Out of Department Capstone

The Notation in Science Communication (NSC) provides undergraduates with a new opportunity to develop their ability to communicate technical information to a variety of audiences using multiple genres and modes. Through a combination of coursework, advising, and reflection, selected students can earn a special designation on their official transcripts that indicates their advanced work in science communication.

Each year since the program was launched in 1978, STS Honors students have completed innovative projects culminating in a thesis. In a year-long process of research and writing, Honors students become experts in a specialized field of interest. The Honors designation signifies intellectual independence, analytical rigor, organizational skills, discipline, and perseverance – skills and attributes that serve individuals well after graduation. Students have capitalized on their projects as springboards to graduate studies and to careers in information technology, entrepreneurship, finance, public policy, media, education, law, medicine, and the nonprofit sector. Honors students present their research theses at an annual Honors Symposium.

The Stanford Arts Institute offers an interdisciplinary Honors in the Arts program, open to undergraduates in any major. Over the course of their senior year, Honors in the Arts students develop a creative thesis project that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of their major. The program supports collaborative or individual projects that center research creation, combine two or more kinds of art practice, or blend art and research in some creative yet rigorous way. All students will work with a faculty advisor, a grad student mentor, and participate in a weekly workshop with a cohort of interdisciplinary peers.

We are particularly interested in experimental work that engages new forms of expression for a 21st-century audience. Additionally, we are committed to building a cohort that reflects a diversity of identities, experiences, educational backgrounds, and artistic and scholarly interests. Such diversity only enhances our interdisciplinary and collaborative endeavors.

The honors program in education provides undergraduate students the opportunity to supplement their declared majors with a research project inspired by their interest in education. This program enables qualified undergraduates at Stanford to extend the learning in their major field of study by pursuing education courses and undertaking a supervised research thesis.

Honors students pursue a wide range of thesis projects with intellectual tools from a variety of academic disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. They often engage directly with communities of practice, working alongside educators and reformers on and off campus.