The senior theses and projects developed by environmental studies (ENST) majors reflect their diverse interests and areas of focus. For example, students may conduct field or laboratory research, explore policy issues, develop educational plans for local schools, conduct historical analyses, or develop a creative project in literature or art. Students develop close working relationships with their thesis advisor and second reader, who are ENST participating faculty from departments in different divisions of the College.
2021–22
Jane Ahn
Advisor: Randy Cornelius—Second Reader: Leonisa Ardizzone The Temporalities of Climate Violence: Mindfulness and Attention, the Many Facets of Violence, and Our Dying Planet
Kathryn Antonatos
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Learning to See, Seeing to Learn; Fostering A Deeper Knowledge of Nature Through Portraits of Hudson Valley Plants
Amelia Boyd
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Meg Ronsheim Mapping Vassar College Sustainability: Building a Dynamic, Student-led, and Institutionalized Sustainability Communication Resource
Lucy Brown
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Yvonne Elet An Ecological Landscaper on Campus: A Proposal to Address Restorative Land Practices in Vassar’s Climate Action Plan
Bailey Carrillo
Advisor: Lynn Christenson—Second Reader: Pinar Batur From Invasives to Cosmetics: Issues with Resource Extraction and Sustainability Within the Beauty Industry
Liam Condon
Advisor: Randy Cornelius—Second Reader: Himadeep Muppidi For You and Your Country: How the Civilian Climate Corps Reconceptualizes Climate Policy
Katie Doroski
Advisor: Alison Keimowitz—Second Reader: Pinar Batur Electrodialysis Desalination with Ion-Exchange Membranes and the Potential for Implementation in the Los Angeles Region
Danielle Douglas
Advisor: Kirsten Menking—Second Reader: Randy Cornelius Investigating the Effects of Glacier Retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana
Eric Feeney
Advisor: Chris Bjork—Second Reader: Laura Haynes Science Is for Everyone: Designing and Leading Biogeochemistry Activities for Elementary Students Across Spaces
Skylar Herrera-Ross
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Kirsten Menking Box It Up: Imagining a Long-Term Reusable To-Go Food Container Program at Vassar College
Chloe Kellner
Advisor: Jeff Walker—Second Reader: Pinar Batur Intentional Communities: A Utopian Reimaging of Green Building
Taber Kremer
Advisor: Laura Haynes—Second Reader: Yvonne Elet Rock, Water, and People: Nature Sports and Community
Jack McGlinchey
Advisor: Leonard Nevarez—Lynn Christenson Reimagining Suburban Lawns: A Guide to More Sustainable and Productive Yards
Jameson McLennan
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Lynn Christenson Exploring the Efficacy of Blue Bonds as a New Financial Tool for Conservation and Sustainable Development
Jack Oliver
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Leroy Cooper Food Deserts in Poughkeepsie: Origins and Implications
Madelaine Pelletier
Advisor: Jodi Schwarz—Second Reader: Yu Zhou Ecologically Sustainable and Economically Profitable Seaweed Mariculture in the United States: Lessons from Maine and China
Clara Pitt
Advisor: Jeff Walker—Second Reader: Yvonne Elet Wasteful Thinking: An Exploratory Study of Student Behaviors Towards Food Waste on the Vassar College Campus
Charlotte Rhoads
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Molly McGlennen Abstraction and Relation: How the Land Frameworks of the Penobscot Nation Deconstruct Settler Colonialism
Charlotte Schulman
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Lynn Christenson Is “Natural” The Best Case Scenario? An Analysis of The Natural Cosmetics Industry from An Environmental and Laborer Health Perspective
Ethan Skuches
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Identifying Opportunities and Pathways to Increase Carbon Sequestration through Reforestation on the Vassar Ecological Preserve
Madio Wallner
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Kirsten Menking Mapping the Distribution of Litter in the Lake Tahoe Basin
Maria Ziaja
Advisor: Paul Kane—Second Reader: Charles Arndt The Soul of a Nation: Russia’s Omnipresent Forests
2020–21
Samirah Aziz
Advisor: Lisa Paravisi—Second Reader: Himadeep Muppidi Sustainable Fashion: A Shift in Conscience and A Segway into Resistance
Zoe Camhi
Advisor: Jill Schneiderman—Second Reader: Randy Cornelius Can Board Games Save the World? Gaming for a Sustainable Future
Nicoletta Dinelli
Advisor: Andrew Davison—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini—Consultant: Rick Jones Placemaking in Crisis: Preserving Relationship to Place in Times of Pandemic & Climatic Change
George Edison
Advisor: Joe Nevins—Second Reader: Katie Hite The 1944 U.S.-Mexico Water Treaty and the Americanization of the Borderlands
Claire Furtwangler
Advisor: Jon Chenette—Second Readers: Lynn Christenson, Jeff Walker Shackled Waters: Illuminating the Movement to Breach the Lower Snake River Dams through Music, Story, and Song
Perri Goodman
Advisor: Samson Okoth Opondo—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini The Coloniality of Conservation: Slow Violence and the Dispossession of the Ahwahneechee in Yosemite National Park
Morgan Hayman
Advisor: Justin Touchon—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Earth, Rain & Fire: the Matrix of Sediment Transport in the Pacific Northwest
Skylar Herrera-Ross
