Please select your section instructor below to view the standing Honors contract for your course.
**Standing contracts will be updated prior to the start of each semester.
Spring 2024- more information coming soon!
BIOL 212 (all sections)
Dr. Sayali Kukday
The “History of Science Toast (HOST)” focuses on bringing to life, the experiences of scientists that have made contributions to science, particularly the life sciences. The initial focus to be on scientists whose work has gone relatively unrecognized or with marginalized backgrounds. Students will select a scientist of interest to them (current researchers also acceptable) and then search for biographical information about them, their research, their contributions, their lived experiences, and how they experience(d) marginalization in their life and/or work. Students will also have the opportunity to read and summarize a research article based on the work of their scientist of interest! The final product could be an interactive presentation or an essay. Depending on how complete your project is at the end of the semester, students can showcase it in the classroom or on Canvas.
CHEM 178 (all sections)
Dr. Yulia Zaikina
Chemistry 178 is essentially an introduction to chemical reactivity and emphasizes kinetics and
thermodynamics. Kinetics addresses questions of how a chemical reaction occurs: how fast and
what pathway(s) of chemical bond breaking and making take place. Thermodynamics addresses
the energetic factors that influence reactions.
To achieve Honors credit in Chem 178, then I ask you to complete the following tasks:
(1) Identify a faculty member in your major department(s) whose research area(s) you find
interesting and would like to learn more about (if you do not know how to do this, then you
would meet with Prof. Zaikina and, together, we would look at faculty webpages). Please
notify (via e-mail) and/or meet with Prof. Zaikina to identify the faculty member.
(2) Arrange to meet with that faculty member once or twice to discuss his/her research.
Ideally, you should find out how chemistry (if possible, how the disciplines of kinetics
and/or thermodynamics) impact their research activities. If this impact statement is
difficult to assess, then you inquire what benefit(s) the faculty member sees in taking
natural sciences as part of your academic curriculum. You should also inquire how he/she
embarked on a career in academic research and teaching.
(3) Meet with Prof. Zaikina after the faculty interview(s) to discuss the outcome and to put
together a plan for a 3-page paper you would write.
(4) Complete a 3-page paper that summarizes the faculty member’s research, the impact issue
mentioned in point (2), and how that faculty member entered academia.
(5) As a separate part, the paper should also include at least one real-world chemistry
application that is relevant to material from each Chapter that is covered in this class (Ch.
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19). A student is encouraged to use ACS (American Chemical
Society) and other reliable recourses, for instance,
https://www.cas.org/
https://cen.acs.org/
https://axial.acs.org/
https://www.compoundchem.com/
https://cen.acs.org/collections/periodicgraphics.html
(6) This paper is due to Prof. Zaikina before the end of the 14th week of the semester (or at
some mutually agreed upon date, if necessary).
WGS 201
Honors students will choose a specific WGS topic to research and share with peers. The topic can be a deeper dive into something covered in class or something not covered and agreed upon by the students and instructor. To ensure students are finding good sources and understanding material, they will meet regularly with the instructor. Students will share their research through a traditional paper, a presentation to the class (video for online classes), media, such as video, website, podcast, etc., or some other form agreed upon by the student and instructor.