The Quest | The Free Press of Reed College

Thesis Christ: Brian Moore

Economics major and and former Student Body President Brian Moore wrote his thesis on government policy change and whether or not this effects investments made by manufacturing companies. In times of economic downturn, Moore says, many say that the government should not try to change policy, as this creates an uncertain economic environment that possibly discourages investment. For instance, “if you’re a small manufacturer, and the government is considering regulating your industry, you’re less likely to invest until you know how that regulation is going to look, or how that regulation might effect you as a firm.”

Thesis Christ: Clara Redwood

Clara Redwood’s ’13 thesis: “Creating Origami Crease Patterns for Curved 3 Dimensional Objects.”   Clara Redwood’s ‘13 thesis desk is littered with origami paper. Clara, the only girl who is strictly a math major in her class, is writing her thesis with Math Professor Irena Swanson on folding algorithms. Clara, of Buffalo, New York explains [...]

Thesis Christ: Frank Sosa

Eight years ago, scientists at Yale University tested seven capuchin monkeys to see whether they deviated from a basic economic theory: that, when faced with an economic choice, humans (or, in this case, primates) will act rationally. Unsurprisingly, they did. But the important finding from the study was that the capuchin monkeys deviated from the [...]

Thesis Christ: Heidi Whitehouse ‘13

In the Congo in the time of King Leopold II, Belgian colonists and companies brutally exploited indigenous Congolese peoples in the name of “civilization.” Such is the premise of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a Victorian-era novella that is touted in academic circles as a scathing criticism of racist imperialists. But with her thesis, Heidi Whitehouse ’13 points out that Conrad’s novella may not be as anti-racist as academics are prone to believe—and that, in fact, Conrad’s language bolsters the racist language of the Victorian Era.

Thesis Christ: Autumn Dobbins ‘13

Sometimes, at the end of an odyssey, you have to walk around, waiting for someone to ask if your oar is a fan for winnowing grain. Sometimes you do a thesis.

Autumn Dobbins ’13, of Kirksville, Missouri is doing her Theater thesis on a new way of designing for the stage to reflect the digital age.

Thesis Christ: Danny Sellers

In the 1990s, development economist Amartya Sen formulated a controversial theory. He postulated that countries that have a free press and competitive elections are better at averting famines, and he used events in Ethiopia, Sudan, Botsawana, and Zimbabwe to prove his point. Using the same countries as Sen, and incorporating three additional African countries, Political Science major Danny Sellers ’13 will seek to challenge this theory.

Cool Thesis of the Week: Katelyn Best

Thirty years ago in Managua, Nicaragua, a group of students had an incredibly rare opportunity. After the Sandinista revolution, a school for disabled children was founded, bringing over 400 previously isolated deaf children into contact with each other. Initially having no language with which to communicate, the children interacted by making up their own signs [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Wyatt Alt

Wyatt Alt’s ’13 thesis? Counting the Number of Domino Tilings in the M x N Projective Plane. “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Max Maller

Much of the material academics study is the product of the elite. But Max Maller ’13 seeks to study an art form that rose out of the lower echelons of 19th Century China. His Chinese thesis, which he is working on with Professor Hyong Rhew, explores the art and evolution of Xiangsheng, a popular form of comedy in China that originated in the markets and temple fairs of Beijing during the Qing Dynasty.

Cool Thesis of the Week: AnnaLise Bender-Brown

In Western culture, female genital mutilation is regarded as a violent act against women that is a product of patriarchal oppression. Girls who are victims of this mutilation are stripped of their agency and coerced into a ritual that destroys the possibility of sexual pleasure in the future. AnnaLise Bender-Brown is out to deconstruct these [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Transforming Russian Graves into Artists’ Books

“Samizdat,” a portmanteau literally meaning “self-published” that was applied to carbon-copies of censored materials that dissidents made and circulated in the Soviet-era.  Cemeteries spark a morbid curiosity in many people and move us to ponder the lives of the dead. Tombstones reveal limited information about the deceased, which leads us to wonder – how much [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Tristan Nieto

