Did you know the Acumen is the home for all dissertations and theses produced at the University of Alabama since 2009?

Here’s a survey of some of the interesting questions UA students asked with their research in 2013 and 2014, representing 18 different degree programs!

Media

• How does print media cover disabled athletes? (Dissertation, Kinesiology)
• How did the Obama and Romney camps use social media during the 2012 presidential campaign? (Thesis, Advertising and Public Relations)
• Can we learn news from online aggregators like BuzzFeed? (Thesis, Journalism)

Education

• Are there similarities in the teaching styles of African Americans at church and in a regular classroom setting? (Dissertation, Curriculum and Instruction)
• What kind of authority does the NCAA have over student athletes? (Dissertation, Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies)
• Are teachers getting enough training in LGBT issues? (Disseration, Education)

Arts

• What role has the heroic tenor voice part played in popular opera theater? (Dissertation, Music)
• How has Shakespeare been appropriated by modern romance novels? (Dissertation, English)
• In what ways did landscape painter John Everett Millais influence the Pre-Raphaelite movement? (Thesis, Art History)

Culture

• Does positive attention from fathers influence risky teen behavior? (Thesis, Human Development and Family Studies)
• How has racial stratification arisen in the U.S. Latino community? (Dissertation, Political Science)
• Can reading familiar texts help students learn a foreign language more easily? (Dissertation, in Spanish, Modern Languages)

Science and Medicine

• How is tourist activity affecting the mangrove forests of Belize’s Ambergris Caye? (Thesis, Geography)
• Is chromium really the essential element? (Dissertation, Chemistry)
• Does gender make any difference in child health in Tanzania? (Thesis, Anthropology)

Engineering and Technology

• How do you make liquid rockets work better? (Thesis, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics)
• What will future power grids look like? (Dissertation, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
• How can a construction company better estimate the cost of materials? (Thesis, Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering)

Want to find more student projects like this? Go to Acumen and, before you type in your search query, use the dropdown menu on the search bar to select Research.