Research

Undergraduate research is a vital part of the student experience in Classics at Pitt, and we offer a variety of opportunities for our majors and minors to develop, pursue, and present independent and directed research projects.

Departmental Honors

Students who successfully complete either an Honors Thesis or a Bachelor of Philosophy in Classics (see below) are eligible for departmental honors, by vote of the Classics Faculty.

Honors Thesis in Classics

Majors who have reached the end of their junior year with a GPA in departmental courses of 3.50 or higher may, in conjunction with a senior-level course, write an honors thesis. Acceptance of the thesis by the Classics Department will qualify the student to graduate with departmental honors in Classics. Click here for guidelines and to download an application

Recent Honors Theses in Classics

Year Student Title Supervisor(s)
2021-2022 N. Skorupski

The Oracle of Delphi: Its Influence in Ancient Warfare

M. Persyn

2021-2022 L. Xu

Latin Education Survival Guide: The resilient voyage of Latin from late 17th century to contemporary era through the perspective of books for children

M. Persyn

2020-2021

C. Ruby How Greek Tragedy and the Concept of Catharsis could act as a Didactic Tool for Empathy in Healthcare E. Lee
2020-2021 G. Stout

Women in Warfare: Wartime Participants with the Most to Lose

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2019-2020

E. Hrynko Volcanic Eruption, Climate Change and Societal Upheaval: What Led to the Collapse of the Minoans?

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2019-2020

M. Sanglikar

Infelix Dido vs. Δεινὴ Medea: Fate and the Puella Relicta Trope in Ancient Myth

E. Lee
2018-2019 S. Gibbons

Individualism in Western Thought: Socrates, Hegel & Liberalism

N. Jones
2018-2019 E. Maloney

The Greatness of the Greeks: Greek Military Superiority during the Greco-Persian Wars

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2017-2018

Z. Kovacs

The Nomos-Phusis Antithesis and Calliclean Justice: from Antiquity to Contemporary Political Thought

D. Mark Possanza

2017-2018

O. Parks

Mercury: Redefining the Theme of Identity in Plautus's Amphitruo

D. Mark Possanza

2017-2018

V. Rajakumar

The Evolution of Medicine in Ancient Greece

N. Jones

2017-2018

A. Roos

These Caucasian Heads: Combating Racist Rhetoric in the Classical Tradition

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2016-2017

Z. Herbster

Fiat Lux: Illuminating Augustinian Synthesis

C. Hoenig

2014-2015

A. Scott

Trajan and Caesar – A Shared Ideology

A. Weis, D. Mark Possanza

2013-2014

A. Campman

Vercingetorix, Improbable Revolutionary

D. Mark Possanza

2012-2013

T. Fernald

First and Second Person Pronoun Confusion in the Greek New Testament

E. Floyd

2008-2009

M. Dooley

Appearance Over Substance: Advertising Success in Roman Britain, the Antonine Wall

D. Mark Possanza

2008-2009

S. Black

Roman Patrician Women: Wealth, Autonomy, and Passive Politics

N. Jones

1999-2000

A. Spratley

Impiety and Deception: An Analysis of Ovid’s Procne, Tereus and Philomela Episode Focusing on the Portrayal of the Female Characters

D. Mark Possanza

 

First Experiences in Research

The First Experiences in Research (FE-R) program pairs students as early as the spring term of their freshman year with faculty researchers from across the arts and sciences. The FE-R program culminates in a poster presentation at the end of the year and often leads to more sophisticated, independent research projects later in a student’s career.

Recent FE-R Projects in Classics

Year Title Student Supervisor

2018-2019

Alternative Ancient Readings in the Text of Homer, Iliad

E. Kaiser

E. Floyd

2017-2018

Go to Hades! Representations of the Underworld in Antiquity

L. Suppo

A. Korzeniewski

2017-2018

Spanish Language Scholarship on Homer

E. Grulke

E. Floyd

2017-2018

Comparison of Translations of Bhagavad Gita

D. Shah

E. Floyd

2017-2018

Marginalized Populations in the Ancient Greek World: The Bioarchaeology of the Other

A. Buncich

M. Sanglikar

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2016-2017

Whose Translation of Homer is Best?

J. R. Starr

E. Floyd

2015-2016

What's the Best Italian Translation of the Iliad?

J. Antonucci

E. Floyd

2015-2016

The Many Fathers of Achilles

L. Dornan

E. Floyd

2015-2016

The Psychology of Theft In Antiquity

M. Blacksmith

C. Clark

D. Regan

A. Korzeniewski

2013-2014

‘Mentor’: From Ancient Greece to Modern Day

M. O'Brien Jones

E. Floyd

2013-2014

“Mentor” Through the Eyes of the Odyssey

A. Sobotka-Briner

E. Floyd

2013-2014

Semantic Satiation Reinforces Penelope’s Early Recognition of Odysseus

S. Suhaimi

E. Floyd

2012-2013

Analysis of Political Subtext in the Aeneid

D. Akapo

E. Floyd

2012-2013

Veiled Criticism in Vergil

T. Lucas

E. Floyd

2010-2011

Early Recognition and Modern Emendations in Homer

T. Fritz

E. Floyd

2010-2011

Disguise and Advice in Les Aventures de Télémaque

E. Marriott

E. Floyd

2009-2010

The Evolution of the Latin Language Through Usage Patterns of Words for “And”

L. Keeler

E. Floyd

2008-2009

Comparative Etymology of Latin Texts: The Ratio of "And"

S. Doescher

E. Floyd

 

David C. Frederick Honors College Fellowships

The David C. Frederick Honors College supports Pitt undergraduates pursuing independent research under the mentorship of a faculty member with a variety of fellowships. These are designed to help students develop their research, while also gaining a better understanding of research across disciplines. In addition to working on their individual project, students attend weekly, interdisciplinary seminars to discuss and present their research. Full-time undergraduate students on the Oakland campus who have identified a faculty member or appropriately qualified research mentor, who has agreed to mentor them during a fellowship, may apply. Fellowships are open to students from any field and any class, including rising sophomores as well as rising seniors. Additional infomation is available here.

