stanford senior thesis

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choosingphysics [at] stanford.edu (Pre-Major Advising)

Senior Thesis and Honors

All Physics majors who pursue research with a faculty member have the opportunity to complete a Senior Thesis. Completing a Senior Thesis is not required for a Bachelor’s degree in Physics but is required for graduation with Honors.

On this page, we provide guidelines for applying to graduate with Honors, applying to complete a Senior Thesis, choosing a thesis research topic, writing the Senior Thesis, and preparing the thesis presentation.

Honors Requirements

Physics majors are granted a Bachelor of Science in Physics with Honors if they satisfy these two requirements beyond the general Physics major requirements.

• The student completes a Senior Thesis by meeting the deadlines and requirements described in the Senior Thesis guidelines section below. 
• The student completes course work with an overall GPA of 3.30 or higher, and a GPA of 3.50 or higher in courses required for the Physics major.

The student applies for the Honors Program by completing an Honors Program Application Form by mid-May.  Eligibility is confirmed by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Senior Thesis Guidelines

• Students must submit a Senior Thesis Application Form once they identify a research project in consultation with a faculty member with whom they are conducting theoretical, computational, or experimental physics research. The application form is attached to this webpage and is also available from the Student Services Specialist. The application must be submitted by 4 pm on Friday prior to the Thanksgiving break of the academic year in which the student plans to graduate. 
• Credit for the project is assigned by the research advisor within the framework of PHYSICS 205 , Senior Thesis Research. A minimum of 3 units of PHYSICS 205 must be completed for a letter grade during the student’s Senior year. Work completed in the Senior Thesis program may not be used as a substitute for regular required courses for the Physics major.
• A written thesis and presentation of the work at its completion are required for the Senior Thesis. The Senior Thesis candidate is required to present the project at the department's Senior Thesis Presentation Program in mid to late May. The expectation is that the student's advisor, second reader, and all other Senior Thesis candidates attend. Students may invite their family and friends as guests. 

Timeline for Completing a Senior Thesis & Applying for Honors in Physics

• First week of October: Students receive information about Senior Thesis Application via email (sent from the Student Services Specialist).
• Mid-November, before Thanksgiving break: Senior Thesis Application is due by 4pm on the Friday before Thanksgiving break. No late submissions will be accepted. Students will be notified if their application is approved after Thanksgiving break.
• First week of April: Students sign up for a date/time to present their Senior Thesis; presentations are scheduled in May. At this point, you should have your thesis title and abstract ready for submission.
• Students present their Senior Thesis in front of their advisor, second reader, other presenters, and guests. 
• Students submit the final version of their Senior Thesis shortly after the presentation; the precise deadline will be announced in early May.
• Students who present their Senior Thesis AND meet the GPA requirements must complete the Honors Program Application by mid-May to graduate with Honors. 

Choosing a thesis topic and writing the thesis

No later than the autumn quarter of your senior year, but preferably earlier, during a summer research position.

No later than winter quarter of your senior year.

When you have completed your senior thesis, you should be an expert on the particular area of research discussed in your thesis. Some projects are independent of the advisor’s research; some projects are a well-defined sub-area within the advisor’s broader research program.

Your thesis advisor, as well as graduate students and/or postdocs with whom you have worked closely, can provide advice. The Hume Center for Writing and Speaking is also a useful resource:  http://undergrad.stanford.edu/tutoring-support/hume-center

Students normally find a Senior Thesis topic and advisor through the Summer Research Program. Other sources are courses such as Physics 59 (Frontiers in Physics Research), faculty web pages and resources on the Undergraduate Research and Independent Projects web page: https://undergrad.stanford.edu/opportunities/research

Broad “review articles” in the field and references therein provide valuable background information. Your advisor and group members should also be able to point you to relevant papers.

You are required to enroll in Physics 205 (Senior Thesis Research) under your advisors’ section during your senior year for a minimum of 3 units. The course must be taken for letter grade. 1 unit = 3 hours of research per week.

No, you cannot earn course credit and get paid for the same work.

An advisor may occasionally have funds to support you during the academic year, but you cannot earn course credit for the same work.

The following links contain information on how to apply for funding during the academic year and during the summer term – Student Grants:  https://undergrad.stanford.edu/opportunities/research/get-funded Physics Summer Research Program:  https://physics.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-students/summer-research

The length of the thesis varies, depending on the type of thesis. A more theoretical thesis, perhaps fairly dense with equations, may be shorter than an experimental thesis containing a number of figures showing the experimental setup, plots of the data, fits to the data, etc. Most theses are between 20 and 60 pages long.

Electronic versions of Physics Senior Theses written in 2010 or later are available online here: http://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?f[collection][]=ds247vz0452

The thesis should contain the following elements:

• A title page listing the title, the student author, the primary and secondary readers, and the date.
• An abstract, which could be on the title page or inside the document.
• An acknowledgment at the beginning or after the abstract.
• Table of contents.
• A body, divided into sections and subsections.
• A bibliography of references at the end. Include page numbers.

Each table should have a caption above the table and each figure should have a caption below the figure. Include a reference to each table and figure in the text.  If you have a large number of detailed plots, or a very long detailed derivation, consider putting it in an Appendix so that the text flows better.

One-and-a-half spacing is best. It makes it easier to read and easier for your readers to mark up.

Yes, but it must be physics related and you must have a faculty member in Physics as the second reader.

Yes, a literature review should be included.

Your target audience should be students in your major. Other Physics majors should be able to follow the thesis and understand what you did – although they might not follow all the details.

Yes, as long as you include a citation to the publication.

Several Stanford professors have done research based on the results of my research. May I include some of their results because they greatly enrich my overall project or does the thesis have to be 100% on data I took myself? It is definitely OK to include other data as long as you provide credit and appropriate citations.

Preparing the thesis presentation

It is typical to use slides prepared with the presentation software of your choice.

Students should bring their own laptop and any necessary adapters.

•  PRACTICE!!
• The   presentation s   are   15 minutes and 5 minutes for questions . The next presenter will be asked to set up at the 20-minute mark.
• Practice presenting from your laptop in the same room well before the actual presentation. In this way, you can avoid embarrassing delays due to technical problems or missing connectors, etc. Any technical delays will only reduce your speaking time.
• Make sure you start your presentation with an  accessible  overview. The audience will contain mainly non-experts in the field you are going to discuss. This is often the most difficult aspect of any presentation since you must bring along the non-experts while explaining later technical results and their importance without losing the audience.
• PRACTICE!! (A good strategy is to do timed 15-minute practice sessions in front of your classmates, especially those who will also be presenting a thesis. Encourage your audience to give you feedback and to ask questions afterward about anything that was not clear.)