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Kirsten Menking Box It Up: Imagining a Long-Term Reusable To-Go Food Container Program at Vassar College
Erica Hertzberg
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Alison Spodek Techno-racism: The Toxic Treadmill of the Digital Era
Melissa Hoffmann
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Ashley Fent Stopping the Expansion of Fossil Fuels in the Hudson Valley: The Strategies, Organizations, and Actions Needed to Make the Hudson Valley Fossil Free
Jacob Hunter
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Claire Sagan Approaching Catastrophe: An Exploration of Jewish Environmental Thought and Its Place in the Contemporary Climate Movement
Rachael Kraft
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Mario Cesareo A Movement Divided: The Latin American Fight Against Climate Change: Argentina’s Youth Movement
Madison Maguire
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Meg Ronsheim People, Places, and Spaces of Vassar
Jack McGlinchey
Advisor: Leonard Nevarez—Lynn Christenson Reimagining Suburban Lawns: A Guide to More Sustainable and Productive Yards
Greta Nelson
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Jodi Schwarz Seaweeds and the Seascape: An Anthology for an Undecided Future
Bronwyn Pappas-Byers
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Lynn Christenson Food for Thought: How Land Justice, Seed Sovereignty, and a Food Consciousness Rooted in Knowledge Justice Form the Foundations of a Food Sovereignty Transformation
Willow Parchment
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Pinar Batur Internalized Racism and Environmental Degradation in Jamaica: Connections and Hypotheses
Leanna Tang
Advisor: Tom Parker—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini Environment, Economics, and Equity: Sustainability Challenges and Proposals in Côte d’Ivoire’s Cacao Sector
Isabel Urbanski-Farrell
Advisor: Adedoyin Teriba—Second Reader: Zach Cofran Sustainability in Vernacular Architecture: Lessons From Passive Ventilation in the Traditional Architecture of Damascus and Ghadames
Vanessa Vazquez
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini An Exploration of the Violent Connections Between Environmental Racism and COVID-19 on Marginalized Communities
Benjamin Volk
Advisor: Judy Linn—Second Reader: Zach Cofran Anthropocene
Tamika Whitenack
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Diane Pater The Climate Crisis and Sustainable Agriculture: Impacts and Possibilities for Small Farms in Northern California
2019–20
Cutler, Savannah
Advisor: Kirsten Menking—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini Diatom Response to Changes in Water Chemistry During the Last Glacial Maximum in Estancia Basin, New Mexico
Gordon, Lucas
Advisor: April Beisaw—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini The Poughkeepsie Riverfront Project
Greenlees, Kai
Advisor: Randy Cornelius—Second Reader: Joe Nevins Panarchy on the Peninsula: Rockaways’ Risk, Response and Resilience Following Superstorm Sandy
Guo, Shijie
Advisor: Lynn Christenson—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham GIS-Based Wildlife Activity and Habitat Modeling Using Wildlife Cameras: A Study of the Hubbard Brook’s Moose
MacEwen, Adele
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini Sitting with The Oaks: A Journey Towards Greater Ecological Intelligence
Pierce, Ethan
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Chris Bjork A River’s Role in Climate Justice Education
Rodas, Sofia
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Jodi Schwarz The Fate of Oysters in a Time of Climate Change: How Cascading Impacts of Climate Change Are Forcing Oyster Aquaculturalists Into the Front Lines of Climate Change Opposition
Zenni, Wyn
Advisor: Myra Hughey—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini Speaking for the Frogs: Exploring Seasonal Variation in the Presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in New York State
2018–19
Julia Blass
Advisor: Joe Nevins—Second Reader: Jamie Kelly The Evolving Political Economy of Food Waste: Emerging Experiments in Combating Urban Food Insecurity
Sophie Cash
Advisor: Jodi Schwarz—Second Reader: Pinar Batur Climate Inclusion and an Inclusive Climate: The Why and the How of Integrating Climate Change in Higher Education
Haley Cubell
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Martha Kaplan Artist, NGO, and Corporate Environmental Activism Through Creative and Artistic Expression
Mitchell Davis
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Kirsten Menking City and Sea: Connecting the Urban and Natural Environment in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Stephen Kovari
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Using Camera Traps to Study Carnivores and Engage the Public in Conservation
Joan Krickellas
Advisor: Paul Kane—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini The Kyllini Hairbrush: A Pre-Teen Novel on the Climate Refugee Experience
Elise Matera
Advisor: Paul Kane—Second Reader: Pinar Batur Non-Zero Stuff I Accumulated in 2017
Mirit Rutishauser
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Lisa Paravisini Depicting the Destructive Beauty of Invasives
Thomas Schindelman
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: April Beisaw Silences, Symbols and Solutions: Understanding the American Environmental Imaginary of the 21st Century Through Eco-disaster Dystopian Film
Morrigan Turner
