Select a field to read a short excerpt from the student's proposal.
Animals and Emotion »
"...I hope to explore the emotional capability of animals, and how human values and assumptions about animal emotions affect animal welfare."
Anxiety and Performance »
"...I propose to study the correlation between the experience of stress and the satisfactory completion of an action, task, or function..."
The Basis of Humor »
"...I hope to investigate laughter and the subjects of humor as both psychological and sociological phenomena. In this context, 'humor as a psychological phenomenon' simply refers to the types of actions or ideas that result in an individual deeming them funny. Contrarily, 'humor as a sociological phenomenon' refers to the social context in which humor is presented, from the way humor affects close interpersonal relationships to its impact on larger audiences."
Bioarchaeology in Museums »
"...I propose to explore how human remains can be used to learn about history, culture, and society, and how this archaeological information is presented to the public. I am mainly interested in looking at human bioarchaeological research in the context of fieldwork and museums."
Birds and the World »
"My proposed field would seek to examine the biology, history, and significance of birds under several different lenses. This would include their evolutionary emergence, the ecological impact of humans on birds and of human activity on birds, their material significance to humans, and the symbolic significance of birds in mythology, art, and literature."
Chronic Diseases and Communication: Prevention Through Persuasion »
"I propose to analyze the methods that developed and developing countries - whether initiated by the government itself or by volunteer/activist organizations - have employed to communicate the preventative measures that can be implemented to mitigate the development of chronic diseases both to the wider public and through patient-doctor interaction..."
The Cultural Anthropology of Medicine »
"...I intend to examine the cultural roots and current practices that shape medical interventions in India, China, and the United States. 'Medical intervention' includes surgical practices, drugs (both pharmaceutical and herbal), diagnosis, and daily health routines such as exercise, meditation, and diet."
Culture and Attachment Development »
"...I propose to examine how cultural variations affect the development of personality and interpersonal attachment."
Culture of Beauty »
"Today, beauty is a form of currency. According to researchers, attractiveness is associated with wealth, getting jobs, and finding a mate, and the self-perception of beauty is associated with living a long, happy, healthy lifestyle. The stakes of beauty and of feeling beautiful are extraordinarily high."
Disabilities and Relationships »
"...I intend to explore how individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) interact among themselves and others, establish healthy relationships, and expand their social networks. By 'disability,' I include cognitive impairments and limitations that hinder those who have IDDs such as autism and Down’s Syndrome from being able to continue their education or obtain jobs after high school."
Eastern and Western Medicine »
"...I propose to examine whether practices such as acupuncture, meditation, and other alternative medicine should be integrated into the conventional science-based practices taught in most American medical schools."
Emotional Intelligence »
"...I plan to study how individuals perceive and process emotional information--the communication and behavioral display of the emotional response as well as the neural mechanisms that characterize them."
Entrepreneurship in Aerospace: From Startup to Liftoff »
"How does a research paper become a business enterprise? How is knowledge converted into technology? We interact with myriad technologies every day, unaware of their long journeys from idea to reality. The entrepreneurial processes that take raw science and refine it into a product or service, specifically in the aerospace industry, are the subject of my inquiry."
Environment and Depression »
"...I propose to study the relationship between the brain and stressful events that trigger depression. I am focused on the environmental factors that cause the changes in brain chemistry and physiology that result in clinically diagnosed Major Depressive Disorder (hereafter referred to as 'depression')."
Epigenetics and Disease »
"...I propose to examine how nutrition as well as the environment affect the epigenetic genome and whether or not this genome can be manipulated for disease prevention."
The Evolution of News Media »
"...I propose to explore the changing ways the public has received news from newspapers, radio, television, and the internet over the past 50 years."
Food, the Food System, and Health »
"I will analyze the American diet: not only what we eat, but also the forces that shape our diet and the consequences for our health. Can a capitalistic food system be expected to foster a healthy diet? To what extent should the government interfere to ensure a healthy population?"
Forensic Accounting and Business Ethics »
"...I began reflecting on what I had seen and read, and noticed a disturbing theme: the types of crime that had the largest impact on society attracted the least attention..."
The Fourth Dimension in Modern Art »
"The fourth dimension was explored from only mathematical standpoints until Maurice Princet, an early 20th-century actuary with an affinity for avant-garde artists, introduced Poincaré’s theories to Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp. The thought that a fourth-dimensional being could see an object from all sides influenced the piece Picasso was working on at the time, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon..."
From Idea to Screen »
"The ultimate goal of my interdisciplinary field of study, 'From Idea to the Screen,' is to write a screenplay for a feature film between 70 and 210 minutes long which can be taken into production in the future. For my screenplay to be picked up by an agent, I propose to study the development process in order to learn how my ideas can be effectively communicated to others and translated to the screen."
