April 2008

Stress and Release.

Daily now I see amazing senior theses and projects. The time has come and the projects are being finished and defended. The diversity is astonishing. Consider three different engineering senior theses: One engineering student is working to complete his full-scale human skeleton. Another is wrapping up his research on "Electric Field Alignment of Gold Nano Rods." A third is writing on "Wound Healing and the Future of Tissue Engineering." I marvel at the ability of our students to work outside their disciplinary worlds: A Biology major is now finishing a thesis on "Nazi Legislation and Jewish Physicians." An English major is focusing on film, "Cultural Monsters: Morality and Social Commentary in 1970s Horror Films." Just yesterday (4/22) an Art Studio major had the opening of her exhibit of paintings based on fairy tales; her next port of call will be as a student in the USC School of Medicine. These are just a few examples from the more than 150 theses and projects that will be defended this month. It is exciting, inspiring, and I am cognizant of the efforts that go into these projects. As we get down to the wire it can be stressful. But the results are so wonderful and worth that extra push over the top. Graduation and celebration is right around the corner.

-Davis Baird, Dean

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