Capstone and thesis submission (undergraduate honors, master's)

There’s a forever home for your capstone, honors thesis, or master’s thesis—archived in the Stanford Digital Repository and accessible online via SearchWorks, the library catalog. It’s free and the process takes just a few minutes.

Start your deposit today  

Who is eligible

• Stanford undergraduate students who have produced a senior capstone project, honors thesis, or similar culminating work are welcome.
• Stanford master’s students outside of the School of Engineering who have written a thesis may deposit their work.
• The Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) is a service available to all Stanford students, faculty, and staff who produce research, scholarly works, or institutional records of long-term value. 

What to expect

• Once you log in, look for the name of the capstone or thesis collection on your dashboard. (Don’t see it on the dashboard? Check with your program contact to request depositor access to the collection.)
• After you submit, your deposit may be queued for review and approval. If so, you will receive a notification when the review is completed. On approval, your deposit will be available online at a persistent URL (PURL) and will be findable in SearchWorks, too.
• Go ahead and share your PURL with your friends and family, and add it to your resume, too!

Watch this brief overview video demonstrating how to deposit your work into the SDR.

More helpful resources

• Dissertation and thesis submission (PhD, JSD, DMA, engineering master's)  
• Guide to student publishing
• Directory of student works collections in the SDR
• SDR services website

Questions? 

Reach out to the SDR team by email .

Honors Thesis

Main navigation, honors programs.

Honors programs are organized by departments and programs. They allow students to engage in advanced, independent research, analysis and articulation with faculty guidance, usually in the senior year. Engaging in original research on a topic of a student’s own devising is one of the most exciting experiences of a college education. Working closely with a faculty advisor allows the teacher-student dynamic to become far more collegial. In the most satisfying experiences, students can make genuine contributions to knowledge, challenging the way scholars in the field think about the topic.

Learn more about Planning for Honors

My advisor helped me shift my thesis to a more nuanced puzzle: we have so much neuroscience research that shows young adults are still developing, so why is 18 still the hard-line boundary for criminal responsibility? 

- Sophia Laurenzi , 2017 STS Honors Student and Firestone Medal Award Winner

STS Honors Program

Undergraduate students from all majors are invited to apply for admission to the Honors Program.

Apply to the STS Honors Program

See our honors program requirements below

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 ideas I uncovered in the STS Honors Program will frame my outlook on the world and help me shape my personal and professional philosophies as I go

Eligibility and Admission Criteria

1. To pursue Honors, both STS and non-STS majors must first complete one or more of the following:

• Attend at least one of the quarterly STS Honors events offered for prospective honors students during their junior year.
• Take STS 191W: Introduction to Research in STS (offered in Winter).
• Take an alternative course on research methods approved by the STS Honors Program Director.
• Speak with the STS Honors Program Director about alternative avenues of preparation.

1a. In addition to these requirements, non-majors must also complete one or more of the following:

• Complete STS 1, and two courses approved as Socio-Cultural Concentration Core courses in the Requirements and Approved Courses document.
• Complete STS 1, and two alternative courses approved by the STS Honors Program Director as relevant to the proposed honors research in STS.
• Complete three courses approved by the STS Honors Program Director as relevant to the proposed honors research in STS.

2. Submit a  research statement  (250-1000 words) – or a  fully developed proposal  (2,000-2,500 words) if you have conducted preliminary research (e.g., in STS 191W or other methods courses) – and an  application form . See Steps to Apply for Honors (below) for fuller details.

3. Find an Honors faculty advisor and develop research questions, methodology and a plan. This should be done by the end of Spring quarter of the junior year, or at the latest by the end of Autumn quarter of the senior year.

To graduate with Honors, seniors in the Honors Program must do the following:

• Attend required monthly meetings of the STS Honors Program, organized by the STS Honors Program Director.
• Develop and complete an original thesis in consultation with your Honors faculty advisor.
• Enroll in a minimum of 10 units (total over the year) of STS 299, Advanced Individual Work, in the section with your Honors faculty advisor, to receive credit for your research and thesis writing. Deliverables and deadlines should be negotiated directly with your Honors faculty advisor. You may enroll in up to 5 units per quarter of STS 299. Units should reflect the expected workload (1 unit = 3 hours/week of work, including meetings with the advisor.)
• Submit a first draft of your thesis to your Honors advisor no later than April 10.
• Submit the revised thesis to your Honors advisor by May 15 ; have it approved and signed off by May 22 .
• Submit the final thesis to the Stanford Digital Repository by June 2 at 5PM .
• Have an overall Stanford GPA of 3.4 at the end of Winter Quarter, senior year, or demonstrated academic competence.

Key Dates for 2023-2024

• OCTOBER   -  COMPLETE APPLICATION AND SUBMIT RESEARCH STATEMENT/PROPOSAL
• MONDAY, APRIL 8, 5PM (PDT)  - FIRST FULL DRAFT DUE TO YOUR ADVISOR
• MONDAY, MAY 13, 5PM (PDT)  - REVISED/FINAL THESIS DUE
• WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 5PM (PDT)  - ADVISOR TO SIGN OFF
• MONDAY, JUNE 3, 5PM (PDT)  -  MANUSCRIPT DUE AT DIGITAL REPOSITORY

Honors Timeline

Autumn, junior year.

• Come talk to our peer advisors and STS SSO to find out more about the Honors Program. Then drop by during the office hours of the STS  Honors Program Director  to discuss your ideas.

Winter, Junior Year

Both STS and non-STS majors must complete one or more of the following:

In addition to these requirements, non-majors must also complete one or more of the following:

Spring, Junior Year

• Submit a research statement or a fully developed proposal.
• Complete honors program application.
• Find an honors faculty advisor.
• Apply for a  grant .

Autumn, Senior Year

• Submit a research statement or a fully developed proposal.*
• Complete honors program application.*
• Find an honors faculty advisor.*
• Enroll in STS 298, a 1-unit required monthly meeting of the STS Honors Program, organized by the STS Honors Program Director.
• Enroll in STS 299, Advanced Individual Work.
• Develop an original and complete thesis in consultation with honors faculty advisor to receive credit for your research and thesis writing.

* Must be submitted by add/drop deadline of Autumn quarter.

Winter, Senior Year

Spring, senior year.

• Continue developing an original and complete thesis in consultation with honors faculty advisor to receive credit for your research and thesis writing.
• Present in the annual STS Honors Symposium .  Students have an opportunity to showcase their work at our annual symposium. They invite their friends and family to celebrate their hard work and knowledge they've created at this joyous occasion. 

