Shirin Khambalia

SHIRIN KHAMBALIA

Thesis:  Correlations among Reading Comprehension, Theory of Mind, and Language Comprehension in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder 

Thesis Director:  Dr. Andrea Barton-Hulsey, School of Communication Science and Disorders

"I am very grateful to have been selected to receive the Bess H. Ward Honors Thesis Award on behalf of the Florida State University (FSU)’s Honors in the Major program. My time in the Honors in the Major program has been very rewarding. With the help of my thesis director, Dr. Andrea Barton-Hulsey, I was able to take on a new project which involved: conducting a literature review, applying for an Institutional Review Board approval, recruiting participants, administering assessments, scoring assessments, and writing about my findings. Winning the Bess H. Ward thesis award has taught me how to create an itemized budgeted list of items I needed for my Honors in the Major Thesis project.

Going through the process of completing an Honors in the Major project has been one of my favorite memories from Florida State University, as it allowed for additional learning experiences beyond the classroom. I am very thankful to receive the Bess H. Ward Honors Thesis Award, as winning this award inspires me to continue my research and continue to apply for funding at the graduate level to support my research. The Bess H. Ward Award and the Honors Program has allowed for me to foster my research interests by providing me with the guidance needed to conduct an undergraduate Honors in the Major thesis project. I am very thankful for this opportunity."

-Shirin Khambalia, 2021 Bess H. Ward Thesis Award Winner