Dartmouth provides many unique opportunities for undergraduates to become directly involved in active research. Many students take advantage of these opportunities through the Honors Thesis Program. An honors student carries out a program of independent work in physics or astronomy under the supervision of a member of the faculty. This independent work is usually done in the student's senior year, and it may be either experimental, theoretical, or observational. A written thesis on the completed work is then presented before a faculty committee. All departmental Honors are considered individually and awarded by a vote of the faculty. If the faculty consider a student's work to be truly exceptional, they may vote to award High Honors.