Submission Dates, Spring, Senior Year

• Submit a first draft of your thesis to honors advisor no later than  April 8 by 5PM.
• Submit the revised thesis to honors advisor by  May 13  and have it approved and signed off by  May 22 by 5PM.
• Submit the final thesis to the Stanford Digital Repository by June 3 by 5PM.
• Complete a thesis judged worthy of an honors program by the faculty advisor.

Steps to the Honors Program

Come talk to our peer advisors and STS Student Services Officer to find out more about the Honors Program. Then drop by during the office hours of the STS  Honors Program Director  to discuss your ideas. You do not have to have refined research questions or any ideas about research design – your interest in a phenomenon, puzzle, policy challenge or any social issue is enough to start the exploration. We will help you turn your general interest into a productive STS research project, by brainstorming with you and directing you to various intellectual and institutional resources.

See the Eligibility and Admission Criteria both for STS majors and for majors in other departments and programs (above). If you are concerned about your qualifications and preparations, please meet with the STS Honors Program Director as soon as possible to discuss your options and strategies.

You can choose to write a short research statement (250-100 words), or a fully developed proposal (2,000-2,500 words) if you have had an opportunity to conduct initial secondary research (e.g., in STS 191W or other methods courses). You are encouraged to speak with the STS  Honors Program Director, as well as any relevant faculty members or teaching assistants, for this step. A fully developed proposal would have all of the elements described below, while a shorter version can be either a short proposal with all the elements, or a statement with tentative research questions and plans for literature to engage with and methods to use:

• Research Objectives and Questions.  What are your primary research questions and objectives? Why are they important?
• Literature Review.  How have others addressed your research question(s) or similar ones? Whose work are you building on, and why will your research be different? (Be sure to cite specific scholarly sources. These should be listed at the end of the proposal in the References.)
• Methods.  How will you do research that addresses your question? Be as specific as you can. You will likely need to address a small slice of your major question, for instance, by doing a case study or comparing a few case studies. Try to identify a specific research focus or site (e.g., a specific scientific finding or technology, a particular geographic or political context, a company, an Internet forum, media coverage, a set of primary documents). Explain what methods you will use – for example, interviews, content analysis, archival research, experiments, ethnography, or something else entirely.
• Conclusion.  Restate the research contribution you hope to make. What sorts of things will we know after you have written your thesis that we didn't know before?
• References.  Full bibliographic information for all works cited in your proposal.

Submit the application form together with the research statement/proposal. Students are encouraged to apply to the honors program during the Spring quarter of their junior year by June 15th. Late application is considered up to the add/drop deadline of Autumn quarter of their senior year. (If you are expected to graduate off calendar, please speak with the STS Honors Program Director about your specific deadline).

Apply for the STS Honors Program

You will need to find an honors faculty advisor who is a member of the Stanford Academic Council (e.g., Assistant, Associate or Full Professor).

Faculty affiliations and ranks can be found in the  StanfordWho directory . Your advisor does not need to be directly affiliated with STS but they should have expertise related to your project. Ideally, you will find an advisor during your junior year and work with the person in writing your research statement/proposal, but we will also work with you in your search for an advisor during Autumn quarter of the senior year. Here are some tips:

• You should begin to identify an honors advisor as early as possible in your junior year. This person is ideally someone you have taken a class with in the past or for whom you served as a research assistant.
• If you are struggling to identify an appropriate advisor, look in Explore Courses for courses that relate to your area(s) of interest. Talk to your STS faculty advisor, who may know of other faculty who are well suited to advise your planned honors project. Take time to learn about both the research methods and mentoring style of your potential advisors.
• The typical faculty member is exceptionally busy teaching, conducting research, writing articles and grant applications and advising students. You should do research to find out when the faculty member(s) you are hoping to work with have office hours, whether they require an advance appointment and arrange a meeting accordingly.
• When you meet with a faculty member for the first time, initiate a conversation with specific questions and use the meeting not only to gain direction in your research but also to get a sense of an advisor’s mentoring style. How often is he or she willing to meet with you? Does she or he offer a good mix of constructive criticism and guidance?
• It is better to take these steps at the beginning of your project than to struggle with less-than-satisfactory advising arrangements for the duration of your thesis writing. In managing an advisor relationship, aim for a balance: take the initiative in your research and writing, but do not hesitate to ask for help, from both advisors and peers.

Attend required monthly meetings of the STS Honors Program, organized by the STS Honors Program Director, from September to April. Complete the tasks assigned before the meeting each month. Additionally, stay on track with research and writing by meeting a series of checkpoints provided by the program throughout the year and also by adhering to a timeline you set with your advisor.

Make sure you enroll in a minimum of 10 units total of STS 299, Advanced Individual Work, in the section with your honors faculty advisor, to receive credit for your research and thesis writing. (You may enroll in up to 5 units per quarter of STS 299.)

Write and complete an original thesis (50-100 page, double-spaced) on the topic you proposed in your research statement/proposal, under the guidance of your advisor. 

The specific Spring quarter deadlines are as follows:

• April 8  – Submit a first full draft of your thesis due to your advisor.
• May 13 – Submit the revised full draft of your thesis due to your advisor.
• May 22  – Honors faculty advisor must approve and sign off of your final thesis and provide evaluation and grade to the STS office. You need to earn at least "B " grade on final thesis to graduate with honors.
• June 3  –  Submit the final thesis: one copy to your honors faculty advisor, one PDF copy emailed to the STS Student Services Officer, one submitted online at the Stanford Digital Repository, one hard-bound copy turned in to the STS Office (optional).

Students are strongly advised to learn about the following opportunities and research requirements:

• HWC Honors Writing Program. The  Hume Writing Center  (HWC) provides writing support during the entire thesis process, including brainstorming, researching, organizing, and drafting an honors thesis or other advanced writing project.
• Working with faculty.  Tips for choosing faculty advisors  and establishing positive working agreements.
• Grants for undergraduate research. If you need to travel or pay other research-related expenses, consider applying for an Undergraduate Research Student Grant. Please note that grants require a fully developed research proposal. The application for Major Grants, which can provide a 10-week stipend in support of full-time immersive Summer project commitments, is due in early March. Small Grant application deadlines are quarterly. You should plan to apply for funding at least one quarter in advance of your project's start date.  You can find more information about  Undergraduate Research Student Grants here.
• Human subjects research. If your research will involve people (interviews, questionnaires, experimental situations), you will need to comply with  University Policies on Research  and may need to obtain approval of your research protocol from an Institutional Review Board.
• You can find and review previous honors theses using Stanford's SearchWorks .

Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Innovative Research

Many of our STS Honors Program students have written award winning theses that address the intersection of science, technology and society.