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Meg Ronsheim Growing Together: Bridging Human and Nature Connections at the Old Garden Art Space
Brendan Wirth
Advisor: Alison Keimowitz—Second Reader: Joe Nevins Mad Hatters of the Tioronda Hat Works: Legacies of Capitalist Enterprise and Environmental Inequity Stemming from the Hat-Making Industry in Beacon, New York
2017–18
John Ammondson
Advisor: Joe Nevins—Second Reader: Jeff Walker A River Runs Through It: Ecological Crisis, Environmental Justice, and Discourses of Salvation in the California Delta
Anna Beeman
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Paul Ruud Valuing the Co-Benefits of Safe Harbors Green: How Valuation Can Inform the Implementation of Green Infrastructure
Eilis Donohue
Advisor: Stuart Belli—Second Reader: Mark Andrews Natural Disaster Preparedness in the Anthropocene Case Study: Hurricane Sandy and New York City
Fiona Lunt
Advisor: Lynn Christenson—Second Reader: April Beisaw Science, Subjectivity, and Seeds: Development of a Conceptual Framework for Ecological Restoration through an Experimental Investigation and “Restoration” Project on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve
Clare McClellan
Advisor: Erin McCloskey—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Expanding Environmental Education Programs: Evaluating and Developing Environmental and Outdoor Education Field Experience Programs With the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center in Fergus Falls, Minnesota
Nick Olkovsky
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Food Sovereignty as a Process: Exploring the Multiple Dimensions of Food Sovereignty in Venezuela and Maine
Clara Pomper
Advisor: Stuart Belli—Second Reader: Leonard Nevarez An Examination of the Implications of State and Local Environmental Regulations for Grassroots Green Efforts
Jessie Prutisto-Chang
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham A Proposal for the Replacement of Ash Trees in Poughkeepsie Parks
Gregory Suplinskas
Advisor: Lisa Paravisini—Second Reader: Stuart Belli Producing Possibilities: Nature as a Transforming, Contested, and Coercive Agent in Queer Identity Production
Fate Syewoangnuan
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Zach Cofran Mapping and Managing the Ecological Communities of Vassar College’s Campus
2016–17
Jessica Cervantes
Advisor: Joe Nevins—Second Reader: Jeff Walker The Ecological Colonization of Kern County: Fracking, Colonization, Nature and Violence
Elise Ferguson
Advisor: Jill Schneiderman—Second Reader: Rick Jarow Problematizing “Mother Nature”: How Fear of the Feminine Has Ramifications for Women, Animals, and the Environment
Lydia Gold
Advisor: Erin McCloskey—Second Reader: Meg Ronsheim Path to Nature Stewardship: Creation and Implementation of a Multi-Sensory Nature Trail at the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve to Promote Cognitive Development and Nature Positive Behavior in Young Children
Rachel Marklyn
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Chris Bjork Environmental Education Through Signage on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve
Addison Tate
Advisor: Leonard Nevarez—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Poughkeepsie Produce and the Potential for Food Justice in the Hudson Valley
2015–16
Lucy Brainerd
Advisor: Lynn Christenson—Second Reader: Marque Miringoff Bull’s-Eye: An Interdisciplinary Study of Lyme Disease at Vassar College and in the Dutchess County, New York Area
Colin Cederna
Advisor: Mary Ann Cunningham—Second Reader: Stuart Belli The Water Lords
Samantha Crane
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Stuart Belli Wastelanding the South Bronx: Compounded Racism, Slow Violence, and Possible Rejuvenation
Sarah King
Advisor: Peter Antelyes—Second Reader: Randy Cornelius The Climate of Vulnerable Spaces: An ENST Thesis Project
Benjamin Lehr
Advisor: G. Borradori—Second Reader: R. Edwards Derrida on the Buffalo Commons
Ariel Looser
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Mark Andrews Taking Stock: Considering Value in the CSA Farm Share
Jackson Miller
Advisor: Paul Ruud—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham The Push for Solar Energy at Vassar: Working towards Carbon Neutrality with the Vassar Solar Initiative
Maria Morris
Advisor: Paul Kane—Second Reader: Jeff Walker Nature Experience as Sacred Experience, and the Production of Natural Places as Sacred Spaces in Contemporary America
Sarah Muskin
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Kirsten Menking Outdoor Education as Ecocide Resistance: A Case Study of the Country School in Madison, CT Used to Examine Environmental Education Within an Outdoor Education Program
Sacha Pfeufer
Advisor: Joe Nevins—Second Reader: Paul Kane The Nature of Resiliency: Urban Farming and the Negotiation of Difference in a Boston Neighborhood
Liliana Sabsowitz-Silverman
Advisor: Leonard Nevarez—Second Reader: Mark Schlessman Waste Wonders: The Hidden Flows, Politics and Culture of Food Waste
Naomi Sudo
Advisor: Meg Ronsheim—Second Reader: Mary Ann Cunningham Native Pollinator Restoration Within the CSA Model
Taylor Vann
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Elisabeth Chaves Environmentalism at a Crossroads: Characterizing the Political Spectrum of Environmental Law and Practice
Kristianna Weber
Advisor: Pinar Batur—Second Reader: Stuart Belli Postcolonial Ecologies of South Pacific Atolls: Climate Change, Vulnerability, and Global Responsibility