Research SnackChats

Please browse the below list of thesis topics (organized by division and concentration). You may list up to 3 theses on the Research SnackChats interest form. You will indicate the topic by the number associated with it. Please note that each thesis is listed under one concentration; any joint concentrations are listed with the thesis project synopsis.

Thesis Topics

1. Arts and Humanities

Classics

1.01 Inter exempla erit: Germania in Tacitus and Its Use by Early German Humanists

Thesis reference number: 1.01

Thesis title: Inter exempla erit: Germania in Tacitus and Its Use by Early German Humanists

Thesis synopsis: An exploration of how Tacitus used the idea of ancient Germania to comment upon what it meant to be a Roman and how two early sixteenth century German humanists--Ulrich von Hutten and Beatus Rhenanus--interpreted Tacitus' descriptions of ancient Germania to foster early modern German patriotism. The thesis primarily seeks to understand pre-19th century group identities through intellectual history and classical reception.

[Joint concentration with History]

1.02 Augustine: Interpreter and Heir to the Traditions of Consolatio and Tears

Thesis reference number: 1.02

Thesis title: Augustine: Interpreter and Heir to the Traditions of Consolatio and Tears

Thesis synopsis: Augustine was an enormously prolific writer who stood at the intersection of many cultures, languages, and traditions. In my thesis, I explore how he interacted with and interpreted the philosophical tradition of consolatio, as well as how he accounted for stories of tears in Livy's histories.

1.03 Ioci Nudandarum Mimarum: Uncovering the Roman Floralia

Thesis reference number: 1.03

Thesis title: Ioci Nudandarum Mimarum: Uncovering the Roman Floralia

Thesis synopsis: I investigate the little-studied Roman festival of the Floralia, best known for its theatrical mime shows where prostitutes would appear onstage. I conclude that the festival was not merely sexual, but also had an important class function in allowing control to the lower classes within a limited time and place.

Comparative Literature

1.04 Care and Coloniality: A Comparative Analysis of Memoirs of Healers from the Philippines and Mexico

Thesis reference number: 1.04

Thesis title: Care and Coloniality: A Comparative Analysis of Memoirs of Healers from the Philippines and Mexico

Thesis synopsis: In my thesis, I examine the legacies of colonialism in medicine through six memoirs, five by physicians and one by a traditional healer, from the Philippines and Mexico.

1.05 A New Planetary Reality: On the Border of Genre in Chinese Diasporic Fiction

Thesis reference number: 1.05

Thesis title: A New Planetary Reality: On the Border of Genre in Chinese Diasporic Fiction

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is about how the genre of diasporic fiction is holds a core of trauma and miscommunication - and this complexity of the genre should be celebrated instead of rejected by scholars that think the genre is "too broad." I look specifically at how this complexity of what is traumatic and untranslatable plays out in fiction by female authors in the Chinese Diaspora.

English

1.06 The Queer Art of Friendship

Thesis reference number: 1.06

Thesis title: The Queer Art of Friendship

Thesis synopsis: A creative nonfiction thesis---auto-theoretical, and influenced especially by race, queer, feminist studies.

[Joint concentration with African and African American Studies]

History & Literature

1.07 “To build and to be built”: Tuberculosis Control in the Zionist Movement, 1922-1957

Thesis reference number: 1.07

Thesis title: “To build and to be built”: Tuberculosis Control in the Zionist Movement, 1922-1957

Thesis synopsis: This thesis studies the ways tuberculosis control fueled the Zionist movement, both as a cultural and symbolic force, and as a means through which the Jewish community created an independent health care system in Palestine that served to justify the UN’s proposed partition of the region into Jewish and Arab states in 1947. The institutional infrastructure of tuberculosis control (hospitals and sanatoria) served to literally and figuratively separate Zionist health care from the public system administered by the British Mandatory government.

1.08 Babylonian Incantation Bowl Onomastics

Thesis reference number: 1.08

Thesis title: Babylonian Incantation Bowl Onomastics

Thesis synopsis: I analyzed the names on 214 late antique Babylonian incantations. I used this data to suggest the naming conventions of the Babylonian minority communities (Jewish, Christian, and Mandaean) they represent.

[Joint concentration with Mathematics]

1.09 News From “The Jungle”: The Impacts, Limitations, And Advocacy Potential Of 1970s Prison Journalism In The Angolite

Thesis reference number: 1.09

Thesis title: News From “The Jungle”: The Impacts, Limitations, And Advocacy Potential Of 1970s Prison Journalism In The Angolite

Thesis synopsis: The thesis studies the history of The Angolite, an influential newsmagazine published by prisoners from The Louisiana State Penitentiary, and considers its interactions with the prisoners' rights movement and the civil rights movement in the 20th century United States.

[Joint concentration with Government]

1.10 Shop Union: 1960s ILGWU Films

Thesis reference number: 1.10

Thesis title: Shop Union: 1960s ILGWU Films

Thesis synopsis: I looked at three short films produced by the ILGWU during the 1960s- one focused on mothers on strike, one on union-made garments and the people who make them, and one a plot based fashion show. I focus on how the ILGWU leadership changed their attempted portrayal of the union through these films, and how shifts within the films mirror the union's changing landscape from radical organization to increasingly professionalized business.

1.11 “¡NI UNA MÁS!”: Exploring the Intersections of Womanhood, Identity, and Violence in Mexico/U.S., 2007-2021

Thesis reference number: 1.11

Thesis title: “¡NI UNA MÁS!”: Exploring the Intersections of Womanhood, Identity, and Violence in Mexico/U.S., 2007-2021

Thesis synopsis: I analyze how Mexican womanhood has been defined through violence as well as reactions to this violence by looking at cultural products, feminist theory, legislature, and lived experiences.

