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Scout 07, Austin Roberts Dec 2025

Scout 07, Austin Roberts

Theses

Throughout my tenure at RIT, I have produced multiple short films, undertaken gaming co-ops, and pursued an independent study centered on gaming assets to expand my technical and creative skills. For my thesis film, I sought to merge these experiences by concentrating on environmental storytelling—a deliberate challenge, given faculty concerns that narratives lacking strong character focus may struggle to engage audiences emotionally. With these considerations in mind, I crafted a film featuring a secondary character within a rich environment, designed to immerse viewers and provoke curiosity about the story’s temporal and spatial context.


A Fish & A Bird, Deanna Moorehead Dec 2025

A Fish & A Bird, Deanna Moorehead

Theses

As a curtain of trees opens and dawn breaks over the glistening waters of Lake Ontario, a fish and a bird spot each other through the surface and fall madly in love. They dance and sing together from their respective atmospheres, yet each time the bird soars past the water's edge and onto the beach, the fish cannot follow. Night after night, by the light of the moon, the fish trains herself to leap out of the water, hoping to breach high enough to join her beau above. Late one afternoon, the fish approaches the shore, where the bird stands …


Cosmic Legends, Neha Ravindra Hiremath Dec 2025

Cosmic Legends, Neha Ravindra Hiremath

Theses

Cosmic Legends is a touchscreen-based interactive kiosk that invites users to explore how different cultures interpret the same star—Betelgeuse. Designed for public educational settings, it blends visual storytelling, mythology, and voice interaction into a cohesive learning experience. This project challenges the Eurocentric approach of most astronomy tools by introducing global narratives rooted in Navajo, Tupi, and Japanese sky traditions. Users begin by tapping a glowing version of Betelgeuse, which transforms the night sky into a new cultural context. Each sky shift is paired with narrated myths, synchronized captions, and celestial motion design. The interface prioritizes accessibility with dyslexia-friendly text, high-contrast …


Visible And Invisible Empires: The Revival Of The Ku Klux Klan 100 Years Ago, Christian Molina Dec 2025

Visible And Invisible Empires: The Revival Of The Ku Klux Klan 100 Years Ago, Christian Molina

Theses

Hatred and violence breed division, and division breeds more hatred and more violence. In an America where our politics has become name-calling, finger-pointing, scapegoating, and whataboutisms, and violence, unfortunately, it is safe to say our nation has entered this self-perpetuating cycle. A place for malicious groups concerned with growth, power, and profit to capture the angry, the stressed, and the less informed in their webs of elaborate lies and misleading, misinterpreted numbers the way they have in decades past.


Pegasus, Brodyn Evans Dec 2025

Pegasus, Brodyn Evans

Theses

This experimental film depicts a brief period in history that explores the growth of humanity and its technology, using the horse as a symbol. From the early Neolithic era, when horses were primarily used as a source of food and clothing, to the Persian Empire’s use of horses for transporting information and goods, their role has evolved. We next move to the Greeks, who saw the horse as more than just a functional resource, and it emerged as a pivotal influence on technological progress, artistic production, and the establishment of specialized occupational roles. Finally, the Roman Empire evolved into a …


Hugs In Hues, Shivani Pednekar Dec 2025

Hugs In Hues, Shivani Pednekar

Theses

Hugs in Hues is an animated short film about social anxiety, emotional expression, and discomfort with physical touch. The story follows Tina, a young artist who struggles to express how she feels. When she pulls away from a hug from her friend Emily, Tina escapes into a painting-like 2D world made from her drawings. This imagined world reflects Tina’s emotions. The colors, textures, and spaces change based on how she feels. Her anxiety, fear of rejection, and need for safety take visual form. The real world feels sharp and rigid, while Tina’s illustrated world feels soft, imperfect, and expressive. Animation …


Home, Shania Rachel Mathews Dec 2025

Home, Shania Rachel Mathews

Theses

Home is a film where I wanted to explore the idea of the phrase so where s home? being a confusing & spiraling phrase. This is something that hits really close to me. It is a phrase that always seems to catch me off guard. As an international student, I have been around a couple of states for studies. I have made homes in all these places. I have had core memories there that link me to those locations. However, the feeling of not truly belonging would always linger. I really wanted to create a film that captures the main …


