Explore our recent list of Master's Projects, starting in 2021.

Summer 2021 

  • Lana Malki, “The Effect of Social Isolation on Adolescents During COVID-19″ [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies ]

Fall 2021 

  • Randy Delgado, “Opportunity Zones: Potential Economic and Community Impacts in Durham and Johnston Counties, North Carolina” [Robert Healy, Nicholas School]

Spring 2022 

  • Marisol Asselta Castro, “Hamilton, Miranda, and Tiny Islands in the Sea: The Puerto Rican lineage of a Cultural Juggernaut” [Tom Brothers, Music]
  • Bozhena Etin, “Co-location Opportunities for Dynamic Use Existing and Proposed School Buildings” [Robert Healy, Nicholas School]
  • Andrea Bohorquez Fiano, “Improving the Sales Training Program in the Mexican Notebook Company “Cuadernos Estrella” [Lisa Moreau, Sanford School]
  • David Reeves Jr, “I Knew Home When I Saw it: Mapping RaMell Ross’s Hale County This Morning, This Evening” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]   
  • Tian Qiu, “Reconstructing Commedia dell’arte with Neoclassical Music: R. Strauss, Busoni and Stravinsky” [Larry Todd, Music]
  • Jill Kaufman Rose, “Preparing for Widowhood – While Your Husband Is Still Living” [Deborah Gold, Psychology & Behavior Sciences]
  • Frances Starr Rosseland-Harrison, “Volleyball, but Make it Sexy: Mediated Representations of Female Athletes” [Amanda Starling Gould, Franklin Humanities Institute]
  • Karen T. Stone, “The Remote Learning Experience of Low-Income Duke University Undergraduate Students during the COVID-19 Campus Shutdown” [Robin Kirk, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Lelugnim (Romeo) Tokinai, “The Social Life of Remittances” [Charles Piot, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Elisabeth Southard Wharton, “Singularity, Solidarity, and Gender: France 1945-1997″ [Susan Thorne, History]
  • Winfred Cole Wicker, “An Interpretive History of the Lower Deep River Region, NC” [Anne Mitchell Whisnant, GLS] 

Summer 2022 

  • Matthew Gregory Duncan, “An Environmental Humanities Approach to E-waste” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Diana Zwilling, “Negotiating Imperial Encounters: The British and the Iñupiat at Point Barrow, 1852-1854” [Thomas Robisheaux, History]

Fall 2022 

  • Andie Shelton, “Volleyball’s Glass Ceiling” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Di Xu, “Can Chinese Tourists Support Nature-Based Tourism?” [Robert Healy, Nicholas School]
  • Janet Yu, “Realism in Ancient History Documentaries” [Gun-Juin Hong, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies]

Spring 2023

  • Harriet Carlton, “Inescapability of interconnectivity” [Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy]
  • Lacie Chen, “The Lost Reader: Self, Language, Diaspora” [Robyn Wiegman, Literature]
  • Tiffany Frye, “Acknowledging Autofiction: The Gaze of the Other” [Toril Moi, Literature]
  • Latishia R. Futrell, “Against the Odds: Four American Women Who Shaped Human Rights Protections through Activism in the 20th Century and Beyond” [Robin Kirk, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Tatiana González Buonomo, “Inequality, Resistance, and Reparations: A Step Towards Justice for Puerto Rico” [Jennifer Nash, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies]
  • Alissa Victoria Goode, “Walking to a Place You Belong: Exploring the Impact of Walkability and Historical Factors on Durham’s Black Wall Street” [Edward Triplett, Art, Art History & Visual Studies]
  • EK Hayes, “Badwoman Blues: The Role of Violence in the Music of 1920s Blueswomen” [Jarvis McInnis, English]
  • Anahad Kaur, “The Imagined Identity: Factors Impacting an Artist’s Brand Identity and Interaction with Their Fandom” [Rick Larrick, Psychology & Neuroscience]
  • Yutong Li, “We Are All Psychos” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Echo Ling, “Interactive Storytelling in Video Games” [Mark Olson, Art, Art History & Visual Studies]
  • Samantha Lauren Maksud, “Me, Myself, and I: Understanding Identity Denial of Multiethnic and Multiracial People in White Settings” [Lee Baker, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Sergi Nus, “The Media Management of the Key Events in the Spanish-Catalan Conflict for Independence” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Joseph Robertson, “The Historical Trajectory of Digital Health Technology in MSK Physical Therapy with a Specific Focus on Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Sarah Krueger Robinson, “Mixed-Income, Mixed Reviews: Trading Traditional Public Housing for Mixed-Income Housing in Durham, North Carolina and Beyond” [Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Brianne Martha Rovtar Russell, “Walking with Ma | A Lifetime of Memories in One Act” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Toya Wallace, “We Want To Live (Asé)” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Ilana Weisman, “Stock Images: What Cookbooks, Advertisements, and Chicken Soup Recipes Tell Us About Jewish America” [Susan Thorne, History]