1.12 “Asian American Pioneer,” “Oriental Cinderella,” “Hollywood Legend”: Reframing Stories of Anna May Wong (1905-1961)

Thesis reference number: 1.12

Thesis title: “Asian American Pioneer,” “Oriental Cinderella,” “Hollywood Legend”: Reframing Stories of Anna May Wong (1905-1961)

Thesis synopsis: Anna May Wong was the first Asian American Hollywood Film actress, and I reframed the stories told about her through analysing two sets of contrasting archives: newspaper articles during her lifetime and her correspondence with Carl Van Vechten and his wife, Fania Marinoff.

1.13 Imagining a Tomorrow While Looking to Yesterday: Afrofuturism, Education, and the Organization of Black American Culture

Thesis reference number: 1.13

Thesis title: Imagining a Tomorrow While Looking to Yesterday: Afrofuturism, Education, and the Organization of Black American Culture

Thesis synopsis: Through first a historical review of the transformations that Afrofuturism as a term and concept underwent from the moment of its coinage to the present day, my thesis then enters the term's tradition of retroactive revision in a study of the Organization of Black American Culture, a Black community-organized and community-oriented group in Chicago's late 1960s moment that championed a focus on Black art and a mission to understand Black identity, in order to qualify OBAC as an Afrofuturist space in its educational mechanisms and collective imaginings; an Afrofuturist project in the world it was trying to usher in; and Afrofuturism in action. Through this consideration, the possibilities of Afrofuturism, education, and how they intersect go explored, and the realities of Black creativity, imagination, contemporary change-making, and humanity go all the more realized and celebrated.

1.19 Sinofuturism: Dreams and Nightmares in Postsocialist China

Thesis reference number: 1.19

Thesis title: Sinofuturism: Dreams and Nightmares in Postsocialist China

Thesis synopsis: This thesis inspects the emergent concept of “Sinofuturism” across the past three decades and a range of artifacts, from looking at China as theme park to bottom-up techno-optimism in Shenzhen sweatshops to American and Chinese science fiction novels that imagine a new world order. What is the future with Chinese characteristics and how is it being prototyped by various imaginations?

History of Art and Architecture

1.14 Architecture Renovation under China’s Rural Vitalization Strategy: A Quest for Cultural Memory and Regional Identity

Thesis reference number: 1.14

Thesis title: Architecture Renovation under China’s Rural Vitalization Strategy: A Quest for Cultural Memory and Regional Identity

Thesis synopsis: In recent decade, there had been many architecture renovations (stemmed from China's Rural Vitalization Strategy) in rural China that completely transformed the local architectural landscape. My thesis aims to look at the renovation's artificiality and explore themes of cultural memory and regional identity.

1.15 Things Adrift: A Vital Materialist Account of Trinh Mai's Bone of My Bone as Feminist Refuge-Making Craft

Thesis reference number: 1.15

Thesis title: Things Adrift: A Vital Materialist Account of Trinh Mai's Bone of My Bone as Feminist Refuge-Making Craft

Thesis synopsis: specifically looking to Trinh Mai's driftwood sculpture: taking "drifting" as a prompt to both think about the material of the wood itself as well as human histories of diaspora / Vietnamese American refugee history. broader argument is that things have vibes.

[Joint concentration with Social Studies]

1.16 Strangers Become Collaborators: Strangers Become Collaborators: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Disruptive Artwork ...

Thesis reference number: 1.16

Thesis title: Strangers Become Collaborators: Strangers Become Collaborators: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Disruptive Artwork of teamLab

Thesis synopsis: This thesis argues for the value of using Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) methods to augment art historical methods when analyzing interactive digital art. In doing so it reveals how teamLab and their oeuvre challenges long-standing beliefs within both fields.

[Joint concentration with Computer Science]

1.17 The Skin That Sculpts Sunlight: Reconceptualizing Blinds Furniture in Office Buildings through Experiential and Environment

Thesis reference number: 1.17

Thesis title: The Skin That Sculpts Sunlight: Reconceptualizing Blinds Furniture in Office Buildings through Experiential and Environmental Effects

Thesis synopsis: In this thesis, I explore how solar shading systems in commercial towers can embrace new strategies of responding to natural conditions to create experiential and environmental values for occupants. Through responding to and improving on historical case studies, existing architectural history, and discourse, the study culminates in the proposal of a new value framework for designing a sculptural blinds furniture in contemporary office buildings.

Theater, Dance, & Media

1.18 Dressed in White and Covered in Blood

Thesis reference number: 1.18

Thesis title: Dressed in White and Covered in Blood

Thesis synopsis: I did my thesis on the horror genre in theater, specifically examining the Final Girl Trope from slasher films, and wrote a creative thesis.

[Joint concentration with English]

2. Engineering and Applied Sciences

Applied Mathematics

2.01 Impact of Political Assassination on Tough on Crime Policies and Urban Development

Thesis reference number: 2.01

Thesis title: Impact of Political Assassination on Tough on Crime Policies and Urban Development

Thesis synopsis: Assassinations by drug cartels with the intent of decreasing tough on crime policies decrease police presence, but raises overall levels of police stations and jails. This leads to rise in cartel violence

2.02 This Too Shall Pass: Measuring the Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Mental Health, Healthcare & Substance Use

Thesis reference number: 2.02

Thesis title: This Too Shall Pass: Measuring the Effect of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Mental Health, Healthcare & Substance Use

Thesis synopsis: I test the effects of lockdowns on mental health disorders and counseling usage at the state and metro area level. The first lockdown in an area doesn't affect mental health, but lifting the first lockdown decreases symptoms and future lockdowns increase it. Lockdowns don't affect reported counseling usage, but do decrease searches for therapy a lot, indicating that people might not want to start therapy during lockdowns.

2.03 Evaluating claims of asymptotic normality in econometric models

Thesis reference number: 2.03

Thesis title: Evaluating claims of asymptotic normality in econometric models

Thesis synopsis: I'm testing empirically whether certain statistical procedures used in economics research produce results that align with theoretical assumptions.