Disposal, Yihan Su Dec 2025

Disposal, Yihan Su

Theses

Disposal is a mixed-media animated short film created as a graduate thesis project. The story explores the protagonist’s search for meaning in life and his defiance of a predetermined fate. At the beginning, he is an ordinary, guileless figure without remarkable qualities. In his world, life revolves around constant competition, and one’s worth is measured by their position on a ranking board. Only the top three may pass through the golden gate, a symbol of transcendence. Others must continue the endless cycle of contests, while the lowest seven face incineration in the Disposal. Despite his efforts, the protagonist falls into …


Catherine, Reagan Christie Dec 2025

Catherine, Reagan Christie

Theses

A golden lamb sleeps peacefully in a quiet meadow, showcased in an intricate golden frame. She wakes up and slowly begins to stand, her knobby knees trembling all the way up. She steadies herself, turning toward the viewer, blinking. Catherine looks at her reflection in a grimy sink full of water. The sink drips, reflection dissipating. She looks up into the mirror above the sink in an endless bathroom, tucks a loose curl of hair back into her habit, and exits the bathroom. Catherine makes her way down a long spiral staircase, humming a hymn to herself. In the kitchen, …


These Yellow Stars Of Ours, Vinh Hong Nguyen Dec 2025

These Yellow Stars Of Ours, Vinh Hong Nguyen

Theses

These Yellow Stars of Ours is an experimental documentary that traces the intertwined histories of Thaun and Nam Nguyen as they flee war-torn Vietnam, fall in love, and build a life in Western New York. Through their accounts and those of their two sons, the film explores the complexities of generational trauma and the ongoing experience of bicultural straddling—the negotiation between inherited Vietnamese identity and the shaping influence of an American upbringing. The project examines how trauma, memory, and cultural displacement circulate across generations, shaping identity in both visible and invisible ways. Methodologically, the film is structured around the conceptual …


Achilles, Sreelekha Samala Dec 2025

Achilles, Sreelekha Samala

Theses

ACHILLES is a speculative design project and conceptual artifact. It is not intended to function as a medically certified or biomechanically operational prosthetic arm. Instead, it operates within the realm of design research, using visual realism and luxury aesthetics to explore how assistive technologies could be perceived differently in cultural, emotional, and commercial contexts. Using 3D software to experiment with color, pattern, and texture, I designed a realistic mockup to demonstrate how Achilles could appear in a high-end commercial setting. Instead of animating the model, I focused on camera motion to highlight the prosthetic from multiple angles, emphasizing its sculptural …


Mercurial, Bhavana Neti Dec 2025

Mercurial, Bhavana Neti

Theses

Mercurial is a groundbreaking visual journey through typography that charts the fluid and often volatile passage, from the depths of sadness, eventually finding the light in the end, inspired by the song title Louder than Bombs by BTS, a Korean boyband. Over a carefully observed period, this book captures the subtle and dramatic transformations of emotion through a unique lens. "Mercurial" represents a unique and multi-layered approach to understanding and visualizing emotions. Initially, the exploration of shapes as a representational tool proved inadequate for capturing this complexity. This led to a pivotal shift towards typography, where the inherent qualities of …


Work And Play In Tandem: A Brief Study Of Familiar Silhouettes In The Contemporary Workplace, Tanisa Bose Samaddar Dec 2025

Work And Play In Tandem: A Brief Study Of Familiar Silhouettes In The Contemporary Workplace, Tanisa Bose Samaddar

Theses

This thesis addresses the limitations posed by conventional office furniture, and its impact on human psychological and physiological well-being. Drawing upon literature that delves into the topics of neuroscience of play, environmental psychology, and emotional sustainability, the thesis seeks to solve these issues through design modifications. It aims to understand how brief, movement-focused breaks can help rejuvenate executive functioning, uplift mood, and encourage bursts of social interaction. A five-stage prototyping process, thumbnail sketches, clay models, 3D modeling, full-scale drawings, and iterative Fusion360 refinements, later Tandem was born. By requiring at least two users to operate its see-saw mode, Tandem counteracts …


