2026 Candidates—W

MEGHAN K. WALLACE — Psychology   

Advanced Scholarship - Multidisciplinary Honors 

From Stimulation to Saturation: The Cognitive and Social Consequences of Digital Brain Rot 

Paul Wolff, Environmental Conservation 

JULIA B. WALTON — Political Science   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Social Media Exposure and College Students’ Perceptions of the Military at UMass Amherst 

Brenda Bushouse, School of Public Policy 

JESSIE WANG — Computer Engineering   

Advanced Scholarship - Departmental Honors 

Convolutional Neural Network Design and Analysis on a Field-Programmable Gate Array 

Russell Tessier, Engineering 

SYDNEY R. WARREN — Communication, Journalism   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Rachel's Table: How Community Food Advocacy Organizations Help Fight Food Insecurity 

Leda Cooks, Communication 

OLIVIA A. WATERMAN — Kinesiology   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

The Relationship Between Preschool Children’s Physical Activity Levels and the Effects of Early Literacy and Numeracy Skills 

Sofiya Alhassan, Kinesiology 

MICHAEL WEAGLE — Mathematics   

Advanced Scholarship - Departmental Honors 

Boosting in Local Polynomial Regression 

Ted Westling, Mathematics & Statistics 

ANDREW B. WEINER — Biochemistry and Molecular Biology   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Oxidative Labeling Mass Spectrometry Applications in Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Such as Tau 

Richard W. Vachet, Chemistry 

GABRIEL D. WEINER — Psychology   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

NATALIE A. WESSELL — Psychology   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Music Therapy in Alzheimer's Disease 

Becky E. Ready, Psychological & Brain Sciences 

JACKSON WETHERBEE — Astronomy, Physics   

Advanced Scholarship - Departmental Honors 

What Powers the ‘Little Red Dots’ Discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope? 

Min S. Yun, Astronomy 

AUTUMN E. WHELAN — Biology   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Investigating the Mechanisms Driving Stunted Pancreata in PFOS-Exposed Larval Zebrafish (Danio rerio) 

Alicia Timme-Laragy, Environmental Health Sciences 

ADAM C. WHITMORE — Linguistics   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

MICHAEL WIESEN — Political Science   

Advanced Scholarship - Multidisciplinary Honors 

A Broken Machine: Hyperpartisanship and the Transformation of American Political Institutions 

Martha L. Yoder, Commonwealth Honors College 

JONAH I. WILLERS — Physics, Computer Science   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

JULIA M. WILLETTE — Psychology, Political Science   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Still Forward I Must Go 

Connie Griffin, Commonwealth Honors College 

MARC WILLI — Finance   

Advanced Scholarship - Multidisciplinary Honors 

Next Level Baseball Performance Center 

Anne Dietrich, Sport Management 

MARGARET WILLIAMS — Civil Engineering   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Hurricane Impacts on Parked and Idling Blades of an Offshore Wind Turbine 

Sanjay Raja Arwade, Civil & Environmental Engineering 

ZACHARY WILLIAMS — Physics   

General Studies & Departmental Honors 

Modeling Shockwaves with Modified Front Tracking Software 

Robin Young, Mathematics 

ANDREW J. WILSON — Finance   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

Which Social Security Reform Proposal Is the Most Likely to Ensure Long-Term Program Solvency, and What Political and Institutional Barriers Prevent Its Adoption? 

Kevin Young, Economics 

ETHAN J. WLODYKA — Mechanical Engineering   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

NATHAN WOLF — Computational Linguistics, Computer Science   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

CHRYSTINA E. WOSNY — Public Health Sciences, Public Policy   

General Studies & Multidisciplinary Honors 

The Unmaking of Order: A Digital Archive of Constitutional Deviation and Civic Toolkit 

Robert LaRussa, School of Public Policy