2.04 Modeling Household Consumption Response to COVID-19 Fiscal Stimulus in the U.S.

Thesis reference number: 2.04

Thesis title: Modeling Household Consumption Response to COVID-19 Fiscal Stimulus in the U.S.

Thesis synopsis: Using a heterogenous agents lifecycle model to estimate household consumption response to stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment insurance during the pandemic, as well as testing alternative scenarios to measure the impact of government spending and potential alternative stimulus paths to boost consumption at a lower cost.

2.05 City Services for a Smarter Boston: Citizen Driven Intelligence Through BOS:311

Thesis reference number: 2.05

Thesis title: City Services for a Smarter Boston: Citizen Driven Intelligence Through BOS:311

Thesis synopsis: A qualitative and quantitative study of the city services program in Boston. Consisted of semistructured interviews and quantitative analysis of open data.

2.06 Identifying the Effects of Geographic Policy: An Application to HOLC Redlining

Thesis reference number: 2.06

Thesis title: Identifying the Effects of Geographic Policy: An Application to HOLC Redlining

Thesis synopsis: Much of the literature on redlining has a difficult time distinguishing the effect of redlining from why boundaries were drawn in particular areas, a form of spatial selection bias. Using tools from the statistical literature on redistricting, I estimate the impact of redlining by comparing realized maps to a set of explicitly generated counterfactuals.

2.07 A Bayesian Nonparametric Approach to Multi-Task Learning for Contextual Bandits in Mobile Health

Thesis reference number: 2.07

Thesis title: A Bayesian Nonparametric Approach to Multi-Task Learning for Contextual Bandits in Mobile Health

Thesis synopsis: I develop a statistical method to perform model-based multi-task learning within a reinforcement learning framework across N tasks, using Dirichlet process mixture models (Bayesian nonparametrics). I motivate this method in the context of mobile health interventions, a setting in which we aim to learn a personalized, optimal treatment policy for each user/patient but also a setting in which this learning is prohibitively slow due to sparse and noisy data. Each user (patient) is viewed as one "task" in this multi-task framework; my method pools data across users in a principled fashion to make better treatment decisions.

2.08 Signal Processing Approaches to Musical Tuning System Detection in the Bach Cello Suites

Thesis reference number: 2.08

Thesis title: Signal Processing Approaches to Musical Tuning System Detection in the Bach Cello Suites

Thesis synopsis: Applying signal processing and machine learning approaches to detecting musical tuning systems in audio recordings of the Bach Cello Suites.

2.09 Folklore and the Persistence of Tradition

Thesis reference number: 2.09

Thesis title: Folklore and the Persistence of Tradition

Thesis synopsis: I use exogenous variation in weather patterns (temperature shocks, volcanic eruptions) to examine the differential persistence of past traits as measured by motifs in folklore (such as cultural tightness, or the degree of punishment of antisocial behavior) to present-day values.

2.10 Multi-District School Choice: When Sincere Students Stay and Sophisticated Students Stray

Thesis reference number: 2.10

Thesis title: Multi-District School Choice: When Sincere Students Stay and Sophisticated Students Stray

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is in the field of market design, which is all about problems with economic principles (like incentives) but where things can't just be solved with standard supply and demand curves (like matching people together on a dating app). Specifically, my thesis is about the classic school choice problem (how to assign students to schools based on both their preferences and priorities like walk zones/sibling priorities), but with multiple nearby districts and some students can "move" between them.

2.11 The Race to Displace: The Long-Run Causal Effect of the 1996 Olympic Legacy Program on Residential Locations in Atlanta, GA

Thesis reference number: 2.11

Thesis title: The Race to Displace: The Long-Run Causal Effect of the 1996 Olympic Legacy Program on Residential Locations in Atlanta, GA

Thesis synopsis: Before the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, several public housing projects were demolished to make room for the Olympic Village. I use a unique dataset containing individual addresses to show that displaced individuals from these demolitions ended up moving to better neighborhoods on average.

2.12 A stochastic model of ion homeostasis explains starvation-survival kinetics of Escherichia coli

Thesis reference number: 2.12

Thesis title: A stochastic model of ion homeostasis explains starvation-survival kinetics of Escherichia coli

Thesis synopsis: I developed a theoretical model of how E. coli behave when they are starved of carbon and compared the expectations of that model to other people's experimental observations of E. coli starvation. The work involved mathematical calculations and computer simulations.

Biomedical Engineering

2.13 Engineering Ultrasound-Triggered Red Blood Cell Delivery of Thrombin to Induce Targeted Hemostasis

Thesis reference number: 2.13

Thesis title: Engineering Ultrasound-Triggered Red Blood Cell Delivery of Thrombin to Induce Targeted Hemostasis

Thesis synopsis: Persons with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders – approximately 3.5 million in the U.S. – suffer from inefficient blood clotting, resulting in spontaneous bleeding and/or excessive bleeding upon injury or damage. This project aims to engineer red blood cell (RBC) carriers to deliver a payload of thrombin upon targeted activation by ultrasound.

2.14 Brain Organoids as a System to Study the HOPX Gene

Thesis reference number: 2.14

Thesis title: Brain Organoids as a System to Study the HOPX Gene

Thesis synopsis: Every year, millions of people around the world suffer and die as a result of a neurological disease or disorder. The HOPX gene, in particular, has been linked to cortical development and a high expression of this gene can lead to decreased survival rates. There is currently no ethical way to examine the HOPX gene in humans. Brain organoids provide an alternative solution to this problem. They are generated from three-dimensional (3D) cultures of human induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells, which partially replicates the environment, development, and complexity of the human brain. This project consists of the design, building, and analyzing of brain organoids as a system to study the HOPX gene in order to allow scientists and researchers to learn more about the HOPX gene and its role in brain development.

