URS Partner Programs

The Aggie Creative Collective, supported by the University Writing Center, Department of English, and LAUNCH, is a summer program that links creative arts, undergraduate scholarly research, and performance. Learn more on the University Writing Center's website.

2018 - 2019
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Ashley Arabia	Michelle or Michael or Whatever	Dr. Lowell M. White
Reagan Ashley	Candles and Thorns	Dr. Lowell M. White
Allyson Nichole Bains Sanchez	The Vill Chronicles: Prophecy (Publication Pending)	Dr. Jason M. Harris
Adalynn L. Brock	Peas, Bees, and Birds	Dr. Lowell M. White
Lewis William Edwards	A Thousand Golden Yesterdays	Dr. Jason M. Harris
Eliza Thomas	Queen of a Sun-Drenched Land	Dr. Lowell M. White
Riley C. Womack	"Memory's Folly: Narrative Trauma in the Aftermath of the Vietnam War"	Dr. Jason M. Harris

The Glasscock Summer Scholars, supported by the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, the University Writing Center, and LAUNCH, is a summer program that expands undergraduate research in the humanities by providing an intensive summer research experience in which students are introduced to important research questions, trained in methods of research and analysis, and guided in the development of critical thinking, independent learning, and communications skills. Learn more on the Glasscock Center's website.

2018 - 2019
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Lauren Gonzalez	The Evolution of Ideas about Sport through Medieval Literature	Dr. Britt Mize
Morgan Knobloch	Framing Feminism: How Catholic Women Use Blogging to Navigate a “Secular” Discourse on Feminism Through a Religious Lens	Dr. Heidi A. Campbell
Ryan Randle	Songs of the Dying Swan (Publication Pending)	Dr. Britt Mize
Sarah Trcka	“Quia Similia Similibus Applaudant”: Visual Variations of Genesis 3 in the Medieval Mind (Publication Pending)	Dr. Britt Mize

 

2017 - 2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Sarah Kilpatrick	The Guilt of the Symbol: Who Learns What in a Didactic Trial?	Dr. Richard J. Golsan
James Dietz	Choosing Forgiveness After Genocide	Dr. Richard J. Golsan
Matthew Kiine	The People v. Simpson: A Made for Court TV Drama	Dr. Richard J. Golsan
Megan Collier	Recreating Values: Morality in Adaptations of Beowulf for Children (Publication Pending)	Dr. Britt Mize
Cody Ellis	Fact from Fiction: The Evolution of the Cleopatra Legend (Publication Pending)	Dr. Britt Mize

 

2016 - 2017
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Patrick Dolan	There Will Come A Time When The People Expect War	Dr. Britt Mize
Claire Nowka	“What Kinship Should Mean:” An Examination of the Ethnic and Nationalist Themes Within Beowulf Adaptations (Publication Pending)	Dr. Britt Mize
Clella Evans	Ruth's Pedagogy: Intersections of Sexuality and Class in Somatic Metaphor and Imagery	Dr. Jessica Howell
Kimberly Fayard	The Picture of Social Power: A Study of the Infectious Influence of Ideology in The Picture of Dorian Gray	Dr. Jessica Howell
Nicole Green	Lemonade: A Gateway Drug (Publication Pending)	Dr. Kirsten Pullen

 

2015 - 2016
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Holly Hayden	Foreign Women on the Ancient Mediterranean Sea	Dr. Deborah Carlson
Victoria Hodges	A Journey in Chains: A Study of the Ancient Roman Slave Trade	Dr. Deborah N. Carlson
Brooke Kaiser	Gender Roles of the Deities at Sea in Antiquity	Dr. Deborah Carlson
Jonathan Ramos	Mare Fortunatum: Literary Connections Between the Sea and Fortuna in Ancient Roman Literature	Dr. Deborah Carlson
Steven Ramos	Sea Monsters in Ancient Greece: An Etiological and Iconographic Analysis	Dr. Deborah N. Carlson
Heidi Jauregui	Food Insecurity Among Minority College Students: A Real Problem?	Dr. Sarah N. Gatson
Hannah Klein	Everybody Eats: An Analysis of Citizenship, Minority Food Insecurity, and Community Gardens	Dr. Sarah N. Gatson
Christina Owens	Shapeshifter and Chameleon: Grendel as an Indicator of Cultural Fears and Anxieties	Dr. Britt Mize
Erin Simoni	The Role of Violence and Death in Children’s Adaptations of Beowulf from 1910-1968	Dr. Britt Mize
Kelsey Morgan	Sacred and Profane: A Not-So-Southern Controversy	Dr. Nandra Perry
Mary Caroline Sonnier	Conversion and Conflict: Raising the Stakes	Dr. Nandra Perry