Summer 2023 

  • Scott Boylan, “Restoring the State through Aristotle’s Homonoia: A Potency for True Friendship” [Thomas Pfau, English]

Fall 2023 

  • Maddie Bryant, “The Business of Women’s College Volleyball From a Gender Equity Perspective” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Douglass Coleman, “Split” [Joseph Winters, Religious Studies]
  • Taya Corosdale, “Inclusive Basketball Camp: Hoops Without Limits” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Kerigan Pickett, “A Media Study on the Rise in Popularity and Ethics of True Crime Podcasts” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Jordyn Shubrick, “Beyond the Towers: Septemember 11, 2001: Watching the Past & Present to Understand the Surveiled Future”, [Catherine Mathers, International Comparative Studies]
  • Jakob Sieber, “The Entrepreneurial Blueprint — Unravelling the Relationship of Personality Traits, Cognitive Strategies, and Entrepreneurial Behavior” [Richard Larrick, Psychology & Neuroscience]
  • Felix Wang, “Will You Always Be the One You Were Born To Be? Identity, Dissents, and Humors: A Case Study on R/Chonglang TV” [Carlos Rojas, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies]

Spring 2024

  • Matthew Alexander, “William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury” [Jason Sudak, Cinematic Arts]
  • Hayes Bierman, “Tropes for Neuro*Solidarity: a Science-Technology-Society (STS) Pirate Map to Cognitive Diversity and Disabled Collectivity” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Peter Crispell, “Scenes from Miss Tillie’s Porch” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Michael Crout, “Exploring Neural Correlates of Social Media Use: A Review of BOLD fMRI Studies Utilizing In-Scanner Social Media Exposure” [Edna Andrews, Slavic & Eurasian Studies]
  • Robert Gfeller, “Trust in the System? Public Pensions & Private Equity: A Primer for Plan Participants” [Edward J. Balleisen, History]
  • Moritz Hamelmann, “Markets for Voluntary Carbon Credits: Economic Rationale, Market Structures, Valuing Biodiversity Joint Benefits” [Robert Healy, Nicholas School of the Environment]
  • Shu Hu, “A Study on the Run Xue Emigration Phenomena” [Ralph Litzinger, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Lizzie Lagarde, “Women’s College Basketball Personal Development Program” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Cameron Mule’, “Regenerative Agriculture: A Key Tool in Our Fight Against Climate Change” [Amanda Starling Gould, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Jarred Papcsy, “The Body and Mind of a Wrestler ” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity]
  • Garrett Raynor, “Jordan Lake: Biography of a Multi-Purpose North Carolina Reservoir 1945-2024 and Beyond” [Robert Healy, Nicholas School of the Environment]
  • Kerria Weaver, “The State of Local Newspaper Companies in North Carolina: Diminishing the Odds of Communities Becoming News Deserts” [Chrissy Murray, Duke’s The Chronicle]
  • Nicholas Williams, “The Aftermath” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Xiaohan Xiong, “The Effect of Women’s Education Level on Their Fertility Choice in China” [Arkadev Ghosh, Economics]
  • Qiyun Zhang, “From Fishy Past to Fishy Future: Thinking through the Aquarium” [Dore Bowen, Art, Art History, & Visual Studies]