2.15 Monocyte and Backpack Migration Assay Development and Validation

Thesis reference number: 2.15

Thesis title: Monocyte and Backpack Migration Assay Development and Validation

Thesis synopsis: I am developing and validating a transwell assay to test the impact of polymeric, hitchhiking, drug-delivering 8 um 'backpack' disks on the migration of monocytes through endothelial membranes.

[Joint concentration with Intergrative Biology]

Computer Science

2.16 Algorithms for Managing Deliberation

Thesis reference number: 2.16

Thesis title: Algorithms for Managing Deliberation

Thesis synopsis: In the voting algorithms space; studied/developed algorithms for dividing sortition (basically a pool of volunteers who come together to discuss and vote on an issue) panels into discussion groups over multiple days to meet various criteria

[Joint concentration with Mathematics]

2.17 Automated Kantian Ethics

Thesis reference number: 2.17

Thesis title: Automated Kantian Ethics

Thesis synopsis: I built a computer program that can make ethical judgements, based on a philosophically-sound ethical theory. My work is one step towards truly ethical AI agents.

[Joint concentration with Philosophy]

2.18 A detailed computational approach to mouse parenting behavior

Thesis reference number: 2.18

Thesis title: A detailed computational approach to mouse parenting behavior

Thesis synopsis: I created an algorithm that uses supervised and unsupervised methods to identify mouse parenting behavior. It provides a robust framework for identifying naturalistic behaviors.

[Joint concentration with Nueroscience]

2.19 Optimizing Methods for Suicide Prediction

Thesis reference number: 2.19

Thesis title: Optimizing Methods for Suicide Prediction

Thesis synopsis: Using Machine Learning and Statistics to predict suicide attempt risk using electronic health records (EHR) data from MGH. Link to my papers for more info:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-022-00558-0

https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article/29/1/62/6415403?login=true

[Joint concentration with Statistics]

2.20 DEADEYE: Differential Expressivity As Dataset fairnEss/Usability Estimator

Thesis reference number: 2.20

Thesis title: DEADEYE: Differential Expressivity As Dataset fairnEss/Usability Estimator

Thesis synopsis: I explore a novel metric class on which to estimate fairness issues in a dataset, and show both theoretical and practical algorithmic results about that metric class.

2.21 On streaming approximation algorithms for constraint satisfaction problems

Thesis reference number: 2.21

Thesis title: On streaming approximation algorithms for constraint satisfaction problems

Thesis synopsis: We examine the feasibility of approximately-maximally satisfying streams of local constraints using small-space algorithms. Our contributions include inapproximability results for ordering problems, explicit approximability characterizations for some symmetric Boolean constraints, and simplified expositions of several prior results.

[Joint concentration with Mathematics

2.22 Beyond Grid Kirigami

Thesis reference number: 2.22

Thesis title: Beyond Grid Kirigami

Thesis synopsis: Kirigami metamaterials are exciting new materials with exotic properties, and existing research has focused on just a few different kirigami patterns to use in these materials. We use computer simulations, a graph theory perspective on kirigami patterns, and mathematical analysis to explore new spaces of kirigami design patterns for these materials.

[Joint concentration with Mathematics]

2.23 Functional Genomic Data Privacy

Thesis reference number: 2.23

Thesis title: Functional Genomic Data Privacy

Thesis synopsis: As the scale of biomedical datasets explodes, the privacy of the individuals involved in these datasets has become a paramount concern. My thesis explores a new reidentification exploit for genomic data based on gene expression data.

[Joint concentration with Statistics]

2.24 MemSeg: A Deep Predictive Learning Model for Event Segmentation

Thesis reference number: 2.24

Thesis title: MemSeg: A Deep Predictive Learning Model for Event Segmentation

Thesis synopsis: Being at the intersection of computational neuroscience and computer science, my thesis explores the ability of deep predictive learning models to explain properties of human event segmentation. Finding such parallels could provide insight for improving the biological plausibility of deep learning networks.

2.25 Panacea: Making the World's Biomedical Information Computable to Enable Machine Learning Across Healthcare

Thesis reference number: 2.25

Thesis title: Panacea: Making the World's Biomedical Information Computable to Enable Machine Learning Across Healthcare

Thesis synopsis: In this thesis, we explore machine learning for healthcare applications. Specifically, I deep dive into healthcare data and build a data preprocessing engine that automates normalization, standardization, and labelling of healthcare information. I further discuss important ML applications which are enabled across research, pharma, doctors, and patients with a computable data lake.

2.26 Finite-Precision Arithmetic Isn't Real: The Impact of Finite Data Types on Efforts to Fulfill Differential Privacy ...

Thesis reference number: 2.26

Thesis title: Finite-Precision Arithmetic Isn't Real: The Impact of Finite Data Types on Efforts to Fulfill Differential Privacy on Computers

Thesis synopsis: Differential privacy provides a definition for whether a function offers privacy-preserving data analysis (the goal of privacy-preserving data analysis is to allow honest data analysts to get meaningful statistics about a dataset, but to prevent malicious data analysts from getting meaningful information about any specific individual in the dataset). In my thesis, I show that many libraries of supposedly differentially private functions have significant, exploitable privacy violations. I demonstrate concrete attacks that exploit these violations, and I show how these functions can be adjusted to offer privacy (and I prove that these adjustments allow for differential privacy to be fulfilled). I would say this thesis is an interesting mix of theory and practice.

2.27 Molecular Property Predictors for Downstream De Novo Generation

Thesis reference number: 2.27

Thesis title: Molecular Property Predictors for Downstream De Novo Generation

Thesis synopsis: I present a machine learning method for generating novel molecules that are useful for drug discovery using a realistic data collection scheme.