Honors Symposium

Our annual STS Honors Symposium was created as a way to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our honors students. At this event, students have the opportunity to showcase their research and share this joyous occasion with peers, family, and friends. A good time is had by all!

Senior Thesis

Current offerings, useful links.

• Course Evaluations
• Approved Non-Law Courses

Senior Thesis (403): An opportunity for third-year students to engage in original research and to prepare a substantial written-work product on the scale of a law review article. The thesis topic should be chosen no later than two weeks after the beginning of the seventh term of law study and may be chosen during the sixth term. The topic is subject to the approval of the thesis supervisor, who may be any member of the Law School faculty under whose direction the student wishes to write the thesis and who is willing to assume the responsibility therefor. An oral defense of the thesis before members of the faculty, including the thesis supervisor, will be conducted late in the student's ninth academic term. Acceptance of the thesis for credit requires the approval of the thesis supervisor and one or more other members of the faculty who will be selected by the supervisor. Satisfactory completion of the senior thesis will satisfy graduation requirements to the extent of (a) 5 - 8 units of credit and (b) two research courses. The exact requirements for a senior thesis are in the discretion of the supervising faculty member. Unit credit and grading basis (H/P/R/F or MP/R/F) is by arrangement up to the allowable limit. Special Instructions: Two Research credits are possible. Elements used in grading: Paper and as agreed to by instructor.

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 01 Class #1020

• Grading: Law Mixed H/P/R/F or MP/R/F
• 2024-2025 Autumn
• Enrollment Limitations: Consent
• Law Unit Limitation
• LO3 - Ability to Conduct Legal Research
• LO4 - Ability to Communicate Effectively in Writing

Future Offerings

• 2024-2025 Winter

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 01 Class #1019

• 2024-2025 Spring

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 01 Class #1016

Past offerings, 2023-2024 spring.

Senior Thesis (403): An opportunity for third-year students to engage in original research and to prepare a substantial written-work product on the scale of a law review article. The thesis topic should be chosen no later than two weeks after the beginning of the seventh term of law study and may be chosen during the sixth term. The topic is subject to the approval of the thesis supervisor, who may be any member of the Law School faculty under whose direction the student wishes to write the thesis and who is willing to assume the responsibility therefor. An oral defense of the thesis before members of the faculty, including the thesis supervisor, will be conducted late in the student's ninth academic term. Acceptance of the thesis for credit requires the approval of the thesis supervisor and one or more other members of the faculty who will be selected by the supervisor. Satisfactory completion of the senior thesis will satisfy graduation requirements to the extent of (a) 5 - 8 units of credit and (b) two research courses. The exact requirements for a senior thesis are in the discretion of the supervising faculty member. Special Instructions: Two Research credits are possible. Elements used in grading: Paper and as agreed to by instructor.

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 01 Class #1034

• 2023-2024 Spring Schedule No Longer Available

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 26 Class #34264

• Thomas C. Heller

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 79 Class #33814

• Norman W. Spaulding

2023-2024 Winter

Senior thesis | law 403 section 01 class #1029.

• 2023-2024 Winter Schedule No Longer Available

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 26 Class #35934

Senior thesis | law 403 section 79 class #34940, 2023-2024 autumn, senior thesis | law 403 section 01 class #1038.

• 2023-2024 Autumn Schedule No Longer Available

2022-2023 Spring

Senior thesis | law 403 section 01 class #1007.

• 2022-2023 Spring Schedule No Longer Available

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 68 Class #35190

• Erik G. Jensen

Senior Thesis | LAW 403 Section 69 Class #35191

2022-2023 winter, senior thesis | law 403 section 01 class #1008.

• 2022-2023 Winter Schedule No Longer Available

2022-2023 Autumn

Senior thesis | law 403 section 01 class #1021.

• 2022-2023 Autumn Schedule No Longer Available

Honors Program

Main navigation.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

HONORS THESIS PROGRAM 2024-25

The Program : The Honors Thesis Program offers qualified students an opportunity to conduct independent communication research and to write an honors thesis reporting their results. The program provides for close contact between students and thesis advisors so that students can receive intensive guidance and assistance throughout their research and writing. The aim is to help students go through the process of conceptualization, study planning, data collection, analysis and writing, which is essential to excellence in scholarship.

Eligibility : Each student should submit an application for the program no later than the last day of classes of spring quarter of the junior year and have a GPA of 3.3 in Communication courses. The Honors Thesis Program is based on the assumption that useful research and writing take time and effort and thus will be ongoing for the three quarters of the senior year. Students should be aware that no faculty member can effectively supervise more than a few theses each year. Normally, the thesis advisor will be a faculty member with whom the student has already taken a course.

Requirements : Students wishing to participate in the Honors Thesis Program must be majoring in Communication and must have completed the core requirements (COMM 1, 106, 108, STATS 60) and received a grade of B+ or better in Communication Research Methods (COMM 106). A thesis advisor may deem other courses as necessary.

Writing Consultation Services : The Hume Center for Writing and Speaking provides many resources to help you with Honors projects. Honors Thesis Boot Camps are offered during the summer and academic year. Students can seek individual consultation with them about clarifying argument and thesis, framing research, improving transitions, providing revising strategies and other writing issues. Their writing consultants also work with students on scheduling and planning, how to stay motivated, overcoming writer’s block, outlining and organizing sections of a thesis, and assessing a writing schedule for the honors thesis.

Funding :  Academic Advising Student Grants   support rigorous, independent projects in all disciplines. Major Grants provide   $8000, with a need-based supplement (of up to $1500) for eligible students. Most Major Grants are awarded to students beginning an honors thesis, a senior project in the arts, or senior synthesis project between their junior and senior years. Small grants of up to $1,500 support smaller independent projects and can also be used to enable particular phases of larger-scale effort. Applications deadlines are found throughout the year, making the Small Grant especially flexible.

Honors Thesis Credit : Students admitted to the program will earn five units of honors thesis credit for a total of three quarters. Students are expected to make steady progress on their honors thesis throughout the year. An ‘N’ grade must be entered in Axess by the thesis advisor at the end of each of the first two quarters, indicating that this is continuing work and that the final grade (posted in spring) will be a letter grade. The honors work may be used to fulfill Communication elective credit. Honors in Communication cannot be awarded retroactively. A student failing to fulfill all honors requirements may still receive independent study credit for work completed which can be applied toward fulfilling major elective requirements. Failure to submit a satisfactory draft of the thesis during fall quarter will result in the student being dropped from the honors program.

