Undergraduate Thesis Examples

This page contains examples of Undergraduate Theses from students who have graduated with research distinction in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

All undergraduate theses completed at The Ohio State University are stored at the Knowledge Bank at OSU Libraries and can be accessed via their Search Interface.

2021 Graduates

Evan Fitzmaurice

Migration and Stability of Multi-Planet Circumbinary Systems
Project Advisor: Dr. David Martin, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Jessica Kulp

Recreating the "Origins of the Elements" Planetarium Show and Curriculum Module
Project Advisor: Dr. Wayne Schlingman, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

Lily Loyer

Analyzing Unusual Stars in Kepler
Project Advisor: Dr. Mathieu Vrard, Center for Cosmology and Astro Particle Physics
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault, Department of Astronomy

Maria Pudoka

Inspecting Stellar Angular Momentum Evolution and Ages using High-Resolution Spectroscopy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Michael Rothman

Biosignature Detection in Exoplanetary Atmospheres Using Monte Carlo Simulations
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Anil Pradhan and Dr. Sultana Nahar, Department of Astronomy

Robert Von Holle

Active Galactic Nuclei and the Correlated Properties of Neighboring Galaxies
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

2020 Graduates

Serena Cronin

The Local Environments of Low-Redshift Supernovae
Project Advisor Dr. Dyas Utomo, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Adam Leroy, Department of Astronomy

Dhvanil Desai

Galaxy Alignment with Surrounding Large-Scale Structure
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Conor Hayes

Spectroscopic Confirmation of Four Ultra Diffuse Galaxy Candidates
Project Advisor: Dr. Johnny Greco, Center for Cosmology and Astro Particle Physics
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Martini, Department of Astronomy

Jared Kolecki

Measuring Elemental Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Ji Wang and Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

Sophie Lebowitz

The Dragonfly Galaxy III. An Imposter Radio Galaxy in the High Redshift Universe
Project Advisor: Dr. Bjorn Emonts, The National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Jeniveve Pearson

An Analysis of the Historically Observed Period Change of UV Piscium, RT Andromedae, and XY Ursae Majoris Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Approach
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Gabriela Torrini

Studying angularly extended gamma-ray sources with VERITAS
Project Advisor: David Kieda, University of Utah
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Laura Lopez, Department of Astronomy

Jack Warfield

An Intermediate-Age α-Rich Galactic Population Beyond the Solar Neighborhood
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault and Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy

2019 Graduates

Dominic Flournoy

Intrinsic Shape Alignment of Early versus Late Type Galaxies
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Ness Mayker

HI Balmer Jump Temperatures for Extragalactic HII Regions in the CHAOS Galaxies
Project Advisor: Dr. Danielle Berg, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

2018 Graduates

Macy Huston

Making Microlensing Predictions With a New Population Synthesis Galactic Model
Project Advisor: Dr. Matthew Penny, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Michael Macuga

The Fraction of Active Galactic Nuclei in the USS 1558-003 Protocluster at z = 2.53
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Paul Martini, Department of Astronomy

2012-2017 Graduates

Lawrence Capuder

Contribution of Solar Mass Loss to the Solution the Faint Young Sun Paradox for Physically Motivated Mass Loss Prescriptions
Thesis Advisors: Dr. Marc Pinsonneault & Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

James Derrick

The Green Valley: Separating Galaxy Populations in Color-Magnitude Space
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Andrew Gallagher

Searching for Dark Galaxies Via Their Distorted Companions in the SDSS
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Barbara Ryden, Department of Astronomy

Zachary Hartman

Looking for the dM in sdB+dM Systems
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Denise Hung

Metallicities and Temperatures for Two Metal-Rich and Two Metal-Poor Galaxies
Project Advisor: Dr. Kevin Croxall, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Richard Pogge, Department of Astronomy

Jacob Luhn

Circumbinary Planets via Microlensing
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Scott Gaudi, Department of Astronomy

Mallory Molina

Inter-Percentile Velocity Width: An Alternative Parametrization of the Velocity Field of the Broad-Line Region
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Bradley Peterson, Department of Astronomy

Elizabeth Otto

Chemical Abundances of CH Stars in Omega Centauri
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Johnson

Rachel Patton (Cannata)

Exploring Sources of Contamination in Kepler Surveys for Stellar Rotation
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Joseph Shulze

Characterization of LP133-373: A Double-line, Eclipsing dMe Binary
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Donald Terndrup, Department of Astronomy

Andrew Taylor

A Possible Evolutionary Channel for the Recently Discovered Class of Millisecond Pulsars in Long, Eccentric Orbits
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Todd Thompson, Department of Astronomy

Erika Wagoner

Testing Stellar Models for M Dwarfs
Project Advisor: Dr. Sarah Schmidt, Department of Astronomy
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Johnson, Department of Astronomy