 

2014 - 2015
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Humberto Gonzalez Nunez	What To Do After The 'Death of God'?: An Analysis of Resentment and Social/Political Exclusion	Dr. Daniel Conway
Steven Haug	Tracing the Development of a Theory of Language through Heidegger’s Works	Dr. Daniel Conway and Dr. Apostolos Vasilakis
Laura Reid	Aggie by Choice; Campus Innovator by Necessity	Dr. Daniel Conway
Zachary Kalmbach	The Effect of Ridesharing Services on Drunk Driving	Dr. Amy Glass
Amy Arndt	Songs of Discord: Ballads of Revolution and Revolt	Dr. Jennifer Wollock
Grace Kelly	Ballad Tradition in the 21st Century: The Outlaw Ballad	Dr. Jennifer Goodman Wollock
Matthew Greeson	The Paradigmatic American Occupation of Germany In Comparative Perspective	Dr. Adam Seipp
Patrick Robertson	Sir Walter Scott	Dr. Jennifer Goodman Wollock

 

2013 - 2014
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Christopher Black	The Disenchanted: A Modern Consideration of the Transformative Force of Technicity	Dr. Claire Katz
Stephanie Courtright	Defining Oblivion	Dr. Nathan Bracher
Desirae Embree	Speaking Absence: Considering the Voice in Auschwitz	Dr. Claire Elise Katz
Michael Gonzalez	The Educational Potential of the Comic Hero	Dr. Claire Katz
Jessi Green	Staged Messages of Feminine Virtue	Dr. Claire Katz
Mikayla Hall	European Migrations and Their Governments in the Context of WWII	Dr. Nathan Bracher
Mason Morgan	Monsters in the East	Dr. Nathan Bracher
Henry Sekula	Nothing Works: The Enlightenment, Discourse, and the Failure of Reason	Dr. Claire Katz

 

2012 - 2013
Student Author	Thesis TItle	Faculty Advisor
Marissa Madsen	Dead Babies, Bowel Disturbances, and Other Combat Humor in Afghanistan and Iraq	Dr. Marian Eide
Stephen O'Shea	From the Land of Genesis	Dr. Marian Eide

Texas A&M University undergraduate students enrolled in any discipline at the main campus in College Station or at Galveston, who apply to participate in the LAUNCH: Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, and submit a proposal to conduct research related to the marine environment, may also be eligible to apply to the Texas Sea Grant Scholars Program. We invite proposals from all disciplines including natural, physical, social, behavioral and economic sciences and engineering. Learn more at TexasSeaGrant.org.

2018-2019
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Taylor Cubbage	The Effects of Salinity and Pharmaceuticals on the Physiology of the Sheepshead Minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus) (Publication Pending)	Dr. Lene Petersen
Zakary Derouen and Miranda Peterson	The Recent Expansion of Invasive Tubastraea Coccinea Throughout the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Publication Pending)	Dr. Hsiao-Hsuan Wang
Ashley Nicole Guentzel	Differences in Resource Allocation Between Post-Mating Male and Female Olive Ridley Sea Turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) (Publication Pending)	Dr. Duncan MacKenzie
Sarah Hamrock	Maritime Cyber Security: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and International Regulation on AIS Data Receptors	Dr. Joan Mileski
Irene Martinez	Transcriptome Assembly and Characterization of the Benthic Annelid Paramphinome jeffreysii (Publication Pending)	Dr. Jessica Labonté
Jordan Walker	Microbial Communities and Ecosystem Recovery of Galveston Bay Post-Hurricane Harvey (Publication Pending)	Dr. Jessica Labonté

 

2017-2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Taylor Strope	The Effects of Hurricane Harvey on the Biodiversity and Abundance of Hydromedusae in Galveston Bay (Publication Pending)	Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta
William Michael Bordelon Prouse	Removing the Vegetation Signature from Digital Elevation Models of Coastal Areas Surveyed by Unmanned Aerial System Photogrammetry	Dr. Jens Figlus
Faith Kramer	Deep Sea Corrallium Sp. in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Basal Diameter-colony Height Curve and Colony Height-age Curve (Publication Pending)	Dr. Brendan Roark

 

