural Diplomacy in Times of Conflict, Lucy Meza
The Uncanny Unconscious of AI: ChatGPT as the Modern Double, Bella Milano
From Dred Scott to Barbara: Birthright citizenship, racial exclusion, and the enduring promise of the Fourteenth Amendment, Jenna A. Milbrodt
Intermittent High-Fat, High-Sugar Access During Adolescence Drives Binge-Restriction Feeding and Reduced Weight Gain in a Food Unpredictability Model, Calvin G. Miller
Abnormal Returns Associated with AI Disclosures in Earnings Reports of S&P 500 Firms (2022-2024), Grace Minturn
A Comparative Analysis of Islamic Banks vs. Conventional Banks, Aadil Mohamed
David vs. the Propaganda Machine: Péter Magyar and the Disruption of Hungary’s Media Capture, Carrick G. Mollenkamp
The Politics of Russian Regional Development, Claire Moore
Exploration of the Use of Radiocarbon Time-Series Records as Indicators of Upwelling Areas, Rena Reshmi Mukherjee
Beyond Academics: Student Experience Effects of Brazil’s Higher Education Quota System, Leticia Murer de Souza
Behemoth Unbound: An Internal Critique of Carl Schmitt’s Nazi-State Structure, Zaynamin Murtaza
Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks: How Buy Now Pay Later Responds to Consumer Financial Strength, Ryunosuke Nakase
Understanding the Flow: Deconstructing the Link Between Immigrants and Fentanyl, Madeline F. Nesbitt
When Markets Have Mood Swings: A Look at How Personality Shapes Investment Behavior in the Face of Economic Shocks, Tendai M. Nyamuronda
The Tech-Nuclear Renaissance: A New Critical Juncture for American Nuclear Energy Policy, Henry P. Otte
Predicting Private-Like Equity Returns with Machine Learning and Textual Sentiment, Antonis Pappas
Measuring Labor Leverage: The Link Between Labor Structure and Systematic Risk, Enzo Pardo
Undermining Development, Undermining Power: How Gutting USAID Threatens a Safer, Stronger, and More Prosperous United States, annie w. parizeau
Fire Regime History and Post-fire Recovery in Southern California Chaparral: Lessons from the 2020 Bobcat Fire, Ashley Park
Entangled Measurements and Information in Quantum Systems, Joshua Park
On Odorant Receptors in Molecular Progression of Prostate and Small Cell Lung Cancer, Pranav V. Patel
Fading the Hype: Popularity, Media Attention, and ROI on a Retail Player-Prop Platform, Nico Peerenboom
Site-Directed Mutagenesis of Luciferase Enzymes For Engineering of Bioluminescent Probes, Daniel Penaloza
Should Thailand Legalize Prostitution?, Wanqian Peng
Cultural Competency, U.S. National Security, and Foreign Relations, Alexandra M. Perez Pleitez
Furnished Abroad: The Decline of the Domestic Furniture Industry in the United States and the Limitations of Trade Policy, Kody Perry and Minxin Pei
The Jamaica That Dreams: A Normative Application of Developmental Theory, Tamoy Pitt
The Effects of Community Benefit Mandates on Capital Asset Investment: an Application to Non-Profit Hospitals in Illinois, Sophie C. Podeszwa
The Long-Run Labor Market Effects of Deworming: Evidence from Kenya, Sik Wan Poon
Performing Politics Through Enforcement: Immigration Federalism in Texas and California, Juan Pozo
