Honor Students 2026

Name: Mahliet Demissie
Major: Anthropology & Human Bio (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: The Sacred Plate: Food, Faith and Limits of Secular Dietary Labels in Ethiopian Orthodox Tsom
Advisor: Dr. Jessica Ham
Tell me a little about your honors project:
I was exceptionally confident going in, got humbled immediately, then eventually figured it out . . . mostly.

 

Name: Theo Lin
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: Hominin population connectivity and isolation across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition: Toward an application of density-based spatial clustering in understanding mechanisms of hominin macroevolution
Advisor: Dr. Laura van Holstein
Tell me a little about your honors project:
Stated broadly, I wanted to develop a method using cluster analysis to understand where hominins—extinct human ancestors—were around the globe, and when; and, whether the extent of these hominin occupations correlated with intense glacial cycles during the Pleistocene ("Ice Age").
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I think that this methodology, as well as other new ways to work with our fossil data, have so much room for improvement and exploration in the future, and I am really excited at the prospect of contributing to this kind of computational work in my field.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I'm a somewhat blindly ambitious person by nature, so learning to check that ambition in order to complete specific, bounded goals, focusing on little details and single tasks, and really seeing each tree within the forest has been quite the learning experience.
What are you doing next?
I have recently accepted an offer from the University of Cambridge in the UK to pursue an MPhil in Biological Anthropological Science. I am also looking to make my second trip to Kenya to present results from this project, as well as another project from last field season.

 

Name: Che Skeete
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: Roots: An Ethnobotanical Inquiry Into the Maintenance of Barbadian Plant Medicines from the Era of Enslavement in Present-day Barbadians
Advisor:Dr. Cassandra Quave
Tell me a little about your honors project:
My project looks into the continuity of medicinal plant traditions in Barbados from the era of enslavement until the present. Through ethnographic interviews and plant specimen collection, I was able to record information and stories about how plants are used as medicine in Barbados and how this potentially influenced health outcomes and perspectives on the Barbadian healthcare system.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I really loved learning about the common experiences behind taking castor oil. So many people hated the taste and the experience, but continued to use it because they believed in the benefits!
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I learned how to critique my own expectations and beliefs through my research.
What are you doing next?

I’ll be entering a Masters of Public Health program at Rollins this fall in the Behavioral, Social, Health and Education Sciences program.

 

Name: Daniel Sorungbe
Major: Anthropology & Human Bio (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: YOUPHORIA: Multimodal Experience in Rave, Religion, and Personal Inquary
Advisor: Dr. Debra Vidali
Tell me a little about your honors project:
This thesis examines how Black queer individuals use sensory experience to create meaningful, and at times spiritual, forms of life within Atlanta’s rave culture. Beginning from the question of how people excluded from, or inadequately included in, institutional religious spaces seek spiritual experience in secular ones, I argue that rave is not simply a site of escape or hedonism, but a space where sound, embodiment, memory, and collectivity generate alternative ways of knowing and belonging. Drawing on quare studies, sensory anthropology, and scholarship on Afro-diasporic ritual, I introduce YOUPHORIA as a concept for the Black queer possibility of finding genuine experience, self-expression, and collective joy in rave.
Methodologically, the project combines ethnomusicological and historical analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, and multimodal creative practice. It traces continuities between Afro-diasporic sonic ritual and contemporary rave culture, then grounds those connections in participant observation, autoethnographic reflection across Atlanta and London, and interviews with Black queer ravers in Atlanta. The project concludes with a mixtape and visual component that treat sound and creative practice not as supplements to analysis, but as analytic forms in themselves.
Ultimately, this thesis argues that Black queer rave participation functions as both an epistemological intervention and a practice of worldmaking, opening space for meaning, pleasure, and relationality beyond the limits of institutional life.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I learned that the best research can even come from everyday interactions, and, at least in anthropology, what "counts" as research can be as broad as humanity itself.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I learned that I'm a lot more resilient than I ever thought. I never thought I would write a thesis, let alone one that was more than 120 pages. I can do anything I put my mind to.
What are you doing next?

Working before re-applying for graduate programs next cycle.

 

Name:Aditi Thakare
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology (BS)
Title of Honors Thesis: The Role of NADPH Oxidase 4 (NOX4) in the Regulation of Cardiac Fibrosis in Heart Failure
Advisor:Michael A. Burke, MD
Tell me a little about your honors project:
My Honors project focused on how the enzyme NADPH Oxidase 4 (NOX4) may contribute to cardiac fibrosis, a harmful scarring process that worsens heart failure. Using a transgenic mouse model, cell culture experiments, and RNA sequencing, I studied where NOX4 is expressed in the heart and how it responds to profibrotic signaling pathways such as TGFβ.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
My research highlights a fibroblast-specific role for NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) in myocardial remodeling and suggests that targeting NOX4-dependent redox signaling may represent a therapeutic strategy to limit fibrotic progression in heart failure.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
This experience taught me how to troubleshoot setbacks and stay patient when research did not go as planned. Professionally, I developed stronger skills in experimental design, data analysis, and scientific communication through presenting and writing about my work.
What are you doing next?

I will be starting medical school in July at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

 

Name:Sasha Trukhnova
Major: Anthropology (BA)
Title of Honors Thesis: Kitchens of Becoming: Gender, Foodwork, and Transformation in Morocco
Advisor: Dr. Peter Little
Tell me a little about your honors project:
"Kitchens of Becoming" seeks to investigate the impact of food rituals on everyday understandings and expressions of gender in Morocco. Through a synthesis of three different case studies, I aim to articulate the profound connection between food preparation and gender identity found in both domestic and commercial kitchens. My thesis is grounded in stories to stray from generalizations and rather highlight the importance of intimate and individual lives.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
My research highlighted a range of gender expressions, including a transgender man working in a market kitchen in Marrakech. From his story, I learned how different food landscapes can be central sites of gender affirmation and sanction. Ethnographies about transgender lives in the Middle East and North Africa region are few to find, and I am excited to contribute to both MENA queer studies and food studies in this way.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
Conducting research in Morocco crystallized for me the importance of story-focused ethnography. I quickly learned that analyzing one family's kitchen reveals intricacies about politics, religion, and social dynamics that generalizations could not.
What are you doing next?

I will be teaching 7-12 English with Teach for America in Austin, Texas.