2016 - 2017
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Katherine Adams	Reproductive Histology of Blacktip Sharks, Carcharhinus limbatus, in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico (Publication Pending)	Dr. David Wells
Jahna Brooks	Investigation of Changing Seawater Carbonate Chemistry near Deep-Sea Coral Beds (Publication Pending)	Dr. Katie Shamberger
Rachel Hamrock	Population Distribution and Conservation Efforts of Common Dolphins	Dr. Bernd Würsig
Catherine Risley and Tess Heywood	Hydromedusae Blooms and Seasonal Biodiversity Changes in the Galveston Bay (Publication Pending)	Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta
Kathryn Kunz	Evaluation of the Co-Evolution and Genetic Diversity of the Stag Horned Hydrocoral and its Hermit Crab Host from the Pacific and Gulf of California (Publication Pending)	Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta
Jesus Duran Ramirez	Using Optical Properties of Dissolved Organic Matter to Discriminate Sewage Treatment Effluents from Runoff in Santa Monica Bay, California	Dr. Karl Kaiser
Randall Teague	Common Bottlenose Dolphin Calves Utilize Trawlers in the Galveston Ship Channel	Dr. Meri Davlasheridze
Katie Westmoreland	Genetic Investigations of Grass Shrimp (Palaemonetes Spp.) Populations along the Gulf of Mexico Coast	Dr. Jaime Alvarado-Bremer
Aubree Jones	Do Innervation Patterns of Mystacial Vibrissae in Harbor Seals, Phoca Vitulina, Explain Specialization in Trail Following Behavior?	Dr. Christopher Marshall
Monika McGuinness	Productivity of Spartina alterniflora in Proximity to Mangroves	Dr. Anna Armitage

 

2015 - 2016
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Aminta Arevilca	Effects of Gillnet Entanglement on Mortality of Dusky Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)​	Dr. Hsiao-Hsuan Wang
Laura Hinson	Effects of Gillnet Entanglement on Mortality of Dusky Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)	Dr. Meri Davlasheridze
Bryan Myres	An Instrumentation System to Measure In-Situ Hydrodynamics during Barrier Island Overwash and Inundation	Dr. Jens Figlus
Lauren Replogle	What Factors Explain Harmful Algal Blooms of Dinophysis along the Texas Coast?	Dr. Lisa Campbell
Fred Shopnitz	Alternative Larval Diets and Generational Time for Gulf of Mexico Blenny Species​	Dr. Ron I Eytan

 

2014 - 2015
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Iris Cato and Katherine Gillis	Genetic Diversity in the Hydroid Janaria mirabilis: Possible Presence of Cryptic Species (Publication Pending)	Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta
Daniela Perrigo and Ren Shirai	Cryptic Species Analysis of Austrobilharzia variglandis and Mesostephanus appendiculatus in the Salt Marsh Gastropod, Cerithidea pliculosa, in Galveston Bay	Dr. Anja Schulze
Kelci Miller	Aragonite Saturation State and Deep-sea Coral Distribution in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands	Dr. Brendan Roark
Jeffrey Plumlee	Feeding Ecology of Coastal Sharks in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico	Dr. R.J. David Wells
Andrea Martinez-Aguirre	Identifying the Differences in Survivorship and Growth in Offspring of Large and Small Females in the Pipefish Species Syngnathus scovelli	Dr. Adam G. Jones
Emily Pewitt	Determining the Dietary Tryptophan Requirement of Juvenile Red Drum	Dr. Delbert M. Gatlin III

 

2013 - 2014
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Joclyn Bosquez	Acoustic Vocalizations of Dolphins and Effects of Anthropogenic Noise	Dr. Bernd Würsig
Peter Bruns	Effect of Exopolymers on the Consumption of Synechococcus by Oxyrrhis marina	Dr. Daniel Thornton
Brandon Hill	An Analysis of the Factors that Influence the Sargassum Migratory Loop	Thomas Linton, Wesley Highfield, Melanie Moser, and Kyeong Park
Kelsey Johnson	Association Patterns of Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Galveston Ship Channel, Texas	Dr. Bernd Würsig
Rachel McMahon	Application of Carbohydrates and Phenols and Biomarkers to Study Dissolved Organic Matter Reservoirs in Artic Rivers	Dr. Karl Kaiser
Marissa Oldiges	Trematode Prevelance as an Indicator for Galveston Marsh Health	Dr. Anja Schulze

 

