Department of Mathematics

Undergraduate Thesis

Undergraduate Thesis

An undergraduate thesis is a singly-authored mathematics document, usually between 10 and 80 pages, on some topic in mathematics. The thesis is typically a mixture of exposition of known mathematics and an account of your own research.

To write an undergraduate thesis, you need to find a faculty advisor who will sponsor your project. The advisor will almost surely be a faculty member of the pure math department, though on occasion we have accepted theses written by people with applied math advisors. In these rare cases, the theses have been essentially pure math theses.

Departmental Honors in Math

To get departmental honors in math you need to write an undergraduate thesis and turn it in by May 1 of your senior year.

Writing a Thesis (PDF)

Past Thesis

YearStudentThesis TitleAdvisor
2010Alex KruckmanThe Ax-Kochen Theorem: An Application of Model Theory to AlgebraDan Abramovich/Michael Rosen
2010Thomas LawlerOn the Local Structure of Triangulation GraphsRichard Schwartz
2011Andrew FurnasMathematical Modeling of Woven FabricGovind Menon
2011Eric SporkinModifying the BLS Signature Scheme Using IsogeniesReinier Broker
2011Tyler K. WoodruffDiscrepancy Upper Bounds for Certain Families of Rotated SquaresJill Pipher
2012Nadejda DrenskaRepresentation of Periodic Data with Fourier Methods and WaveletsJill Pipher
2012Zev ChonolesHermite's Theorem for Function FieldsMichael Rosen
2013Kevin CastoThe Desargues-Hilbert BilliardRichard Schwartz/Govind Menon
2013In-Jee JeongOuter Billiards with ContractionRichward Schwartz
2013Benjamin LeVequeApproaches to Homomorphic Encryption Using Polynomial Rings and the Chinese Remainder TheoremJeffrey Hoffstein
2013Lucas Mason-BrownApplications of the Frobenius TheoremMichael Rosen
2013Yilong YangStable Billiard Paths on PolygonsRichard Schwartz
2014Nicholas LourieThe Tripod Configurations of Curves and SurfacesRichard Schwartz
2014Michael ThalerExtending Conway's Tiling Groups to a Triangular Lattice with Three DeformationsRichard Schwartz
2015Justin SemonsenFactorization of Birational MapsDan Abramovich
2015Kamron VachiraprasithOn the Average Order of Arithmetic Functions Over Monic Square-Free Polynomials in Finite FieldsMichael Rosen
2015Francis WhiteInvariant Subspace Theorems in Infinite-Dimensional AnalysisSergei Treil
2015Zijian YaoArakelov Theory on Arithmetic SurfacesStephen Lichtenbaum
2016Claire FrechetteDessin D'Enfants and Equivalent SetsMelody Chan
2018Collin CademartoriStability and Symmetry in Energy Minimizing Point ConfigurationsGovind Menon
2018Michael MuellerCalculating Cobordism RingsThomas Goodwillie
2018Lewis SillettoA Parameterization of Convex Projective GroupsRichard Schwartz
2020Jongyung LeeDifferential Operators and Algorithmic Weighted ResolutionDan Abramovich
2020Owen LynchOpen Systems for the Working MathematicianYuri Sulyma
2021Alexander BaumanSection Problems for Graph Configuration SpacesBena Tshishiku
2021Matei P. CoiculescuSome New Results in Geometric AnalysisRichard Schwartz
2021Henry TalbottDisjointness of Linear Fractional Transformations on Serre TreesRichard Schwartz
2021Nathan ZeleskoChip-firing Using M-BasesMelody Chan
2022Griffin EdwardsUntitled Undergraduate Honors ThesisYuri Sulyma
2022Dichuan David GaoFunctorial Casual ModelsJustin Holmer
2022Jasper LiuCryptography based on Finite Field IsomorphismsJeffrey Hoffstein
2024Alex FeinerInfinitely wildly ramified arboreal representations for postcritically finite polynomials with potential good reductionJoseph Silveman
2024Mattie JiSome Morse Theoretic Results on Definable FunctionsRichard Schwartz
2024Tyler LaneDereived Equivalences Between Torors Under Abelian VarietiesBrendan Hassett
2024Smita RajanThe Gelfand-MacPherson Correspondence and Torus Orbit Closures in GrassmanniansBrendan Hassett
2025Yongxin LiuHardy Space and Hartogs TriangleNathan Wagner
2025Edwin LuKac-Moody Algebras and Monstrous MoonshineIsabel Vogt
2025Ameer MuhialdeenConormal Show Rings of Uniform MatroidsMelody Chan