Senior project spotlight

Brooke Schleehauf, Web Editor
May 8, 2012
Filed under Campus

Carthage’s Division Chairs were asked to recommend a senior who had presented outstanding senior theses or projects. Below are a handful of the best projects the class of 2012 had to offer.

Humanities:

Kim Brady, ‘12

“Not What I Intended”

“The project I submitted to the Celebration of Scholars is also my creative thesis required to complete my Creative Writing Minor. It is a collection of my own work, entitled “Not What I Intended.” I am a fiction writer by trade but this project caused me to branch out into a strange new world of fictional nonfiction and “prosetry”. In the process of writing I observed the strangeness of human beings; the awkwardness of interacting with strangers, the loneliness of social activities, the alteration of one’s own memories and the blessed beauty of the natural world we barely interact with.”

Natural Science:

Nathaniel Card, ‘12

“Benford Melodies”

“Stochastic music by definition is music born from chaos and tends to sound as such. My purpose in my research was to find a method of stochastic composition that resulted in pleasant, almost human composed melodies. I achieved this by applying Benford’s Law, also known as the first digit law, this mathematical observation states that in some large sets of data, the first digits of each piece of data will most often be a ’1′, followed by a ’2′, and so on until ’9′, which is the least probable digit. Benford’s Law is often described using a logarithmic scale, which I found perfect for my melody distributions, as it is discrete and finite. I then created two modified Benford distributions to apply stochastically to my melodies, one for the intervals between each of the pitches, and one for the rhythms of each note. Multiplying these distributions by a desired melodic length gives a set of intervals and rhythms, which I then randomized and applied consecutively to a starting pitch. My final step in my research was to write a program that could generate these melodies instantly and allow me to listen to them.”

Social Science:

Ben Coder, ‘12

“Out-of-Area Operations and the North Atlantic Society of States: The Quest to Define Security and the Inescapable Demise of Broad-Alliance Operations”

“The first purpose of my thesis was to provide a background in the institutional theory that was pertinent to the development of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The next focus was to characterize the disparities between Cold War defense and the new model of preventive defense that has thus far predominated the post-Cold War era. Once the shift in NATO policy had been framed, my thesis examined recent NATO out-of-area operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. In order to understand how the organization governed itself in the absence of a unifying threat I applied the common pool resource model. In applying the common pool resource model I found that it is through the direction provided by asset-rich states, as well as through the institutionalization of issue-education and issue-framing that NATO is able to maintain a strong interstate relationship under preventive defense.”

Education

Kelly Emanuelson, ‘12

“Education majors are required to complete a portfolio as a senior thesis. This portfolio is comprised of artifacts that show evidence of meeting the ten teaching standards. These artifacts include lesson plans, projects, papers, curriculum plans, etc. I decided to construct my portfolio electronically on a Google site. Each webpage represents one of the ten standards and contains one or two artifacts. The portfolio also contains my thesis and resume. Through my thesis, I reveal my philosophy and outlook on education. My ultimate goal is to inspire students to reach their highest potential and prepare for a successful future. I am determined to help students achieve their goals and challenge themselves to keep learning throughout their entire life.”

Interdisciplinary Studies:

Melissa Engelking, ‘12

“For my thesis I focused on William Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet.’ My thesis analyzes water imagery to show its relevance to the structure of the play ‘Hamlet’. Water becomes associated with the characters Hamlet and Ophelia, and the state of Denmark. Ultimately, water imagery calls attention to one of the most profound themes of the play—how form derives from formlessness. I show how the Book of Genesis, the writings of pre-Socratic philosophers Thales and Heraclitus, and Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy can further highlight these fluid themes in the play.

Fine Arts:

Simon Skluzacek, ‘12

Sound Design for “Ghost Bike”

“For my senior thesis project, I completed the sound design for the original play “Ghost Bike.” This design involved creating original music for the show, as well as making audio environments that would immerse the audience into the locations of the play. In conjunction with sound, I also set up the video projection system that was used in the show for brief yet extremely powerful moments.”