Hyaluronic Acid Loaded With Aloe Vera-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: A New Bioactive Approach For Fibrotic Scarring, Maria Camila Ceballos Santa Dec 2025

Hyaluronic Acid Loaded With Aloe Vera-Derived Extracellular Vesicles: A New Bioactive Approach For Fibrotic Scarring, Maria Camila Ceballos Santa

Theses

Disruptions in wound healing can result in pathological outcomes ranging from chronic nonhealing wounds to excessive fibrotic scarring. Hypertrophic scars and keloids are hallmarks of this dysregulation, characterized by abnormal collagen deposition, persistent myofibroblast activation, and disorganized extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress play central roles by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damage essential macromolecules and sustain pro-inflammatory signaling, while promoting the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts and the excessive production of ECM proteins, such as collagen and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). This fibrotic cascade leads to tissue stiffness, contractility, and disfigurement, affecting the well-being of …


Ecotheology For Kids, Lana Glenn Dec 2025

Ecotheology For Kids, Lana Glenn

Theses

This project includes research into the eco-anxiety of children and how ecotheology may help ease the children’s minds. This project is meant as a sign of hope in the climate crisis; there are so many reasons to look forward to ecological improvements for the Earth. As adults, we should remind children of these reasons to be hopeful for the future. This 24-page book has illustrations with prayers to help calm the readers, while the cover is informational and inviting.


Frameworks Of Genius: Fresco, Labor, Scaffolding, And Patronage In The Making Of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Jackelyn Eileen Adkins Dec 2025

Frameworks Of Genius: Fresco, Labor, Scaffolding, And Patronage In The Making Of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Jackelyn Eileen Adkins

Theses

This thesis examines how the materiality of production and the patronage of Pope Julius II influenced the visual and conceptual outcome of Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. It argues the physical demands of the fresco medium, the architectural constraints of the chapel, and the material infrastructure, such as the pigments, scaffolding, and spatial dynamics related to the political, theological, and ideological imperatives of papal authority. The materials served as a symbolic extension of Pope Julius II’s ambitions, embedding his message directly into the frescoes. By foregrounding the complex web of labor and materials that supported the project, this …


Identity And Representation In Contemporary Art: An Inclusive 400/500-Level Art History Seminar Course, Laura E. Franz Dec 2025

Identity And Representation In Contemporary Art: An Inclusive 400/500-Level Art History Seminar Course, Laura E. Franz

Theses

This project is an upper-level art history seminar addressing identity and representation – specifically related to race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality – in contemporary art. Primarily a discussion-based course, the course is focused on inclusivity and is highly structured, with weekly low-stakes assignments that provide students with ample opportunities to practice engaging with academic texts. Designed for students with varying levels of academic skills, it is built around current non-academic articles that students select via an online survey. Students then “unpack” the “big ideas” in each of the four chosen non-academic articles via a cluster of academic readings and videos …


Whisper Wall: Transforming Global Superstitions Into A Unified, Sound-Reactive Immersive Experience, Hardika Nitin Patil Dec 2025

Whisper Wall: Transforming Global Superstitions Into A Unified, Sound-Reactive Immersive Experience, Hardika Nitin Patil

Theses

Superstitions, often dismissed as irrational in today’s data-driven world, remain deeply rooted in human culture and behavior, offering meaning and a sense of control amid uncertainty. Whisper Wall is an immersive, sound-reactive installation that invites audiences to explore these enduring beliefs through whispered audio narration and symbolic, shadow-inspired visual storytelling. This project re-engages audiences with rich, cross-cultural superstitions, encouraging reflection beyond skepticism to thoughtfully examine their origins and significance. Blending visual communication, motion design, sound, and interaction, Whisper Wall creates a multisensory experience where users activate intimate stories via interactive elements—whisper-like audio delivered through red paper cups coupled with minimalist, …


Strainx : A Technical Exploration Of Cinema4d'S Native Particle System In An Experimental Title Sequence, Farah Ahmad Dec 2025

Strainx : A Technical Exploration Of Cinema4d'S Native Particle System In An Experimental Title Sequence, Farah Ahmad

