My thesis is comprised of two articles, titled "Journeying Through (An)Other World: Examining the Role of Magic and Transformational Otherness in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Magic, Muggles, and Mudbloods: Examining Magical Otherness in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series." The introduction frames the thematic, theoretical, and critical connections...
My thesis, entitled “The Clerk’s Tale: Literal Monstrosities and Allegorical Problems,” argues that Chaucer’s Clerk is engaging both sides of a binary system. The Clerk has situated himself in a precarious position between two major schools of thought in the medieval culture, Franciscan and Dominican; the former promotes the will...
In this thesis I explore the ways in which twenty-first century Americans have access
to Geoffrey Chaucer and his works. I look at issues surrounding Chaucer within the
canon debate, high school history and literature textbooks, and Chaucer in popular
culture, such as in movies like A Knight's Tale. I...
This project examines two understudied female characters from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales who emerge as subversive figures by striving to maintain control over their bodies and being. Through my analyses of the Knight’s and Second Nun’s Tales, I reveal how virginity correlates with bodily autonomy for the narratives’ respective protagonists,...
My thesis, entitled "Fantastic Histories: How Malory's Morte Darthur
Influenced Tolkien's The Silmarillion," argues that J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion
shares distinct similarities in style and content with Sir Thomas Malory's Morte
Darthur, primarily in the lack of detail in the descriptions of characters and events, as
each attempts to create a...
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been steadily increasing from anthropogenic energy production, development and use. Carbon cycling in the terrestrial biosphere, particularly forest ecosystems, has an important role in regulating atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. US West coast forest management policies are being developed to implement forest bioenergy production while...
Biodiversity losses in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems are accelerating at a global scale and the most threatened vertebrate taxa are those associated with freshwater habitats. The causes of biodiversity losses are often complex and include synergistic effects of natural and human-induced stressors, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, urbanization,...
This capstone study reports on global warming-induced changes to the Colorado subalpine zone climate and disturbance regimes. It assesses the impacts of these changes upon the dominant subalpine tree species and summarizes future species distribution modeling for these and other nearby species potentially suitable for the future subalpine zone in...
Climate change is causing the world’s oceans to increase in temperature, threatening many populations of organisms. Corals are of particular concern, due to both their ecological importance and sensitivity to high temperatures. Coral populations in the Persian Gulf, however, have been surviving in normally-lethal thermal conditions. An analysis of specific...