George F. Whitworth Honors Program

Category: Research

Britney Lewis

The stereotype of women apologizing more than men was tested by a psychology study which found that women apologized at higher frequencies. Yet, each gender apologized for an equal proportion of their offenses if it was recognized by them as a transgression (81% mean for men and women). My question was inspired by considering the compliment to an apology, forgiveness. If women engage with apology behavior at higher frequencies, whether or not a transgression has been fully realized, does this water down their engagement with relational repair? Conversely, does a lower frequency and a higher threshold for viewing a situation as apology-worthy influence greater levels of sincerity in the interpretation of forgiveness for men?

Sera Wiesen

With the overturing of Roe V Wade came a plague of misinformation surrounding reproductive health. This led to medical practitioners and specialists being misinformed and fearing prosecution for providing lifesaving procedures on pregnant women. Reproductive healthcare doesn’t just involve abortion, it includes emergency care, about the right to survive a pregnancy. The misinformation flooding the system is making everything worse. State laws are murky and full of vague language state by state, leaving medical professionals unsure if they’d be prosecuted for providing necessary, lifesaving care for their patients. To me, it is wrong that in a first world country, people are left to suffer because of this misinformation. My goal is to bring light to proper information about abortion care even in the most restrictive states.

Hannah Cordero-Johnson

Immigration has long been a contentious issue in the U.S., but recent years have seen increasingly negative public attitudes shaped by race, religion, politics, and nationalism. Notably, research shows that white evangelical Christians often support restrictive immigration policies—despite professing compassion and a biblical call to welcome the stranger. This study explores how those contradictions play out locally in Spokane, Washington, by centering the voices of immigrants and refugees and examining how race, religion, and legal status shape their resettlement experiences.

Vincent Inayat

My honors capstone project investigates how systemic marginalization affects the political participation and lived experiences of religious minorities in Pakistan, focusing particularly on Christian communities in Karachi. Through qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews, I examined how fear, discrimination, and historical shifts in state ideology contribute to political disengagement. Participants expressed deep frustration with exclusionary practices, legal discrimination through blasphemy laws, and socio-economic disenfranchisement. Yet, I also uncovered stories of remarkable resilience such as communities leveraging civil society, clustering in safe neighborhoods, and using social media as new platforms for political expression. 

Margaret Byle

As a Christian in the science field, these two dominant fields have always been a big part of my learning and worldview. During our time at Cambridge, we read a book by Yuval Harari titled Sapeins. In this book, Yuval Harari is attempting to tell the story of science throughout human history. I observed that in this attempt, Harari is guilty of placing science in a bubble, ignoring big changes going on in the world, specifically around the Scientific Revolution. This realization, paired with my strong passion and fascination for science and religion, led me to desire to be able to better prove that these two fields are not in conflict.

Lizzie Berns

My research is specifically looking at Whitworth and how they treat sexual violence on campus. I looked into what resources and programs there are for sexual violence survivors on this campus or any education about what sexual violence is for the rest of the student body. What I found was scarce, not only the research around Christian colleges and sexual assault, but also the resources on this campus for students.

Caleb Flegel

As the world increasingly deals with the presence of Climate Change, we will increasingly need quality research to understand how it will affect the ecosystems that surround us. For this reason, this project is a collaboration with an existing research team investigating the effects of a changing climate on small aquatic ecosystems such as ponds. In the past, the associated research project has focused primarily on the effects of increasing pond temperatures. But, water oxygen saturation is another key indicator of ecosystem health. Not only does oxygen saturation directly affect the well-being of pond flora and fauna, but it also is affected by a warming climate.

Zachary Brooks

In an era where over 15,000 self-help books are published in the United States each year, everyone seems to have two cents to share about how we can improve our lives. Despite these countless publications, each quick-fix or new mindfulness appears ephemeral. Self-help needs help.

William Henke

Modern language has become violent in a way that abstracts our words from their actual meanings. Phrases like “slay” “break a leg” “you’re killing it” and many others reveal how violence has settled into quotidian linguistics. This reorientation towards violence desensitizes people to its larger social implications and promotes inadequate communication. Language that was once, and by dictionary definition still is, seen as violent or harmful is now utilized in neutral or even uplifting ways. Desensitization towards larger problems in society like gun violence, racism, global warming, etc. engenders an escalation of language in order to gain an appropriate reaction to said issues.

Salwa Mehreen

My project, MisMatch, started from a real-life frustration — how much time and energy it takes just to pick an outfit. Research shows that people spend around 102 hours a year deciding what to wear (Marks & Spencer), and about 50% of Americans say it’s the most stressful part of getting ready for an event (Trunk Club). At the same time, the fast fashion industry produces around 92 million tons of textile waste each year (UNEP), most of which ends up in landfills. I wanted to create something that helped people in their everyday lives while also promoting more sustainable habits.