Honors Directed Interdisciplinary Thesis
The Honors Directed Interdisciplinary Program (DIS) is a highly rigorous undergraduate degree program at Montana State University where students propose an interdisciplinary thesis project and select three different fields of study to pursue this project. Students must engage advisors in all three disciplines as well as providing a complete academic degree plan with course selections at the time of application.
My DIS thesis was: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of a Carbon Negative Building Material. This project allowed me to explore breadth in three fields: Materials Engineering, Architectural Design, and Sociology while diving deeply into the field of biomimetic architecture and building materials.
You can find my presentation and thesis document below. The individual components of my project can be found on my research pages.
In the first portion of my DIS Thesis, I engineered a composite material by mineralizing and/or biomineralizing particles of waste plastic
In the second portion I investigated possible applications for this composite material in the built environment as an architectural facade
In the final portion of my DIS Thesis, I conducted a sociological survey of building professionals to understand when they might adopt this technology
Read through my presentation slide deck to get a quick visual sense of the project!
Thesis Presentation
Read my complete thesis document! I lay out each of the components of my project in addition to precedent studies and some process work. I have also included additional related projects that contributed to the breadth and depth of my undergraduate studies and my understanding of technological/social change and innovation. I include theories of change making, additional considerations for a business plan, and selected policy documents written both for student government and for independent study.
