University Capstone Honors is the heart of the Honors Program. Capstones allow honors students to develop into highly competitive prospects for top-tier graduate schools or employers.
Beginning as early as the sophomore year, students take six upper course honors credits (via contracts, advanced consortium courses, or graduate courses). In the spring of their junior year, students develop their capstone proposal, identifying what they want to do, how they want to do it, and who they want to work with.
Students work closely with faculty mentors to develop a project worthy of a top graduate. The variety of projects ranges from creative writing to fine arts to research-based projects to service learning. What matters, though, is not the kind of project but the level of expectation: Students must demonstrate adequate knowledge or skill to carry out an advanced project, whether through a major or equivalent life learning and experience.
More information on Gallaudet University's Honors Program can be found here .
Note: This collection is incomplete. Older capstones are being digitized when availability arises.
Theses/Dissertations from 2023
The Trojan Horse of the Paddy Field: Determining the Genetic Origins of Seed Shattering in Spanish Weedy Rice, Eric Heinze
The Lived Experiences of Deaf People in Carceral Settings, Grace Lester
Electrodermal Activity in Response to Stress Reduction: Virtual Reality Experience in Hydrotherapy and Non-Hydrotherapy Environments, Nthabeleng MacDonald
Sand Escarpments as a Potential Barrier to the Nesting Distribution of Sea Turtles, Dakota Ronco
Analysis of Microbial Abundance on Marine Snow in the Deep Ocean, Matthew Qilan Thompson
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Advancing Towards a More Complete Sign Language Detection Application, Shane Angel
The Effects of Animal Companionship on Mental Health During COVID-19, Hailey Burton
Barriers to Student Success in Deaf/Hard-of-hearing Mainstream Programs, Sabine Castro
Clarifying Drug Reaction Terminology: Insights from Deaf College Students Allergic to Penicillin, Andrew Makarewicz
Time-Efficient Algorithm for the Order-Statistic Operations in Lattice Data Structure, Joseph Mendis
An Exploration of the Social Networking Site Usage of Middle-Aged and Older Deaf Adults, Taylor Paglieri
Pride Before the Fall: A Historical Fiction Novel, Brenna Smith
Coloration of Western Alaskan Lakes from Spectral Data Correlates with Environmental Factors, Annemarie Timling
Animal-Assisted Programs in Deaf Education, Alexis Wright
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Is Gallaudet Diverse? Creating an R Package to Measure Institutional Diversity, Emelia Beldon
Over the Rainbow: A Study on the Impact of Raindrop Shape on Rainbow Arches, Samantha Forshay
Untold Stories of ASL Deprivation: A Collection of Experiences, Lydia Kopp
Bilingual Language Stimulation Strategies: Recasting and Expansion: A Creative Research Based Product, Merri Lindsey
Black Identity Development in Deaf Individuals, Faith Sanders
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
A Memoir: Masked Butterfly, Jaleah Dortch
Investigating Birth Outcomes Among Deaf Mothers: Hospital vs. Home Births, Aashni Kamra
"That's My Blue Crayon!" : Development of a Bilingual Storybook App, Tayla Newman
Vaccine Literacy Among Deaf Adult American Sign Language Users of Hearing Parents, Casey Lee Peck
The Filipino Sign Language Act in the Philippines: Policy Analysis, Angela Rogers