Global Pandemics »
"I am mainly interested in studying how the recent West African Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak might influence the way that global health threats are treated in the future. Officials are currently following recently updated World Health Organization (WHO) protocol to counteract the spread of EVD. However, this protocol did not account for the speed with which EVD is currently spreading. I would like to explore how officials might change their policy to expedite containment of a virus such as Ebola."
Globalization and Development »
"Although the World Bank reports extreme poverty throughout the world has been reduced from 43.1% in 1990 to 20.6% in 2010, third-world countries continue to face debilitating challenges. Disease, corruption, and inadequate infrastructure impede progress and continue to foster this cycle of poverty..."
Health Care Education in the Developing World »
"I propose to examine how to teach preventative health care practices to communities, especially children and adolescents, in third-world countries. Lack of access to medical facilities, poor sanitation, crumbling infrastructure, and political instability all contribute to high mortality rates. However, no factor is more critical than the lack of health education..."
History of Misinformation »
"...I propose to examine the history of popular misconceptions and their effects on American politics, policies, and behavior from the mid-19th century to the present day."
Inclusion in Special Education in America »
"...I wish to study how enhancing relations with teachers and other students can improve academic performance and behavior of students with developmental disorders. I would also study how developmental disorders neurologically affect information processing and how such differences should be taken into account during instruction and interaction."
Intercultural Marriages »
"...I propose to examine how marriages between two people of different cultures affect both the marriage itself and relationships within the family..."
Literacy and the Deaf »
"According to the Georgia State University Research Foundation, Deaf and profoundly hard-of-hearing people in the US as a group have extremely low literacy levels; 75% of Deaf 18-year-olds are functionally illiterate and can only read and write at a third- or fourth-grade level..."
Math, Music, and the Mind »
"...I propose to combine math and music by looking at them through the lens of cognitive psychology..."
Medicine, Culture, and Economics »
"...I propose to examine how culture and economics influence the practice and consumption of conventional and traditional medicine. Conventional Western medicine, the most popular type of medicine practiced in the U.S., is based on the treatment of symptoms through drugs and surgery."
Mexican-American Culture and Medicine »
"Both of my parents have Master’s degrees, both grew up poor with little access to medicine, and, after having to see loved ones suffer due to being unable to afford doctor visits, both understand the value of doctors’ visits. Both of my parents, however, also supplement visits to the doctor with visits to shaman-like curanderas..."
Music and Alzheimer's »
"...I propose to examine the neurobiological effects that different components of music have on Alzheimer’s patients..."
Music in Film »
"...I propose to examine how music in films evokes psychological and physiological responses in the audience and how it reinforces the storyline."
Perception of Race and Ethnicity in Children »
"One of the most persistent factors in human conflicts, both large and small, is the misinterpretation of behaviors or miscommunication of our intentions with people of different backgrounds. And some of the most painful of these conflicts involve race and ethnicity."
Performing Musical Theatre »
"The 'musical' took inspiration from Gilbert and Sullivan as well as Harrigan and Hart, the first recorded playwrights and producers to combine music and dance into their comedic productions. The first variety of performance to give equal importance to contributions of music, dance and plot to the overall effect and message of the piece originated in the United States in the mid- to late 1800s."
Physics in the Public Sphere »
"...I propose to study how physics is depicted by media and how this depiction affects public opinion and support for the continuation of physics research and education."
Picturing Virtue in Modern Fairy Tales »
"...I hope to gain an understanding of how virtues, and the tales made to embody them, are represented across a range of visual media in the global west."
The Politics of Natural Gas »
"...I propose to examine the possible impacts on our environment, economy, global relations, and human health that a growing natural gas industry, particularly through hydraulic fracturing, is likely to have over the next twenty years."
Psyche-therapy »
"...I propose to examine the therapeutic uses of Eastern conceptions of personality development as well as Carl Jung’s established concepts of the Psyche."
Race and Class in America »
"I intend to study the economic stagnation, 150 years after the abolition of slavery, of descendants of the slave trade in the contemporary United States. I am interested in why these descendants own significantly fewer businesses proportionately than other groups."
The Science and Nurturing of Creativity »
"...I propose to determine what it means, both physically and socially, to be creative."
Science, Literature, and the Western Imaginary »
"...I propose to examine how science has been portrayed in literature in the West, and how these depictions have driven the public’s attitude towards and understanding of science."
The Science of Food and Psychology of Eating »
"...I propose to examine how psychological associations with food as well as biochemical qualities of foods impact an individual’s diet. Such psychological associations include eating habits, cultural practices pertaining to food, social implications of food and eating, and emotional food associations."
Social Media and Public Health »
"...I propose to examine how the advent of new technology has impacted the public awareness and understanding of disease in the United States. I intend to focus specifically on social media and social media campaigns affecting general health concerns..."
Social Identity »
"...I propose to examine the dynamics of identity formation and the collective framing processes that accompany it in social settings."