Scholarly Work

Recent Senior Theses

A greater selection of senior theses can be accessed online via the Student Scholarship section of the Digital Collections Repository at Middlebury.

2023

ANDREWS, Victoria Environmental Policy major
Flags of (In)Convenience: What Illegal Fishing Within Madagascar’s Marine Protected Areas Reveals About Food Sovereignty and Resource Security
Advisor: Mez Baker-Medard

BOWDEN, Aria Environmental Studies-Architecture joint major
Carbon Cobwebs: A Spatial Exploration of Memory Making, Keeping, Weaving
Advisor: Erin Sassin

BROWN, Skylar Environmental Economics major
Public Transportation Access and Transportation Disadvantaged Community Consideration
Advisor: Julia Berazneva

DEVOTO, Clark Henri Environmental Studies-Anthropology joint major Keep Corinth Inconvenient: A Culture Shaped by Landscape in a Small Vermont Hill Town.
Advisor: David Stoll

JUAREZ SERNA, Ivonne Environmental Justice major
Green Gold: The Avocado Agribusiness in Mexico
Advisor: Dan Suarez

KAIDEN, Eva Environmental Literature
The Environmental Impacts of Waste and Fashion at the Turn of the Century Using The House of Mirth as Focal Text
Advisors: Antonia Losano and Daniel Brayton

KROGER, Elizabeth Conservation Biology major
Community-Based Coral Reef Restoration Monitoring in the Caribbean
Advisors: Alexis Mychajliw and Mez Baker-Medard
Video of presentation

OYAGA, Andrés Environmental Justice major
The Power of South to North Exchanges: An auto-ethnography of organizing with the Vermont Agroecology and Movement School
Advisors: Molly Anderson and Mez Baker-Médard 

2022

AMEER, Simone Conservation Biology major
Exploring the relationship between small mammal predators, mice, and Ixodes scapularis ticks in Vermont
Advisor: David Allen

BADALAMENTI, Christina Environmental Economics major
Evaluating the Impacts of Living near Superfund Sites in New York City
Advisor: Julia Berazneva

CALDWELL, Charlie Environmental Studio Art major
Emotional Responses to the Climate Crisis, in Portraiture and
The Blob: Growth from the Decay of Figuration
Advisors: Heimo Wallner and Hedya Klein

HAWKINS, Jackson Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
Ice, Ice Maybe: Investigating the Seasonal Flow and Microclimatic Role of a Talus Field Spring in Wallingford, VT
Advisor: Jeffrey Munroe

KLUETMEIER, CAMRYN Environmental Studies–Geography joint major
An InSAR-based characterization of rock glacier kinematics in the La Sal Mountains, Utah
Advisor: Jeffrey Munroe

LAIRD, Brooke Environmental Studies–Geography joint major
Destruction, Restoration, and Discourse: Exploring Wetland Restoration in the Marshes of Iraq
Advisor: Joseph Holler

LUSK, Shane Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
Finding Foraminifera: Quantitative Analysis of Microfossils to Reconstruct Deep Ocean Carbon Storage
Advisors: William Amidon and Allison Jacobel

SODERSTROM, Elsa Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
Evaluating the Contribution of Local Sources to the Dust Reaching High Mountains in the Southwestern United States
Advisor: William Amidon and Jeffrey Munroe

SOMMERS, Olivia Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment major
Imagining Beyond Apocalypse: Climate Futures, Religion, and Art in the Modern Environmental Movement
Advisor: Rebecca Gould

TOMAS, Nino Environmental Studies–Architecture joint major
Foothills Gallery
Advisor: Benjamin Allred

WERTZ, Connor Environmental Justice major
Sacralizing Sunrise: The Religious Dimensions of the Sunrise Movement’s Metanarrative and Ritualized Practices
Advisor: Rebecca Gould

WOLCOTT, Clara Environmental Studies–Architecture joint major
Points in Space and Time: Re-thinking Object Study
Advisor: Benjamin Allred

2021

AINSWORTH, Spencer Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
A semi-automated approach to LiDAR-derived mapping of surficial geology
Advisor: David West

BLALOCK, Annie Conservation Biology major
The effects of ecological stoichiometric constraints and hydrologic regime on the functional trait diversity of aquatic insect communities
Advisor: Eric Moody

CLINTON, Emma Conservation Biology major
“Using a landscape permeability metric to assess the impacts of different residential land development patterns on ecological connectivity in Chittenden County, VT”
Advisors: David Allen and Bill Hegman

FREEDMAN, Jacob Environmental Studies–Geography joint major
“Encouraged to Ignore:” Critical education, cartography, and making more inclusive maps for environmental conservation
Advisor: Jeff Howarth

GLASS, Benjamin Environmental History major
Black on Both Sides: An Integrative Analysis of the 1988 Yellowstone Fires
Advisors: Kathryn Morse and Joe Holler