Engineering Sciences

2.28 Evaluating the Role of Visual Explanations of Uncertainty in In-Vitro Fertilization Patient Decision Making

Thesis reference number: 2.28

Thesis title: Evaluating the Role of Visual Explanations of Uncertainty in In-Vitro Fertilization Patient Decision Making

Thesis synopsis: Evaluating the Role of Visual Explanations of Uncertainty in In-Vitro Fertilization Patient Decision Making

Environmental Sciences and Engineering

2.29 Real-time high-resolution downscaling of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in the US using machine learning

Thesis reference number: 2.29

Thesis title: Real-time high-resolution downscaling of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air quality in the US using machine learning

Thesis synopsis: My project aims to use localized data that varies spatially and temporally, such as traffic and weather, to create a more accurate model of regional PM2.5 in real-time using machine learning techniques.

2.30 A Data Science Approach to Understanding U.S. Drinking Water Quality

Thesis reference number: 2.30

Thesis title: A Data Science Approach to Understanding U.S. Drinking Water Quality

Thesis synopsis: I am using a data set from the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) on heavy metal concentrations at public water systems around the USA to understand what factors are significantly associated with worse water quality.

2.31 Manipulating Barocaloric Effects in Two‑Dimensional Metal–Halide Perovskites through Compositional Engineering

Thesis reference number: 2.31

Thesis title: Manipulating Barocaloric Effects in TwoDimensional Metal–Halide Perovskites through Compositional Engineering

Thesis synopsis: Current vapor-compression refrigeration technologies are extremely environmentally damaging, and the demand for cooling will increase as the global population grows and climate change continues to accelerate. My thesis employs materials chemistry to design novel solid-state refrigerants that can achieve cooling cycles while remaining completely in the solid state, mitigating the environmental impacts of the cooling sector.

[Joint concentration with Environmental Science and Engineering]

Mechanical Engineering

2.32 Good clean fun: modernizing toy sanitation

Thesis reference number: 2.32

Thesis title: Good clean fun: modernizing toy sanitation

Thesis synopsis: I am designing a toy sanitation decide for use in preschools and daycares! Good for anyone who’s interested in consumer product design.

3. Sciences

Astrophysics

3.01 How did we get here? Exploring the evolution of mini-Neptunes through the TOI-712 planetary system

Thesis reference number: 3.01

Thesis title: How did we get here? Exploring the evolution of mini-Neptunes through the TOI-712 planetary system

Thesis synopsis: Mini-Neptunes, planets that range between 2-4 times the size of Earth, are the most prevalent type of planet in our galaxy. However, this classification is subdivided into two parts, my thesis explores the possible evolutionary events leading to the formation of mini-Neptunes, and how we can use observational astronomy to constrain our theories of planetary formation and evolution.

[Joint concentration with Physics]

3.02 A High-pressure Filled Ice In The H2O-CO2-CH4 System: With Possible Consequences For The CO2-CH4 Biosignature Pair

Thesis reference number: 3.02

Thesis title: A High-pressure Filled Ice In The H2O-CO2-CH4 System: With Possible Consequences For The CO2-CH4 Biosignature Pair

Thesis synopsis: Using Harvard's Cluster (supercomputer), we produced and analyzed the stability (Gibbs free energy) of chemical structures (filled ices) under pressures and temperatures suspected in Waterworlds, a theoretical exoplanet with surface water and potential habitability. The stability of the structures provides insight into what type of chemistry is possible on the Waterworld, and what ratios of CO2 and CH4 should be present (and detectable) in their atmospheres.

Chemical and Physical Biology

3.03 Reversing Aging: Rejuvenation of Aged Muscle Cells via Partial-Reprogramming

Thesis reference number: 3.03

Thesis title: Reversing Aging: Rejuvenation of Aged Muscle Cells via Partial-Reprogramming

Thesis synopsis: My project aims to reverse the adverse effects of aging by introducing three of the Yamanaka factors, Oct4, Sox2 and Klf4, to reset aged muscle to more resemble younger muscle. I aim to characterize OSK-induced partial reprogramming in young and aged muscle cells to better understand the biomolecular mechanisms necessary to reset the biological clock in living organisms, especially as it relates to the epigenome.

3.04 Determining the Metal Substrates of the Eggerthella Lenta Nramp-like Proteins

Thesis reference number: 3.04

Thesis title: Determining the Metal Substrates of the Eggerthella Lenta Nramp-like Proteins

Thesis synopsis: The Nramp-like proteins are related to a group of well-studied metal transporters called the Nramps, but its function is unknown. I studied two Nramp-like proteins from the bacterium Eggerthella lenta to compare their metal transport properties and predict their biological function.

 

3.05 The promise of the C-terminal cyclic imide degrons in engaging the cereblon E3 ligase: endogenous mechanisms of targets ...

Thesis reference number: 3.05

Thesis title: The promise of the C-terminal cyclic imide degrons in engaging the cereblon E3 ligase: endogenous mechanisms of targeted protein degradation

Thesis synopsis: My thesis focuses on comparing the targeted protein degradation of IRF4, a transcription factor upstream to the c-Myc oncogene, between traditional immunomodulatory compounds (e.g. thalidomide and lenalidomide) and dipeptide compounds. This research provides us an insight into understanding endogenous mechanisms of targeted protein degradation, a booming field for drug discovery and cancer therapeutics

3.06 Cyclophilin E Selective Inhibition Through Lysine Covalent Modification

Thesis reference number: 3.06

Thesis title: Cyclophilin E Selective Inhibition Through Lysine Covalent Modification

Thesis synopsis: The goal of my thesis was to design a small molecule inhibitor selective for a cyclophilin isoform, a family of proteins with peptidyl-prolyl isomerase activity, and implicated in a wide variety of diseases, including viral infection, Alzheimer's, and heart disease

Chemistry

3.07 Inhibitor-guided Discovery of Novel Prodrug-Acting Natural Products

Thesis reference number: 3.07

Thesis title: Inhibitor-guided Discovery of Novel Prodrug-Acting Natural Products

Thesis synopsis: Microbial biosynthesis of cytotoxic natural products requires self-resistance strategies for mitigating product effects. My thesis seeks to discover novel bioactive compounds whose biosynthesis involves a prodrug self-resistance mechanism.