Recent Frederick Honors College Fellows in Classics

Year Student Title Faculty Mentor
2021-2022 A.-J. Peart Color Cognition in Ancient Greek Art

E. Lee

2015-2016

M. Kenney

Plato the Mystic

J. Bromberg

2014-2015

Z. Herbster

Augustine and Late Antique Cosmology

R. McDermott

 

Summer Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) 

The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences' Summer Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) provide a $4,000 stipend to conduct independent research over the summer. SURA recipients also enroll in a 12-week ARTSC seminar that teaches them how to communicate their research findings to non-specialist audiences. Eligibility requirements include being a Dietrich School undergraduate and having the means to secure a faculty mentor within the disciplinary area of the research topic. 

Recent SURA Fellows in Classics

Year Student Title Faculty Mentor
2023 L. Truesdell A Matter of Life and Death: Myths of Reincarnation Across Greece, Rome and Egypt

M. Persyn

2022 A.-J. Peart

"Divina Mens": Imperial Propaganda in De architectura 6.1

J. Bromberg

 

Undergraduate Fellowship, Humanities Center

The Humanities Center supports undergraduate research with a number of fellowships to support humanities research experiences. The goals of these fellowships to support undergraduate humanities research, to connect fellows with the multidisciplinary networks of the Humanities Center, and to assist them in securing further fellowship or grant support for the research questions they wish to pursue. Summer research is supported by a $5,000 stipend and a proseminar in the preceding Spring. Therein, fellows learn how to frame, develop, and execute a humanities research project. It is also supported by a second three-credit seminar in the Fall that helps fellows produce a research output that fits their projects and ambitions. Eligibility requirements including being an undergraduate enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Recent Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellows in Classics

Year Student Title Faculty Mentor
2023 A.-J. Peart

Nature and Nurture: On Airs, Waters, Places, Meteorology, and Marvels in the Οikouménē

E. Lee

 

Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) Degree

The Bachelor of Philosophy in Classics, conferred jointly by the David C. Frederick Honors College and the Department of Classics, represents the highest level of scholarship attainable by an undergraduate student at Pitt. Through the B.Phil., undergraduate students any time after their first year at Pitt can begin research and scholarly work toward a rigorous baccalaureate degree in a manner usually reserved for the graduate level. Simultaneously, the B.Phil. degree includes an element of intellectual scope in the expectation that students have a challenging academic program in the course work for their majors, minors, and/or certificates. Details are available through the David C. Frederick Honors College.

Recent B.Phil. Recipients

Year Student Title Committee Chair
2021-2022 E. Wiley Gender Roles and Non-Binary Representation in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt

C. Wildberg

2021-2022 K. Culver McDonald The Comparative Impact of Old English and Classical language on the Poetics of Modern Fantasy 

L. Campbell (English)

2021-2022 R. Steinly  Cultural Exchange and Colonization: Considering Roman-Italian Relations within the Context of Contemporary Postcolonial Literature and Theory 

M. Persyn

2021-2022 S. C. Street Fair to See, Soon to Fall: The Classical Heroine and Tolkien's "Unmortal" Women 

L. Campbell (English)

2020-2021

T. Altunin The Bankes Homer: a window into Homeric song J. A. Bromberg

2020-2021

M. Fox Optical Theory and Feminine Auctoritas within Chaucer’s the Tale of Melibee R. McDermott (English)

2016-2017

M. Merante

A Universal Display? Investigating the Role of Panathenaic Amphorai in the British Museum

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2014-2015

S. Taborski

Not Just for the Birds: Bird Omens in Horseman Scenes on Archaic Vases

A. Weis

2012-2013

M. Bowser

The "Golden Age" of Rome: Augustus' Program to Better the Roman Empire

N. Jones

1995-1996

S. Menon

The Iliad, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Odyssey: A Comparative Analysis of Character Depictions in the Epics

E. Floyd

 

Field Studies Program

The Field Studies Program provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to conduct research in new and exciting places. Students will devise a research project in consultation with a faculty mentor and will be expected to conduct research independently. Students will also participate in a community of peer researchers through planned cultural activities and group discussions.

Recent Field Studies Program Participants

Year Student Site Title Supervisor

2017

M. Merante

London

A Universal Display? Investigating the Role of Panathenaic Amphorai in the British Museum

C. L. Sulosky Weaver

2017

Z. Herbster

London

In Pace: Britannia Perdomita Revisited

A. Weis


 

If you would like to learn more about undergraduate research opportunities in Classics and Ancient History, contact our Undergraduate Advisor, Professor D. Mark Possanza.