Submitting Your Honors Thesis : A final copy of the paper must be submitted to the thesis advisor for review and grading and an electronic copy uploaded to the Stanford Digital Repository by the end of the eighth week of Spring Quarter of the student’s senior year.

Graduation with Honors : The designation graduation with honors is awarded by the Department of Communication to those graduating seniors who, in addition to having completed all requirements for the Communication major, also achieve the following:

• Successfully complete an Honors Thesis (B+ or better)
• Maintain a distinguished grade average in all Communication course work
• Are recommended by the Communication faculty

This distinction will be noted on the student’s diploma and during the department graduation ceremonies.

Honors Application : Complete the COMM Honors Program Application form in Adobe Acrobat Sign. You will be asked to enter your Honors Advisor’s and the COMM Student Services Manager’s names and email addresses. The form will then be routed to your Honors Advisor the Student Services Manager in COMM. 

Choosing A Faculty Honors Advisor

Tips for Honors Students by Honors Students

Honors Theses

Previous Honors Theses are available for review in Room 110A in Bldg. 120. Examples of some recent theses include:

• Assessing Greenwashing in Electric Vehicle Marketing: Developing a Coding Scheme through Advertising Strategy Analysis Madeline Bernheim, 2024, Thesis Advisor: Jay Hamilton
• America’s Quietest Emergency: Exposing,Identifying and Analyzing Suicide Contagion in Institutions of Higher Learning Emma Talley, 2024, Thesis Advisor: Nilam Ram
• The Effects of Sample Size on Significance Testing Diana Jordan, 2022, Thesis Advisor: Jon Krosnick
• Homeworking in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Preliminary European Labour Force Survey Results Caroline Ghisolfi, 2021, Thesis Advisor: James Hamilton
• Film Franchise Strategy in the Age of Intellectual Property Walker Brown, 2019, Thesis Advisor: James Hamilton
• Leadership During Conflict: Where Charismatic Leadership Falls Short Pascale Eenkema van Dijk, 2019, Thesis Advisor: Jen Pan
• Discourse and Deceit: Native Advertising, Influencer Marketing, and the Increasing Corrosion of Public Trust Minkee Sohn, 2017, Thesis Advisor: Ted Glasser
• Heavy Rotation: Japanese Female Idols & Fantasy Image Commodities in the Post-Feminist Age Alejandra Reynoso, 2016, Thesis Advisors: Fred Turner & Miyako Inoue
• Televisa Presenta: Analyzing the cultural resonance of a contemporary Mexican telenovela Ileana E. Najarro, 2015, Thesis Advisors: Ted Glasser & Guadalupe Valdés
• Transmedia and the Spectator: How Disney Represents Interactivity, Star Images and Contingency for Audiences Sophia Vo, 2014, Thesis Advisors: Fred Turner & Carol Vernallis

Email forwarding for @cs.stanford.edu is changing. Updates and details here .

BS | Honors Program

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Students interested in applying to the honors program must have a 3.6 GPA in courses counted towards the CS major. Additionally, they must have senior standing (135 units) by the end of the academic year in which they apply. Coterm Master's students are eligible as long as they have not already received their undergraduate degree. Also, students must find a CS faculty member who agrees to supervise their research and thesis work. According to Stanford's guidelines, research supervisors for theses must be members of the Academic Council. In general, this requirement means that a research supervisor will be listed as some level of "Professor" in the  Stanford Bulletin .

For guidance on finding an appropriate project and supervisor, see below for the CS Bachelor's Research page. CS Bachelor's Research

Honors Thesis

One option to fulfill the  Senior Project  requirement is to write a senior honors thesis. Writing an honors thesis involves undertaking a research project under the direction of a faculty member. This project must lead to a thesis, so pure implementation projects such as those that are typically approved for CS191 are not appropriate for honors work. Implementation will often represent a significant component of the work and students must be prepared to analyze their results. Admission to the honors program is intended for Computer Science undergraduates who've done well in their undergraduate coursework and have demonstrated strong research potential.

Application

Applications must include an application letter (typically 3-5 pages) describing the research project and the applicant's background, a short letter of endorsement from the faculty sponsor, and an unofficial transcript. 

These qualifications are necessary but do not guarantee admission to the honors program. Honors students will be selected from the qualified applicants by a review committee. Applications for the honors program are due by May 1 of each year and can be submitted through the application form below. Any inquiries regarding the honors application or program can be sent to Danielle Gaspar ( [email protected] ). Successful applicants will be notified by late May. 

For students participating in CURIS or have missed the first Honors program application deadline (May 1st), there is a second end-of-summer application deadline of August 31 of each year -- successful applicants will be notified by late September. At the start of August, the application form (via SmartSheet) will reopen for second-round submission students.  If admitted to the honors program, Summer quarter CURIS projects may be extended through the following year and used as honors projects if the faculty sponsor agrees to the extension. You can apply through the link below or the embedded SmartSheet form at the end of this page. CS Honors Program Application

Requirements

Once accepted into the honors program, students must complete the following requirements.

• Complete at least 9 units of CS191 or CS191W.
• Attend a weekly honors seminar during Winter and Spring quarters.
• Complete an honors thesis deemed acceptable by your thesis advisor and another faculty member.
• Present the thesis at a public colloquium sponsored by the Department.
• Maintain the 3.6 GPA required for admission to the honors program.

Although such a project may sound like a great deal of work, the honors program is the capstone experience for many students' undergraduate careers and provides excellent preparation for those interested in pursuing advanced research at the PhD level.

CS Honors Program Application  

Senior Project

A senior project is a great way to fit original research into the other demands of senior year.

What is a senior project.

A senior project is an original research paper completed during the fall term of senior year in Urban Studies 203.

Every Urban Studies major is required to complete an original research or synthesis project. Students begin this work in junior year by writing a proposal in Urban Studies 202A, Preparation for Research. They generally work on the project during the spring of junior year or during the summer (often with the support of a grant from  Undergraduate Advising and Research ). In the fall of senior year they enroll in Urban Studies 203, Senior Seminar. Students typically complete a paper of 20 to 30 pages in that class. Unless a student is continuing on to write an  honors thesis  or to complete a  synthesis project , the paper for 203 completes their senior project. It satisfies the capstone requirement for the major.

Research grants are available from Undergraduate Advising and Research to support senior projects. 

The Impacts of New Charter Schools on Existing Public School Classrooms in the East Bay, California (Caitlin Wraith, 2013) ( pdf )

Improving Vegetable Preferences through Gardening and Cooking Education (Brittany Rymer, 2012) ( pdf )

Social Media Marketing for Community Foundations: Analyzing Engagement and Determining Best Practices (Dylan Conn, 2013) ( pdf )

Dissertations and Theses

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Congratulations on being close to the finish line with your dissertation or thesis.