Integrative Biology

3.08 Assessing the Effects of Genetic Variation on Phenology in Red Oaks

Thesis reference number: 3.08

Thesis title: Assessing the Effects of Genetic Variation on Phenology in Red Oaks

Thesis synopsis: There’s a phenomenon called the Urban Heat Island Effect, which observes that cities are significantly hotter than suburban or rural areas. Each spring, the UHI in concert with worsening climate change makes leaves come out earlier and earlier. I’m studying how red oak trees in both urban and rural environments are responding to their distinct environments and the role of genetic variation in their current response and potential for future adaptation

3.09 Flying Colors: The Evolution of Wing Color and Color Vision in the Hyperdiverse Eumaeini Butterfly Tribe

Thesis reference number: 3.09

Thesis title: Flying Colors: The Evolution of Wing Color and Color Vision in the Hyperdiverse Eumaeini Butterfly Tribe

Thesis synopsis: I try to disentangle what influences the ever-enigmatic butterfly's colors and link the evolution of wing color to evolution in butterfly eye machinery within the particularly diverse Eumaeini subtribe, fondly dubbed the "butterflies of paradise" for their stunning and varied colors. My thesis involved work at the level of the gene (computational genetics and 'big data' genomic processing), the wing (imaging hundreds of museum specimens), and the butterfly (training and conducting behavioral experiments in live butterflies).

3.10 An analysis of sedimentary archaea to characterize chemoorganoautotrophic metabolism at cold methane seeps

Thesis reference number: 3.10

Thesis title: An analysis of sedimentary archaea to characterize chemoorganoautotrophic metabolism at cold methane seeps

Thesis synopsis: Cold methane seeps are astrobiologically-intriguing environments that could potentially exist on ocean worlds, including moons in our solar system like Europa or Enceladus. To gain a better understanding of how life might work in such a setting, I'm studying archaeal metabolism at a seep by analyzing the carbon isotopic composition of membrane lipids.

Mathematics

3.11 Case Studies in Computer Proof

Thesis reference number: 3.11

Thesis title: Case Studies in Computer Proof

Thesis synopsis: Mathematical proof must be checked and exact; computer software often has bugs. My thesis considers various ways that computers can overcome this limitation to become useful tools in the writing of mathematics.

Molecular and Cellular Biology

3.12 An Investigation into the Cellular Connectivity of the Canid Prorean Gyrus

Thesis reference number: 3.12

Thesis title: An Investigation into the Cellular Connectivity of the Canid Prorean Gyrus

Thesis synopsis: Utilizing DTI scans to look at white matter connectivity of dog and fox brains, I sought to determine which subregion of the human prefrontal cortex is most similar to the canid prorean gyrus. Despite functional similarities due to their involvement in social interaction behaviors, there was no one clear subregion with matching connectivity.

3.13 Development of a Location Specific T-cell Immunomodulatory Molecule (LoSTIM) for Tissue Specific Immune Cell Inhibition ...

Thesis reference number: 3.13

Thesis title: Development of a Location Specific T-cell Immunomodulatory Molecule (LoSTIM) for Tissue Specific Immune Cell Inhibition in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Thesis synopsis: In my thesis I made a drug for cancer immunotherapy patients that ameliorates thyroiditis they may have during treatment. The drug acts as a checkpoint inhibitor molecule in the cancer, whereas it acts as an immunosuppressant in the thyroid.

3.14 Defining a Novel Role for ZPR1 in a Translation Associated Proteostasis Subnetwork

Thesis reference number: 3.14

Thesis title: Defining a Novel Role for ZPR1 in a Translation Associated Proteostasis Subnetwork

Thesis synopsis: In this thesis, I demonstrate that ZPR1, a conserved and widely essential zinc finger protein, has an uncharacterized role as an adaptive proteostasis effector within the cell distinct from the Hsp70 and Hsp90 molecular chaperone subfamilies. I further demonstrate the ZPR1's role in proteostasis is likely to be associated with the regulation of translation.

3.15 Characterization of regulation and impact of METTL3 upregulation in chemoresistance

Thesis reference number: 3.15

Thesis title: Characterization of regulation and impact of METTL3 upregulation in chemoresistance

Thesis synopsis: Chemotherapy is capable of inducing chemoresistance in cancer cells. I investigated a mechanism of RNA methylation that contributes to resistance to produce therapeutic targets to combat chemoresistance.

3.16 Discovery of Conserved Structural Noncoding RNAs in Pufferfish

Thesis reference number: 3.16

Thesis title: Discovery of Conserved Structural Noncoding RNAs in Pufferfish

Thesis synopsis: I use computational comparative sequence methods to analyze multiple sequence alignments of RNA sequences for structural covariations, defined as the degree of compensatory base pair substitutions. Structural covariations are a marker of evolutionary conservation of RNA secondary structure and therefore indicative of selective pressure to maintain structure, likely to preserve function of the RNA.

3.17 Mitigating the impacts of viral pandemics with CRISPR based diagnostics

Thesis reference number: 3.17

Thesis title: Mitigating the impacts of viral pandemics with CRISPR based diagnostics

Thesis synopsis: Research in the Sabeti lab using novel crispr cas12/13 based viral diagnostics to detect FLU and COVID-19. Validated on clinical patient samples in collaboration with the CDC.

3.18 Spatial ecology of Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas on Arabidopsis thaliana

Thesis reference number: 3.18

Thesis title: Spatial ecology of Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas on Arabidopsis thaliana

Thesis synopsis: I studied the spatial distribution and community formation of a set of plant-protective (Sphingomonas) and plant-pathogenic (Pseudomonas) microbes on Arabidopsis thaliana using confocal microscopy. My work mapped how these microbes find a place to live on the leaf, and who their neighbors are to better understand the potential molecular mechanisms guiding the plant-protective effect exerted by Sphingomonas against pathogens like Pseudomonas.