LANDAU, Arielle Environmental Justice major
A Uniquely Destructive Injustice: US Nuclear Testing on Indigenous Lands—an Environmental Justice and GIS Analysis
Advisor: Dan Suarez

LESSING, Jillian Conservation Biology major
Coral restoration in The Bahamas: Examining the biological and socio-political impacts of restoration efforts
Advisor: Mez Baker-Medard

LOEWALD, Anna Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
Testing for Evidence of Subsurface Phosphorus Transport to a Small Lake (Lake Carmi) in Northwestern Vermont, USA
Advisor: Pete Ryan

OEHMIG, Phoebe Conservation Biology major
Effect of warming sea temperatures in the Gulf of Maine on postlarval lobsters (Homarus americanus) swimming performance and activity
Advisor: Eric Moody

PUCKER, Bella Conservation Psychology major
A Consideration of Residents of Hawaiʻi’s Decisions to Remain or Retreat
Advisor: Michelle McCauley

Bella’s thesis research was later published in the Journal of Ecopsychology, please click here to view the publication.

SANTOSO, Monique Conservation Psychology major
Empathy Is Not Enough: The Effects of Perspective-Taking and Value Orientations on Environmental Action
Advisor: Michelle McCauley

STERUP, Kathleen Conservation Biology major
Analyzing the Impacts of Terrestrial Variables on Macroalgal Blooms in New Zealand Estuaries with Remote Sensing
Advisor: Eric Moody

TANGO, Maddie Conservation Biology major
Reproducibility of a Geographical Study on the Effects of Wind Turbines on Bat Fatalities in the Northeast United States
Advisor: Joe Holler

VAKHITOVA, Valeriia Environmental Studies–Geology joint major
Geochemical and Mineralogical Analysis of Terrestrial and Reef Sediments: Implications for Reef Ecosystems and Human Health
Advisors: Mez Baker-Medard and Pete Ryan

VILLANUEVA, Alitzel Conservation Biology major
The Cost of Persistent Organic Pollutant Tolerance in Fundulus heteroclitus Across a Water Temperature Gradient
Advisor: Eric Moody

2020

BLAKELY, Valerie Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment major
A Feminist Analysis of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring: Gender, Science, and Environmental Justice
Advisor: Heidi Grasswick

BUSCHMAN, Maia Conservation Psychology major
Affordable Housing Can Be Better for People and Planet: Applications of Social and Environmental Sustainability in Affordable Housing
Advisors: Michelle McCauley and Erin Sassin

CALLAHAN, Nina Environmental Economics major
Sustaining the Environment through Networks of Social Capital
Examining the Influence of Social Capital in Northern and Southern Italy as a Tool to Promote Sustainable Land Management
Advisors: Jonathan Isham and Stefano Mula

DURNING, Anna Environmental Studies–Geography joint major
“It’s more than just work and get home”: Constraints and motivations shaping migrant workers’ experiences of life in Vermont
Advisors: Jessica L’Roe and Peter Nelson

ELLICKS, Kevin Environmental Studies–Architecture joint major
Otter Creek AgriCenter + Community Table
Advisor: Benjamin Allred

FLEISCHER, Alec Environmental Policy major
Capitalism’s Response to Economic Growth Amidst Climate Crisis
Advisors: Jon Isham and Rebecca Mitchell

HUNTINGTON, Charles Holton Environmental Nonfiction major
El Potrero Chico: A Small Town’s Global Climbing Community
Advisors: David Bain and Megan Mayhew-Bergman

MCCROREY, Ryan Environmental Literature major
Witches and Woods: Female Authority, Forests, and the Supernatural in Shakespeare
Advisor: Daniel Brayton

PETERS, Kate Environmental Economics major
The Impacts of Postcolonial Democratic Institutions on Renewable Energy Development in Africa: An Analysis of Factors Facilitating Low-Carbon Energy Sectors with a Case Study Focusing on Ghana
Advisors: Jonathan Isham and Jacob Tropp

REDMON, Hannah Environmental Nonfiction major
These American Trails: Finding Power in Solitude and Joy in Community over Three Years of Walking
Advisor: Megan Mayhew-Bergman

ROWLAND, Helene Environmental Economics major
Sunshine in the Garden State: Analyzing the demographic trends in residential solar installations
Advisors: Akhil Rao and Julia Berazneva

ROYE, Karina Conservation Biology major
What Characterizes Sustainable Aquaculture in Vermont? An Assessment of Current Systems and their Implications for the Future
Advisors: Molly Anderson and Sallie Sheldon

SAUDERS, Jessica Environmental Studies–Architecture joint major
Regenerative Place-Making: A Study in Adaptive Reuse for Activating Community
Advisor: Benjamin Allred

SCHWARTZ, Orli Environmental Studies–Architecture joint major
The Idea Mill: Rethinking Interpersonal Connection Spatially
Advisor: Benjamin Allred

SHALE, Lily - Environmental Nonfiction major
Swallow, Eating Bodies and Devouring Place
Advisor: Spring Ulmer