Theses

This paper presents a practice-based investigation into the capabilities of Cinema 4D’s native particle system through the creation of an experimental title sequence titled StrainX. The project was conceived as a technical and aesthetic exploration, prioritizing abstraction, form, and motion over narrative content. Through iterative testing and simulation, the study examines how Cinema 4D’s built-in particle, geometry, and material tools can generate visually complex results without relying on third-party plugins, such as X-Particles. All assets, simulations, and textures were developed natively within Cinema 4D, allowing for a unified and efficient workflow. The methodology emphasizes procedural experimentation, simulation caching using Alembic …


Out To Pasture, Amandeep Singh Dec 2025

Out To Pasture, Amandeep Singh

Theses

With a wildly successful acting career approaching its final days, Marcel T. Cow looks back at his rise to fame, as well as a rollercoaster of a career. A toxic relationship, substance abuse, and living a lavish lifestyle all lead to his downfall, ultimately making him face one final decision: Leave the vices behind and save his career, or give in and lose everything. Out To Pasture is an animated biopic parody about Marcel’s life as an actor and how his career comes to an end. The film starts with a flashback to Marcel’s humble beginnings, moving to the Big …


Asymptote, Aybuke Yilmazer Dec 2025

Asymptote, Aybuke Yilmazer

Theses

Asymptote is a short film that is an expression of mankind’s emotional consumption through confusing love with sex. This film is a frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation that combines digital and analog techniques. It was produced between August 2024 and April 2025, and its music was re-produced in August 2025. This paper is a written declaration of the motives and intentions of the director, Aybuke Yilmazer, in making this film, and analyzes the filmmaking process. The text of the thesis is in third person except for the self-evaluation section.


Three Forks, Virginia Van Enckevort Dec 2025

Three Forks, Virginia Van Enckevort

Theses

Three Forks is a thesis drama series about a 19th-century woman sent West to live with her estranged family in Muscogee, a lawless town where justice bends to power and survival means learning the game — or being buried by it. As we follow our lead, Eleanor Davis, out West and eventually her settlement into town, we gain a look into her new world, one where tribal council contend with encroaching U.S. jurisdiction and where settlers, freedmen, and railroad men jostle for influence in a town on the brink of statehood. The many fabled stories and myths about the West …


Practice?, Pei Chen Dec 2025

Practice?, Pei Chen

Theses

3D animation is a combination of art and technique. Art serves to convey your perspective, express beauty, tell stories, and more. However, to accomplish these goals, we need solid technical support. Only by paying attention to both, can we achieve excellent results. The title of this film is “Practice?”, which is a deliberate pun. On one hand, "practice" refers to the martial arts training sequences of the character, during which his master provides guidance, intervenes in his movements, and progressively increases the difficulty. On the other hand, "practice" also symbolizes my own artistic and technical experimentation—exploring and refining skills in …


Desiccation Tolerance In Tetradesmus Green Algae, Kristen Patten Dec 2025

Desiccation Tolerance In Tetradesmus Green Algae, Kristen Patten

Theses

In the face of the global climate change threat, understanding the adaptations that organisms have evolved to handle environmental variation is of particular interest to scientists. With climate change impacting global water availability and increasing the risk of drought for many traditional agricultural areas in the United States (IPCC, 2014, IPCC, 2021, and Kuwayama et al., 2019), desiccation tolerance in vegetative states is one adaptation that is currently receiving a lot of attention. Green algae are particularly useful organisms for understanding this adaptation due to their ubiquity across environments, which has given rise to independently evolved organisms displaying different levels …


Echo’S Repertoire: Performing Science Fiction And Trans Care Models, Juniper Blue Dec 2025

Echo’S Repertoire: Performing Science Fiction And Trans Care Models, Juniper Blue

Theses

Echo’s Repertoire is a mixture of a passion piece and a call for more work with performing science fiction. It focuses on interpersonal communication within trans studies and the experiences of transgender individuals and myself. Echo’s Repertoire is also an example of the Lyrical Model proposed by Awkward-Rich as a new model for trans affirming speech. The show is laid out non-linearly and follows along with Echo as he starts to build new relationships with the advice of his spaceship ai, Eep, who is a previous version of himself prior to transformation (transition).