3.19 The Role of Mitochondrial Metabolism in Peripheral and Intestinal CD8+ T Cell Dysfunction in People With HIV

Thesis reference number: 3.19

Thesis title: The Role of Mitochondrial Metabolism in Peripheral and Intestinal CD8+ T Cell Dysfunction in People With HIV

Thesis synopsis: During HIV infection, CD8+ T cells become persistently dysfunctional in mucosal tissues such as the intestine despite suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART), leading to chronic comorbidities in people with HIV. This thesis examines the influence of HIV infection on mitochondrial metabolism in CD8+ T cells in the blood and intestine to provide a more detailed understanding of that immune dysfunction and identify systematic deficiencies in treatment for HIV.

3.20 Impact of Lactoferrin-mediated Iron Limitation on Microbiota from the Female Genital Tract of Black South African Women

Thesis reference number: 3.20

Thesis title: Impact of Lactoferrin-mediated Iron Limitation on Microbiota from the Female Genital Tract of Black South African Women

Thesis synopsis: I studied how iron restriction affected the bacteria from the vaginal microbiome of young South African women at high risk for HIV infection.

3.29 The Environment of Disease: From Karkinos to Cholangiocarcinoma

Thesis reference number: 3.29

Thesis title: The Environment of Disease: From Karkinos to Cholangiocarcinoma

Thesis synopsis: This thesis is a study of what it means to know disease using cases from cancer in antiquity and present day research of Cholangiocarcinoma. In both cases we see that though the relationships differ, there is a common turn to the environment.

[Joint concentration with Classics]

Neuroscience

3.21 Investigating local translation with high-throughput RNA sequencing of single synaptosomes

Thesis reference number: 3.21

Thesis title: Investigating local translation with high-throughput RNA sequencing of single synaptosomes

Thesis synopsis: Local translation of RNAs at axon and dendrite terminals is essential to neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity in the brain, and is disrupted in many neurological diseases. To systematically chart local translation in the brain, we developed a novel method for encapsulation of isolated synapses into nanoliter droplets using microfluidics and RNA sequencing, to generate the first ever libraries of single synaptosome transcriptomes: a paradigm shift from single cell RNA sequencing to single subcellular objects.

3.22 Determining the relationship between psychosocial adversity and children's executive functioning: an fMRI study

Thesis reference number: 3.22

Thesis title: Determining the relationship between psychosocial adversity and children's executive functioning: an fMRI study

Thesis synopsis: Exposure to psychosocial adversity early in life has been shown to impair executive functioning, but the brain mechanisms explaining this relationship are unclear and most studies on this topic have been conducted in high-resource environments. My thesis tested associations between fMRI data acquired during a Go/No-Go response inhibition task (which measures EF) and behavioral data of PA variables for children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a low-resource area with a high prevalence of PA.

3.23 Examining functional connectivity networks underlying psychopathology and assessing their stability from 3 - 5 years of age

Thesis reference number: 3.23

Thesis title: Examining functional connectivity networks underlying psychopathology and assessing their stability from three to five years of age

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is on seeing whether there is a relation between functional connectivity and psychopathology at 3- and 5-year time points and assessing if this association remains stable over time. In addition, I looked at whether functional brain connectivity mediates the relation between maternal mental health and child psychopathology.

Psychology

3.24 Finding Systematicity in Variation: Using Neural Decoding to Extract Meaning from EEG Data with High ...

Thesis reference number: 3.24

Thesis title: Finding Systematicity in Variation: Using Neural Decoding to Extract Meaning from EEG Data with High Between-Participant Variation

Thesis synopsis: Comparing different statistical methods in EEG analysis.

3.25 Similar But Separate Worlds: Understanding How Bisexual Women Experience Self-Injury Relative to Lesbian Women

Thesis reference number: 3.25

Thesis title: Similar But Separate Worlds: Understanding How Bisexual Women Experience Self-Injury Relative to Lesbian Women

Thesis synopsis: We administered an online quantitative/qualitative survey to around 200 lesbian and bisexual women who did and did not self-harm to determine if there were differences in community connectedness, self-concept clarity, and perceived stigma across groups. We found some interesting significant results, including that connectedness to the LGBTQ+ community seems to be related to engaging in self-injury.

3.26 The relationship between brand extension availability and consumer brand perceptions

Thesis reference number: 3.26

Thesis title: The relationship between brand extension availability and consumer brand perceptions

Thesis synopsis: My thesis investigated how temporary availability of a product affects how much consumers like a brand, in the context of bad new product launches. Over the course of five studies, my thesis found suggestive but inconclusive evidence that the temporary (versus permanent) availability of a bad product may attenuate damage to brand perceptions.

Statistics

3.27 Bon Appétit, Your Plate Served by a Machine!

Thesis reference number: 3.27

Thesis title: Bon Appétit, Your Plate Served by a Machine!

Thesis synopsis: I draw from studies of food presentation and traditional plating arrangements, interviews with plating practitioners, and datasets to model a 3D simulation of an aesthetically pleasing plate.

[Joint concentration with Folklore and Mythology]

3.28 Streakiness and Momentum, an Investigation into the 'Hot Hand' effect

Thesis reference number: 3.28

Thesis title: Streakiness and Momentum, an Investigation into the 'Hot Hand' effect

Thesis synopsis: An in-depth investigation into developing a statistical model for streakiness in basketball shooting.

[Joint concentration with Computer Science]

4. Social Sciences

African and African American Studies

4.01 "When and Where I Enter": Remembering African American Women's Histories Through Historic House Museums

Thesis reference number: 4.01

Thesis title: "When and Where I Enter": Remembering African American Women's Histories Through Historic House Museums

Thesis synopsis: By using the life of formerly enslaved woman, abolitionist, reform worker, and author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) Harriet Jacobs as a case study, my thesis highlights how African American women have experienced inequity in historic preservation, specifically with historic house museums, argues why African American women’s history is significant, and explains why house museums are a great medium to interpret African American women’s history through.

