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Honors Research

Honors students can design and execute their own individual research project via the Honors Contract Course. The project affords students the opportunity to expand their knowledge of a particular topic, explore an original idea, develop their professional skills, and create their own deliverable product.

This deliverable product can range from a traditional research paper or oral presentation to a podcast, a website, a video, a service project, or laboratory research.

Examples of Honors Contract Projects at A&M-San Antonio

Mind the Gap: Bridging Perception and Knowledge of American Law
Cody Garcia (Criminology & Criminal Justice)

This project, which won an award at the 2024 National Collegiate Honors Conference, surveyed 112 participants about their knowledge of the law and correlated the results with legal literacy, political engagement, and voting behavior. It presented data and findings from a convenience sample (street interviews) in diverse public areas across a large metropolitan area in the southwestern United States. This study offered insight into the role that knowledge gaps play in shaping perceptions and voting patterns, which provides a basis for promoting enhanced legal literacy in classrooms and communities across the United States.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sarah Harper

Cody Garcia with award

"Tú Échale Ganas": Undocumented Students and the Education System
Lidia Flores Bandera (Political Science)

"Tú Échale Ganas," or "Give your All," is a common phrase used among Latina/o/e immigrant families. This project conducts research based on educational affordability and its impact on the immigrant Latina/o/e community. The research draws on oral histories of adult interviewees, key academic articles, and quantitative data to illustrate these experiences. The project includes six completed oral histories, three of which have been incorporated in a digital humanities initiative that includes a podcast and a website exploring the experiences of immigrant youth and families in K-12 and higher education. The project won an award at the six-state Great Plains Honors Conference and was presented at the 2024 National Collegiate Honors Conference and the 2024 Oral History Association annual meeting.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elena Foulis

Lidia Flores Bandera presenting

PortrAid: An AI-Driven Portrait Assistant for Professional-Quality Image Composition
Jaspal Singh Kahlon (Computer Science)

PortrAid (portrait aid) is a revolutionary AI-driven tool designed to empower users to create professional-quality portraits easily. By leveraging advanced deep learning techniques, PortrAid offers intelligent recommendations for portrait composition, empowering users to create stunning, professional-quality images. This project resulted in a web-based tool for creating professional quality portrait photographs and presentations at the 2025 Great Plains Honors Conference and the 2025 Association for Computing Machinery Southeast Conference.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gongbo "Tony" Liang

Jaspal Singh Kahlon presenting

Resources