After you’ve applied to graduate and enrolled, dissertations and theses may be submitted online through the Dissertation & Thesis Center in Axess.  

Once you finish submitting your dissertation or thesis in Axess, and it has been approved by the university, the submission is considered final and no further changes are permitted. 

The electronic submission process is free of charge and allows you the ability to check your pre-submission requirements and when ready, upload a digital copy of your dissertation or thesis. 

You can learn more about the center on the How to Use the Dissertation & Thesis Center webpage.

• FAQs: Dissertation & Theses
• How to Submit Your Signature Page
• How to Use the Dissertation & Thesis Center
• How to Request to Use Copyrighted Material

Note: The online submission process is not available for master's theses or undergraduate honors theses. Please consult with your department directly regarding submission procedures.

Follow these guides to ensure you meet all the requirements for submitting your dissertation or thesis. 

• Prepare Your Work for Submission
• Submit Your Dissertation or Thesis
• Steps After Submission

Submission Deadlines for Conferral

You must apply to graduate and enroll before you can access the Dissertation & Thesis Center in Axess.

The Dissertation & Thesis Center opens to submissions on the first day of instruction each quarter for which the student has applied to graduate.

The quarterly deadlines are set as late in the quarter as possible, providing the time necessary for review of the dissertation or thesis, including review of final degree requirements by the Registrar's Office and the departments. 

You are strongly encouraged to submit your work at least two weeks prior to the deadline to ensure that all requirements can be met in time for the conferral of your degree. 

Once you finish submitting your dissertation or thesis in Axess, and it has been approved by the university, the submission is considered final and no further changes are permitted. 

After the final reader approves the dissertation, it typically takes about seven (7) business days for the university to process the submission.  

Deadlines by Quarter

Dissertation deadlines are strictly enforced.  No exceptions are made. By noon on the final submission deadline date, all of the following steps must be completed:           

• The student enrolls and applies to graduate;
• The student confirms the names of reading committee members in Axess, and designates a Final Reader;
• The student submits reading committee signatures;
• The student completes the necessary University Milestones;
• The student’s candidacy is valid through degree conferral;
• The student submits the final dissertation or thesis in Axess;
• The designated Final Reader certifies the final draft of the dissertation or thesis submitted in Axess.

For help, contact the Student Services Center .                                                                        

For faculty and staff information on Dissertations, visit Inside Student Services.

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Theses and dissertations

Result includes all theses and dissertations — from all sources — held in the Stanford Libraries and Digital Repository.

To show Stanford work only, refine by Stanford student work or by Stanford school or department .

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• Unspecified 1
• Master of Arts (MA) 9,070
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• Harris, J. S. (James Stewart), 1942- 142
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• Khosla, Chaitan, 1964- 134
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• Boxer, Steven G. (Steven George), 1947- 119
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• California 3
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137,353 catalog results, online 1. "a different kettle of fish": opec's impact on oil nationalization, political accountability, and governance [2024].

• Nicolson, Bailey (Author)
• May 15, 2024; May 15, 2024; May 15, 2024

Online 2. A Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier for Quantum Sensing [2024]

• Rosenfeld, Ethan (Author)
• June 9, 2024; June 2024

Online 3. A light stung the darkness: spatiality and acoustics as compositional strategies [2024]

• Daglik, Engin, author.
• [Stanford, California] : [Stanford University], 2024.

Online 4. A Logical Theory of Analogy via Common Abstraction [2024]

• Nakas, Filippos (Author)
• June 4, 2024; [ca. 2023]

Online 5. A Model for Brain Reoxygenation-induced Injury Using Human Cortical Organoids [2024]

• Gurwitz, Emily (Advisor)
• May 3, 2024

6. A novel motif in calcimembrin/C16orf74 dictates multimeric dephosphorylation by calcineurin [2024]

• Bradburn, Devin Austin, author.
• purl.stanford.edu
• Google Books (Full view)

Online 7. A Social Network Analysis of the Feminist Sex Wars [2024]

• Ruedas, Andrea (Author)
• April 3, 2024

Online 8. A Tavola con la Famiglia: The Family Meal, Body Image, and Eating Disorders among Italian Adolescent Females [2024]

• Zarrow, Rachel (Author)
• March 27, 2024

Online 9. a_blurred_fluxx_00.avi: Blackqueer Self-Becoming through Lo-Fi and D-I-Y Aesthetics [2024]

• Osawemwenze, Osadolor (Author)
• June 7, 2024; May 10, 2024

Online 10. The absolute body : critical choreographies at the end of the skin [2024]

• Golomb, Sariel, author.

Online 11. Access to health care in jail : perspectives from people living inside [2024]

• Allen, Sophie Anne, author.

Online 12. Accessing the Threat: Chinese and South Korean Memory Chip Sector [2024]

• Lee, Myung Hoon (Leo) (Author)
• June 7, 2024; [ca. April 2024]; June 7, 2024

Online 13. Acquisition and use of information to improve coordination and efficiency in digital markets and supply chains [2024]

• Mantegazza, Giacomo, author.

Online 14. Addiction, social psychiatry, and exhausted life in Japan [2024]

• Atici, Selim Gokce, author.

Online 15. Administrative discretion in the age of algorithms : conceptual and empirical inquiries [2024]

• Haim, Amit, author.

Online 16. Advances in quasi-Monte Carlo [2024]

• Liu, Sifan, author.

Online 17. Advances in Ramsey theory and discrepancy theory [2024]

• Zhou, Yunkun, author.

Online 18. Advancing equity & achievement : four papers on the role of math reform in shaping students' high school trajectories [2024]

• Huffaker, Elizabeth Fried, author.

Online 19. Advancing genomics standards: genome build, the X-chromosome, and ethics education [2024]

• Ungar, Rachel Allison, author.

Online 20. Algorithmic strategies for learning and inference in resource-constrained environments [2024]

• Saha, Rajarshi, author.