Relationship Between Semi-Aquatic Mammal Occupancy And Particulate Carbon, Nitrogen, And Phosphorus Dynamics In Freshwater Ecosystems, Madison H. Stokoski Dec 2025

Relationship Between Semi-Aquatic Mammal Occupancy And Particulate Carbon, Nitrogen, And Phosphorus Dynamics In Freshwater Ecosystems, Madison H. Stokoski

Theses

Semi-aquatic mammals such as beavers (Castor canadensis) and muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) can influence carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) dynamics in freshwater systems. While the effect of beavers, in particular, are typically attributed to their dam and lodge building behaviors, these animals do not always build these structures. It’s possible that other, non-damming behaviors (e.g. foraging and burrowing) may influence the availability of nutrients as well. To assess this possibility, we surveyed 54 lentic and lotic waterbodies across Southern Illinois and investigated the possibility that beaver and muskrat occupancy improved our ability to explain variation in nutrient availability across …


Survivorship In Virginia Opossums And The Management Implications For Burmese Pythons In Key Largo, Florida, Arya J. Sanjar Dec 2025

Survivorship In Virginia Opossums And The Management Implications For Burmese Pythons In Key Largo, Florida, Arya J. Sanjar

Theses

This study employed a telemetry-based framework, using radio-collared Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), to quantify survival patterns and estimate detection probabilities of python predation events. Between April 2022 and January 2025, 135 adult opossums were monitored using VHF collars across protected habitats within Key Largo. Annual survival was estimated using a staggered-entry Kaplan-Meier model, producing an annual survival rate of 0.17 (SE = 0.089) for females, and male survival was estimated at 0.04 (SE = 0.032) at 10 months since no male lived 10 months after collaring. Cause-specific monthly survival analyses indicated python predation peaked during the late summer months of …


Timeless Poetry, Xuning Li Nov 2025

Timeless Poetry, Xuning Li

Theses

Timeless Poetry reimagines classical Chinese poetry through contemporary digital tools, transforming ancient verse into immersive visual experiences. Using Cinema 4D and Blender for 3D modeling and ink-wash–inspired rendering, the project reconstructs poetic landscapes as cinematic-style environments that invite viewers to encounter traditional imagery through modern visual language. Postcards—chosen for their nostalgic and emotional resonance—serve as both a physical anchor and an interactive trigger: when scanned, each card reveals an AR visuals that reveal the scene in motion. This hybrid design bridges past and present, showing how technology can enhance, rather than replace, cultural heritage by offering new entry points for …


Ecoviz: Experience The Future Of Environmental Insight Through Motion And Visuals, Ronger Xu Nov 2025

Ecoviz: Experience The Future Of Environmental Insight Through Motion And Visuals, Ronger Xu

Theses

The project titled ‘ECOVIZ’ investigates the potential of motion-based visualization to transform the way environmental data is understood and emotionally experienced. Through an interactive visual system that merges 3D motion design with environmental datasets, the project explores how abstract ecological information can be translated into intuitive and immersive experiences. ECOVIZ examines the ways in which data visualization, when paired with motion, depth, and spatial interaction, can foster a deeper and more meaningful engagement with climate-related information, bridging the gap between scientific data and public comprehension. ‘ECOVIZ’ transforms environmental statistics into dynamic, visually expressive forms that mirror the rhythms, fluctuations, and …


Exploring Human Perception And Cognition In Expressing And Understanding Mechanical Designs, Yan-Ting Chen Nov 2025

Exploring Human Perception And Cognition In Expressing And Understanding Mechanical Designs, Yan-Ting Chen

Theses

Effective communication of mechanical designs through technical drawings requires geometric accuracy, efficiency, and an understanding of human perception and cognition. Although advances in computer-aided design (CAD) software have improved drawing precision and automation, current tools often overlook the spatial reasoning processes that users employ to interpret these representations. This study seeks to improve the accuracy and efficiency of human-computer interaction in CAD environments by examining how individuals perceive and interpret three-dimensional mechanical components within the context of technical drawings. A key focus is the identification of canonical and optimal views that align with intuitive human understanding. Through a series of …