SUMMER 2024

  • Andrea Ryan, “Tacky Thoughts On War and Other Musings” [Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy and Center for Documentary Studies]

FALL 2024

  • Damon Allen Boyd, “Cold Isolations: A Look at Faith, Self, and Sexuality” [Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy and Center for Documentary Studies]
  • Michelle Louise Jones, “The Human-Nature Connection: A Multi-Disciplinary Exploration” [Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Social Science Research Institute and Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Chase J. Pikarsky, “What is American Philosophy? Rorty, Emerson, and the Philosophy of Redescription” [Kent Wicker, Graduate Liberal Studies]
  • Benjamin J. Smith, “The Tragedy of Vortigern: A Study of the Development of an Early Medieval Legend in Written Sources & Creative Work Inspired by Those Sources” [Ann Marie Rasmussen, German Studies]
  • Melody Wei, “Breaking the Chains: Examining Power Dynamics, Abuse and Healing in My Family Structure”[Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy and Center for Documentary Studies]

SPRING 2025

  • Grace Mingyu Baucom, “Farmers’ Markets as Community Gathering Places: Evidence from the Literature” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Asia Lenae Bingaman, “Pathways to Teaching African American Studies: Preparation for Effective Teaching of the Advanced Placement Curriculum” [Kristen Stephens, Education]
  • Vanessa Ongkeko de Jesus, “Lumpia, Laughter, and Long Nights: The Filipino Family Dinner” [Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy and Center for Documentary Studies]
  • Stuart Avery Grimshaw, [Charles D. Thompson, Cultural Anthropology]
  • Grace Higgins, “From Punishment to Treatment: Addressing Mental Illnesses to Reduce Recidivism” [Pikuei Tu, Visiting Associate Professor, The John Hope Franklin Institute for Interdisciplinary & International Studies]
  • Lydie Johnson, “Speech Communities, Communities of Practice, and Identities: A Look at How Taylor Swift Attracts Many Communities Through Her Lyrics” [Edna Andrews, Slavic & Eurasian Studies]
  • Anastasiia Kozlova, “Irreversible Housing Situation: Three Short Stories” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Nick Xinyuan Li, “AI-Powered Communication: A Game Design Approach to Divided Realities” [Mark Olson, Art, Art History & Visual Studies] Graduate Certificate in Information Science + Studies
  • Okoma Atani Matengula, “Intersectional Medical Mistrust: Addressing Knowledge Gaps in Healthcare Research” [Ara Wilson, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies]
  • Jayce Landon McCain, “The Shifting Landscape of NBA Access: Investigating the Impact on Familial and Socioeconomic Factors on NBA Entry” [Rachael Murphey, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences]
  • Ashley Unruh McKinstry, “The Universe Was Once the Size of You or Me” [Michelle Dove, English]
  • Zachary J. Moore, “Football: An Instrument in Understanding French Identity Politics and Colonial Legacy” [Joseph Winters, Religious Studies]
  • Jaclyn Pastorini, “World History in American Middle Schools: A Problem and an Alternative Pedagogy” [Prasenjit Duara, History]
  • Kalamakaleimahoehoe Porter, “The Storied Environment of Bennett Place” [Paul Manos, Biology]
  • Samantha Post, “Coal Mining Mothers: The Cruel Science of Reproductive Health Research in the Coalfields, 1970-1995” [Hannah Conway, History]
  • Olga Barna Richmond, “Pioneer Women, Miss Kitty and My Mother: Historical Reflections and Connections” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Susen Shi, “Anti-?” [Christopher Sims, Sanford School of Public Policy]
  • Michael Cory Strickland, “I Know Propaganda When I See it: A discussion of American War Cinema from 1970 to the Present” [Amy Laura Hall, Divinity & Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies]
  • Quiana Tyson, “Weaving the Tapestry of Lost Connections: The Power of Family History” [Thomas Robisheaux, History]
  • Xike Zhao, “Marketing Virtual Queerness in China: Navigating Representation and Reception in Otome Game Culture through Narukami Arashi” [Gennifer Weisenfeld, Art, Art History & Visual Studies]