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• Honors theses are  due at Noon on the day of the  University Dissertation/Thesis Deadline  for the quarter in which you are graduating. You must be a registered Stanford student during the quarter in which you graduate.
• Your thesis must be signed by two readers: your primary advisor and a second reader. The primary honors advisor should be on the faculty at Stanford (consulting/adjunct faculty are okay). The second reader should be a faculty member or other researcher familiar with your general area of inquiry.
• Your thesis must contain signatures for each reader in the following format (with parenthetical and bracketed text filled in as appropriate)

"To the Directors of the Program on Symbolic Systems: I certify that I have read the thesis of (Printed Name of Student) in its final form for submission and have found it to be satisfactory for the degree of  Bachelor of Science with Honors. Signature  Date (Printed Name of Reader) (Printed Name of Reader's Department )"

• If signatures cannot be obtained hand-written, then your reader(s) may sign by email sent to  symsys-directors [at] lists.stanford.edu (symsys-directors[at]lists[dot]stanford[dot]edu)  prior to the deadline for thesis submission, using the wording above. Any electronic signature must be sent from the reader's officially listed university email account. The signature page should read "Signed electronically" on the signature line of your turned-in thesis, with all other information present as above.
• In hard copy, bound, two-sided, on 8 1/2 x 11" paper, delivered to: Associate Director, Symbolic Systems Program, Mail Code 2150, Margaret Jacks Hall, Suite 127, Stanford, CA 94305-2150
• In a pdf version through  Stanford Digital Repository . Submission details will be provided by the Student Services Officer in the weeks prior to the thesis deadline. 

Honors Theses Examples

• Recent honors theses in our program are available in the Stanford Digital Repository, at  https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/ty986nn2846 .
• Stanford University Undergraduate Honors Thesis Prizes - Symbolic Systems Recipients
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Honors Theses

Community Engaged Scholars Program

The Community Engaged Scholars Program (CESP) exists to support and elevate the work of Stanford students undertaking senior honors theses, MA theses, or undergraduate capstone projects that are community engaged and designed to have public impact. Students can participate in CESP concurrently with their honors or capstone program in their major academic department, interdisciplinary program of study, or MA program. Students may also propose independent capstone projects.

Over the course of the academic year, CESP offers students the support, structure, resources, and accountability necessary to successfully complete their theses or capstone projects AND to ensure their project has public value and impact, rather than being something that simply “sits on the shelf.”

The CESP is designed to complement rather than duplicate the requirements of students’ honors, capstone, or MA programs and the efforts of faculty advisors during the thesis-writing process.

Join a community of students committed to rigorous scholarship that is community-engaged , equity-focused , and designed for social impact .

The Community Engaged Scholars Programs

A transdisciplinary community of scholars.

Established in 1994, the CESP (formerly known as the Public Service Scholars Program or “PSSP”) encourages students to connect community work and activism with their academic and research interests. Under the mentorship of the program director, students form a supportive community of scholars who share an interest in public scholarship, scholar-activism, and community engagement. CESP is considered “transdisciplinary” because it values and integrates knowledge and expertise not just from academic disciplines but from community sources and lived experiences.

Through CESP, students participate in both a community of practice designed to promote relational and reflective learning and a community of purpose that supports the explicit discussion of values and identities and the exploration and application of social, intellectual, and political commitments to scholarly practice. CESP encourages students to explore research as a form of scholar-activism and provides opportunities for students to share their writing in small groups, solve problems collaboratively, and critique thesis plans, conceptual frameworks and methodologies.

CESP students undertake community-engaged theses and capstone projects across all majors. In the past CESP students have completed theses in human biology; peace and conflict studies (an individually designed major); comparative studies in race and ethnicity; feminist studies; history; American studies; political science; urban studies; sociology; psychology; science, technology, and society; among others.

By request, PSSP students can be matched with a Stanford staff, faculty, graduate student, or community member who serves as a mentor. The mentor relationship is highly individualized, but mentors typically provide advice and support to foster the community-engaged dimension of the thesis research and to pursue larger questions of how this work relates to students’ lives and career goals.

Program Highlights and Requirements

• Access to mini-grants ($250-$1000) to support the carrying out of a community engagement or social impact plan

Fall Quarter 2023

• Fall CESP Retreat (off-campus): An opportunity to build relationships and community in the cohort, learn more about each other’s work, and consider ways to integrate key community engagement principles and social action strategies and goals into your thesis or capstone projects.
• One-credit Seminar: " Promising Practices in Community-Engaged Scholarship" that meets biweekly and explores evidence-based strategies to achieve impactful, equity-based community engagement outcomes through your scholarly work; discusses ways to critically negotiate ethics, identity, and power in your work with/in communities; and provides supplemental thesis writing support and opportunities for you to peer workshopping your community engagement ideas and social action projects-in-progress.

Winter Quarter 2024

• Weekend Writing Retreat (off campus)
• Mock Community Foundation Board Presentation : An opportunity to pitch your social action plan to Stanford CESP alumna/ae and receive mentoring/feedback on your work-in-progress
• Responsive topical and writing groups : A chance to present and receive feedback on community-engaged/social impact objectives and goals of your thesis or capstone project

Spring Quarter 2024

• Personalized mentoring and support from Haas Center to reach the finish line on your community engagement/social impact plans
• Final Thesis presentations : Participation in Haas-sponsored event, Community Engaged Scholars Program Thesis Presentations , which allows students to highlight and celebrate the community-engaged abd social impact components of their thesis or capstone project (this is important because typically there is little time available in departmental thesis and capstone presentations to emphasize the community engaged intentions and outcomes)
• CESP Graduation Brunch: Special brunch for CESP students, their friends, and families on the Friday before graduation (hosted by the Haas Center)
• Individuals from all majors and programs are welcome to apply for admission to CESP.
• Students may apply in the by June 16, 2023 to receive priority consideration to participate in CESP during the 2023-24 academic year.
• Applications received after the priority deadline of June 16, 2023, will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Requirements

• Intention to complete an honors thesis, capstone project, or MA thesis in a major academic department or interdisciplinary program. Students may also propose independent capstone projects, subject to approval by the CESP director
• Prior knowledge of and experience with community-based research, scholar-activism, and/or public scholarship
• Regular contact with faculty advisor to ensure project meets all requirements of major academic department or interdisciplinary program
• Commitment to the CESP community through full participation and support of colleagues
• Development of a plan for community action/social impact

Students who choose to participate in CESP for all three quarters qualify to earn a Cardinal Commitment designation.

There are no opportunities currently open for this program. Please check back soon.

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My Senior Thesis

In the spring of 1993, I decided to write a senior thesis on Norman MacLean. MacLean had been an English professor at the University of Chicago, and late in life wrote two books: The River Runs Through It, a beautiful reflection on MacLean’s family in Montana, the death of his brother Paul, fly-fishing, and religion; and Young Men and Fire, an account of a 1949 forest fire in Montana that killed 13 fire fighters (“smoke jumpers”). I loved MacLean’s books, and especially the story of his brother. 