Tristan Nieto ’12 is updating a tradition-heavy cult ritual. Fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show are well acquainted with the film’s cult rituals. When fans get together to watch the 1975 B-movie, the screenshow is accompanied by a cast of actors in front of the the movie, who shadow the movements of the actors [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Alan Montecillo

Alan Montecillo ’13 looks past the smut to see the music. If you mention the 17th-century Chinese novel The Plum and the Golden Vase to most people in China, says Alan Montecillo ’13, “the first thing that comes to mind is pornography.” The impulse is understandable. The novel is filled with about 70 vividly described [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Andy Malkin

Some games, maybe one played on a paper tablecloth waiting for food at a restaurant, don’t seem like they were meant to be taken seriously. But Andy Malkin ’13, of Ojai, California, says there’s a lot behind even some simple games. Andy is writing his math thesis with professors Joe Roberts and Jamie Pommershein on [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Shakespeare for the Masses

Lisa Henderson is taking Shakespeare to the SU to remind people how his plays were originally—crude, spontaneous, and geared toward everyone. Shakespeare—the name evokes fear in high school English classes the world over. Brought to mind is an elitist, inaccessible playwright who takes a doctorate to be understood. Not so, says Lisa Henderson ’12. Lisa, [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Marie Perez

Marie Perez ’12 is rooting through garbage for her thesis—and finding money. Portland has an interesting history of waste disposal, says Marie Perez ’12. The Alphabet District in Northwest is built on compacted trash over an old wetlands, and there was a time when people expected the city’s rivers to be “cleansing, self-healing entities.” The [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: LiLu Sexton

Each week, The Quest profiles the thesis of one senior whose work is worth sharing with the Reed community. The purpose of this column is to increase awareness among Reedies of the work being done in various academic fields and to make disparate forms of scholarship accessible and understandable to all. Society relies on law [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: “Suburban Paradise or ‘Sprawlsville, Washington’?”

Walking through the city, it is easy to look at stores and people, taking in their individual character. What many people do not consider, however, is the larger layout of the city. For Alex Walker ’12, however, the broader organization of a city is of utmost interest. His History thesis, “Suburban Paradise or ‘Sprawlsville, Washington’?: [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Fantastical Genderfuck Circus

“Reedies often forget to interact with the real world,” says Erika Kurth ’12. While Reed enjoys a relatively high level of tolerance on campus, students can easily forget that this is not the case in the rest of the world. This is why, Erika, of San Antonio, Texas, decided to use her thesis production to [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Intonation Patterns in an Arabic Oral Epic

“No, it’s not this one; it’s that one.” “It’s actually not the way I thought.” When we speak English, we rely on rhythm, speed, and intonation to convey the difference between new and given intonation, giving extra weight to words that convey previously unknown facts. Though this may seem elemental to English speakers, it is [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity

All too often, the complaint over the impracticality of the humanities resounds through Hauser: “All these abstract ideas, none of them really exist. Not like what they do in the hard sciences.” Not so for Gabriel Barello ’12, a Physics major from Seattle, Washington. Gabriel, who is working on his thesis with Professor David Latimer, [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: A Qing Dynasty Social Satire

Each week, The Quest profiles the thesis of one senior whose work is worth sharing with the Reed community. The purpose of this column is to increase awareness among Reedies of the work being done in various academic fields and to make disparate forms of scholarship accessible and understandable to all. Throughout their primary education, [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Claire Thomforde-Garner

Each week, The Quest profiles the thesis of one senior whose work is worth sharing with the Reed community. The purpose of this column is to increase awareness among Reedies of the work being done in various academic fields and to make disparate forms of scholarship accessible and understandable to all. For most Reedies, dancing [...]

Cool Thesis of the Week: Cherenkov Radiation to Characterize a Reactor

Reed’s research nuclear reactor has tons of cool features. Its core contains 3,000 grams of uranium-235, and it can put out as much as 250 kilowatts. However, one feature is probably the coolest: When brought up to power, the water around the reactor core emits a blue glow. This glow, called Cherenkov radiation, is the [...]