As the 2024-2025 school year comes to a close, senior students finish up their Capstone projects, with some majors requiring a thesis project to finalize their major. Some of these majors include Politics, Communications, and Psychology, with topics and objects of study varying widely. 

Psychology major Stephen Mineo ’25 said that his “thesis was a systematic review on the relationship between sleep and emotion regulation.” 

In determining an area of study for his thesis project, Mineo said that he “chose [this topic] because I’ve dealt with sleep problems in the past, and I wanted to look further into how it could affect somebody,” while looking at emotional aspects. 

With a successful thesis project for the psychology major,  Mineo said that for his research he “did a systematic review on past research done on my topic and used software to help me organize all my data.” 

In reflecting on the hours put into his thesis project, Mineo said that “the process of organizing my data and putting it all where I wanted was easy but time consuming.” 

Another thesis project was completed by Communication major Nolan Frame ’25. Frame said his topic of research for his thesis was “the ethical implications of data collection and surveillance in online communication.” 

“My objects of study were The Truman Show and 1998, so that was more of a voyeuristic, reality TV type of surveillance,” Frame said. 

Frame’s thesis project also demonstrated the evolution to Edward Snowden, “who worked for the government and released data about our government’s unethical practices,” Frame said. 

“In my junior year Communication Theory class, I saw a video on Instagram or something about The Truman Show, and I thought it was interesting to write about,” Frame said when reflecting on his choice to study the film for his thesis project. 

While undergoing his research, Frame said he “looked at the two films and I also looked at the library’s databases,” for sources. 

Ultimately, Frame feels that his thesis project was successful in exploring the implications of surveillance, which he thinks is an important and real-world issue that is still faced today. 

Though only two thesis projects were addressed, congratulations to all of the fascinating and well-researched thesis and research projects done by the Class of2025!