I had been to some of the Montana rivers during a summer spent kayaking, and I was fortunate to receive a URO grant to meet MacLean’s children, Jean and John, in Chicago. Ken Fields at Stanford and Marie Boroff, a student of MacLean and renowned scholar, provided guidance. On Boroff’s advice, I wrote about MacLean’s attempt to find meaning in tragic events: in the case of the smoke jumpers, through advances in the science of forest fires; in the case of his brother, whose murder defied rational understanding, through Paul’s beauty as a fisherman, and religion. As MacLean wrote, in his family there was no clear line between fly fishing and religion. 

My career as a literary critic ended with my honors thesis, and I went to graduate school and became an economics professor, and now a business school Dean. But I still love great writing, and the American West, and feel grateful that Stanford gave me the opportunity to develop those passions. 

Jonathan Levin

Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business  

If you have a Stanford Story you would like to share , contact  [email protected] .

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Ph.d. theses.

• Strontium clock atom interferometry for fundamental physics by Ben Garber (2024)
• Clock Atom Interferometry for Precision Measurement in Fundamental Physics by TJ Wilkason (2022)

Senior Theses

• Pound-Drever-Hall Frequency Stabilization for Atom Interferometry  by Connor M. Holland (2018)
• Towards Ultracold Strontium Atoms  by Benjamin Spar (2018)

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Thesis Defense: Dory DeWeese, Solomon Lab

Insight into the Dioxygen Activation Mechanism of the Carotenoid Cleaving Dioxygenases

My thesis defense will focus on our work defining the structure and reactivity of a new class of mononuclear non-heme Fe enzymes, the carotenoid cleaving dioxygenases. These enzymes use a rare Fe(II) active site coordinated by four histidines to catalyze the oxidative cleavage of conjugated double bonds in carotenoids and stilbenoids, playing key roles in hormone production and light sensing. My work utilizes a combined spectroscopic and crystallographic approach to define the structure of the resting Fe(II) site and characterizes the aspects of the active site structure which govern the enzyme’s reactivity. I also define the effect of substrate binding on activating the Fe(II) site for reactivity with O2 and provide insight into the mechanism of O2 activation.

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Massive biomolecular shifts occur in our 40s and 60s, Stanford Medicine researchers find

Time marches on predictably, but biological aging is anything but constant, according to a new Stanford Medicine study.

August 14, 2024 - By Rachel Tompa

We undergo two periods of rapid change, averaging around age 44 and age 60, according to a Stanford Medicine study. Ratana21 /Shutterstock.com

If it’s ever felt like everything in your body is breaking down at once, that might not be your imagination. A new Stanford Medicine study shows that many of our molecules and microorganisms dramatically rise or fall in number during our 40s and 60s.

Researchers assessed many thousands of different molecules in people from age 25 to 75, as well as their microbiomes — the bacteria, viruses and fungi that live inside us and on our skin — and found that the abundance of most molecules and microbes do not shift in a gradual, chronological fashion. Rather, we undergo two periods of rapid change during our life span, averaging around age 44 and age 60. A paper describing these findings was published in the journal Nature Aging Aug. 14.

“We’re not just changing gradually over time; there are some really dramatic changes,” said Michael Snyder , PhD, professor of genetics and the study’s senior author. “It turns out the mid-40s is a time of dramatic change, as is the early 60s. And that’s true no matter what class of molecules you look at.”

Xiaotao Shen, PhD, a former Stanford Medicine postdoctoral scholar, was the first author of the study. Shen is now an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

These big changes likely impact our health — the number of molecules related to cardiovascular disease showed significant changes at both time points, and those related to immune function changed in people in their early 60s.

Abrupt changes in number

Snyder, the Stanford W. Ascherman, MD, FACS Professor in Genetics, and his colleagues were inspired to look at the rate of molecular and microbial shifts by the observation that the risk of developing many age-linked diseases does not rise incrementally along with years. For example, risks for Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease rise sharply in older age, compared with a gradual increase in risk for those under 60.

The researchers used data from 108 people they’ve been following to better understand the biology of aging. Past insights from this same group of study volunteers include the discovery of four distinct “ ageotypes ,” showing that people’s kidneys, livers, metabolism and immune system age at different rates in different people.

Michael Snyder

The new study analyzed participants who donated blood and other biological samples every few months over the span of several years; the scientists tracked many different kinds of molecules in these samples, including RNA, proteins and metabolites, as well as shifts in the participants’ microbiomes. The researchers tracked age-related changes in more than 135,000 different molecules and microbes, for a total of nearly 250 billion distinct data points.

They found that thousands of molecules and microbes undergo shifts in their abundance, either increasing or decreasing — around 81% of all the molecules they studied showed non-linear fluctuations in number, meaning that they changed more at certain ages than other times. When they looked for clusters of molecules with the largest changes in amount, they found these transformations occurred the most in two time periods: when people were in their mid-40s, and when they were in their early 60s.

Although much research has focused on how different molecules increase or decrease as we age and how biological age may differ from chronological age, very few have looked at the rate of biological aging. That so many dramatic changes happen in the early 60s is perhaps not surprising, Snyder said, as many age-related disease risks and other age-related phenomena are known to increase at that point in life.

The large cluster of changes in the mid-40s was somewhat surprising to the scientists. At first, they assumed that menopause or perimenopause was driving large changes in the women in their study, skewing the whole group. But when they broke out the study group by sex, they found the shift was happening in men in their mid-40s, too.

“This suggests that while menopause or perimenopause may contribute to the changes observed in women in their mid-40s, there are likely other, more significant factors influencing these changes in both men and women. Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research,” Shen said.

Changes may influence health and disease risk

In people in their 40s, significant changes were seen in the number of molecules related to alcohol, caffeine and lipid metabolism; cardiovascular disease; and skin and muscle. In those in their 60s, changes were related to carbohydrate and caffeine metabolism, immune regulation, kidney function, cardiovascular disease, and skin and muscle.

It’s possible some of these changes could be tied to lifestyle or behavioral factors that cluster at these age groups, rather than being driven by biological factors, Snyder said. For example, dysfunction in alcohol metabolism could result from an uptick in alcohol consumption in people’s mid-40s, often a stressful period of life.

The team plans to explore the drivers of these clusters of change. But whatever their causes, the existence of these clusters points to the need for people to pay attention to their health, especially in their 40s and 60s, the researchers said. That could look like increasing exercise to protect your heart and maintain muscle mass at both ages or decreasing alcohol consumption in your 40s as your ability to metabolize alcohol slows.

“I’m a big believer that we should try to adjust our lifestyles while we’re still healthy,” Snyder said.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants U54DK102556, R01 DK110186-03, R01HG008164, NIH S10OD020141, UL1 TR001085 and P30DK116074) and the Stanford Data Science Initiative.

• Rachel Tompa Rachel Tompa is a freelance science writer.

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu .

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