2012 - 2013
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Joshua Carter and Raven Walker	‘Our Tables Have Suffered’: Quantifying consumer market activity of commercially valuable living resources in Chesapeake Bay, 1850-1950	Dr. Glenn Jones
Cyrenea Millberry	Association Between Shrimp Catch per Unit Effort and Environmental Variables in the Gulf of Mexico	Dr. Masami Fujiwara
Marcella Nunez	The Changes in Growth and Composition af Marine Microalgae in Response to Sodium Bicarbonate and Nitrogen	Dr. Antonietta Quigg

Each year, one undergraduate Jordan Fellow is selected to work in partnership with LAUNCH in a two-year research program called L.T. Jordan Undergraduate Research Fellows. The first year of the program consists of the completion of the L.T. Jordan Fellows program, including the international research and post-trip reflection, and the second year working with a faculty mentor to write an undergraduate thesis through the Undergraduate Research Scholars thesis program. Learn more on the LT Jordan Institute's website.

2017-2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Taylor Nutt	Peace Within the Traumatic Narrative: The Cyclic Process to the Silence of Shell Shock	Dr. Shawna Ross

2018 - 2019
Name	Thesis	Advisor
Harrison Richter	Cameras in the United States Supreme Court: Judicial Transparency & the Obligation Thereof	Dr. Linda Radzik and Prof. Meg Penrose
Sarah Claye Epperson	Litigating Women: The Path to Intermediate Scrutiny in American Law (Pending Publication)	Dr. Katherine Unterman and Dr. Randy Gordon

This 10-week summer undergraduate research experience sponsored by LAUNCH: Undergraduate Research in partnership with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study and the Department of Visualization provides a research-intensive, interdisciplinary summer experience that serves as a gateway into the Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS) thesis program for high-achieving undergraduate students. Students have the opportunity to work closely with a Hagler Faculty Fellow in a mentored research environment. Learn more on the Hagler Institute's website.

2018-2019
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Jasmine Derry, Lauren Hammond, Marisa Harris, Yuan-Chi Lee, and Kiara Stewart	Re-Creating the Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald	Dr. Jerry Tessendorf

P4CTexas is a group of dedicated educators–some more intimately connected to philosophy than others–who wish to provide an engaged relationship between the Texas universities and the Texas K-12 schools by introducing philosophy into the pre-college classroom. Students selected for the joint program with P4CTexas and LAUNCH: Undergraduate Research are provided research funds to complete a research project on the Philosophy for Children program. Learn more on the P4CTexas website.

2017-2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Cora Drozd	Pre-College Philosophy: Its Implications for American Democracy in the 21st Century (Publication Pending)	Dr. Claire Katz

 

The Department of Residence Life at Texas A&M University serves an on-campus population of approximately 11,000 students in a variety of residence halls and apartment living spaces. The department also supports a student Research Team who specifically work on a variety of active research project(s) with the Academic Support Initiatives area of the department. Duties of Student Interns within Academic Support Initiatives are beyond those of typical student employee positions. The objective of student interns is to work with the Research Team within the department and for the student to gain valuable experience directly tied to their field of interest. Learn more on the Residence Life website.

2017-2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Corie Depue	Predictive Analytics to Explain Resident Grade Point Average (Publication Pending)	Dr. Lori Moore

 

 

2018-2019
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
AlReem Al-Dosari	Influence of Aluminum Oxide Nanofuel Additive on the Spray Performance of Conventional and Alternative Jet Fuels at High Ambient Conditions (Publication Pending)	Dr. Reza Sadr
Alaa Abdalla	Engineers in Qatar and Language Diversity: Applications for Transnational Engineering Education	Dr. Amy Hodges
Arshad Mohamed Ali, Mohammed Hassan, and Safeer Hafeez	Novel Semi-Automatic Method to Optimize Multi-Lamp High Flux Solar Simulators (Publication Pending)	Dr. Konstantinos Kakosimos
Sofian Ghazali, Muhammad Kamil, and Aisha Hussain	Implementing VR/AR Systems for Insight into Water Desalination Plant (Publication Pending)	Dr. Konstantinos Kakosimos

 

2017-2018
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Shaikha Al-Qahtani and Taif Mohamed	GEM Single/Double Mask and Sensitivity Studies	Dr. Othmane Bouhali

 

2016-2017
Student Author	Thesis Title	Faculty Advisor
Omar Ashour	Maximal Intensity Higher-Order Breathers of the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation on Different Backgrounds (Publication Pending)	Dr. Siu Chin