[Joint concentration with Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality]

4.02 Gullah Physics: Challenging English Language Hegemony in Science

Thesis reference number: 4.02

Thesis title: Gullah Physics: Challenging English Language Hegemony in Science

Thesis synopsis: In this thesis I explore how English became the de facto language of science and consequences of this language hegemony. I present an example of non-English science communication in a Gullah Science lesson: 'Ha dem bado flot?', and survey students to show the effectiveness of the lesson.

[Joint concentration with Physics]

Anthropology

4.03 Cartographies of Care: Reimagining Health and Therapeutic Landscapes for Young Women in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Thesis reference number: 4.03

Thesis title: Cartographies of Care: Reimagining Health and Therapeutic Landscapes for Young Women in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Thesis synopsis: An exploratory text that studies urban space, women’s networks, and healthcare practices to reimagine how care delivery is represented in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Informed primarily by interviews, participant observation, urban ethnography, and counter-cartography.

4.04 Dinner of Deception: The Role of Revisionist History in the First Thanksgiving Narrative

Thesis reference number: 4.04

Thesis title: Dinner of Deception: The Role of Revisionist History in the First Thanksgiving Narrative

Thesis synopsis: Americans are familiar with the First Thanksgiving story instilled in them as children: The Pilgrims and their Wampanoag neighbors gathered for a feast celebrating friendship and enjoying the fruits of a successful harvest. Despite this idyllic, revised historical narrative has been questioned by Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars alike, this narrative continues to be taught to children. This thesis seeks to answer how do the historical record and archaeological evidence inform textbook descriptions of the First Thanksgiving.

[Joint concentration with History]

East Asian Studies

4.05 Escape, Resettlement, and Dashed Expectations: Long-term Integration Challenges for North Korean and East German Refugees

Thesis reference number: 4.05

Thesis title: Escape, Resettlement, and Dashed Expectations: Long-term Integration Challenges for North Korean and East German Refugees

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is a qualitative study (done through interviews) about the long-term struggles of North Korean refugees trying to integrate into South Korea. I am using the case of formerly divided Germany as a point of reference and basis for my analysis.

[Joint concentration with Government]

Economics

4.06 The Effect of Covid-19 Eviction Moratoria on School Enrollment

Thesis reference number: 4.06

Thesis title: The Effect of Covid-19 Eviction Moratoria on School Enrollment

Thesis synopsis: I conduct an event-study analysis of how state eviction moratoria affected school enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. While my analysis is extensive, my results are ultimately inconclusive.

4.07 Exploring the Integration of Immigration Status into U.S. Census Bureau Wage Imputation

Thesis reference number: 4.07

Thesis title: Exploring the Integration of Immigration Status into U.S. Census Bureau Wage Imputation

Thesis synopsis: I analytically and numerically model the impacts of not including immigration in the U.S. Census Bureau wage imputation procedure. I then remedy wage prediction error by including immigration and employing ML prediction techniques.

4.08 Innovation post SPAC

Thesis reference number: 4.08

Thesis title: Innovation post SPAC

Thesis synopsis: How does innovation change for companies that go public via SPAC vs IPO

4.09 Are Jake Paul and Charli D’Amelio Paid More Than King Bach and Rihanna? An Exploration into the Racial and Gender Wage ...

Thesis reference number: 4.09

Thesis title: Are Jake Paul and Charli D’Amelio Paid More Than King Bach and Rihanna? An Exploration into the Racial and Gender Wage Gaps of the Influencer Economy

Thesis synopsis: I explore the racial and gender wage gaps in the influencer economy.

4.10 Music to the Ears: Vox Nativa Children’s Choir as a Study of Minority Socioeconomic Development and Culture

Thesis reference number: 4.10

Thesis title: Music to the Ears: Vox Nativa Children’s Choir as a Study of Minority Socioeconomic Development and Culture

Thesis synopsis: I conduct a case study of Taiwan's Vox Nativa Children's Choir (Vox), a nonprofit organization that integrates education with a self-profitable cultural artifact to empower a marginalized Indigenous population. Using interview responses to understand econometric outcomes, I a) propose that Vox has contributed to retaining child population while encouraging teen emigration and b) thereby suggest the organization's role in preserving the Indigenous culture.

4.11 Hold ‘em or Fold ‘em: An Analysis of Multiple Equilibria Models of Sovereign Default

Thesis reference number: 4.11

Thesis title: Hold ‘em or Fold ‘em: An Analysis of Multiple Equilibria Models of Sovereign Default

Thesis synopsis: Exploring default risk for countries in a monetary union via an empirical analysis of bond spreads in the European Union.

4.12 Decarbonization in Doubt: Evaluating the Uncertainty of the Indirect Land Use Change Carbon Intensity Estimates of ...

Thesis reference number: 4.12

Thesis title: Decarbonization in Doubt: Evaluating the Uncertainty of the Indirect Land Use Change Carbon Intensity Estimates of Corn Ethanol

Thesis synopsis: The true carbon savings of corn ethanol as a substitute for gasoline are highly contested. Using a carbon emissions modeling framework, I evaluate the uncertainty of current estimates and the impact of this uncertainty on California climate policy.

4.13 Not So Super? An Analysis of the Australian Early Release of Superannuation Program

Thesis reference number: 4.13

Thesis title: Not So Super? An Analysis of the Australian Early Release of Superannuation Program

Thesis synopsis: In 2020, the Australian Government gave individuals the ability to withdraw up to $20,000 from their retirement savings. This thesis models the impacts of those withdrawals and measures them against the costs of other policies - namely, direct cash transfers or interest-free loans to see which is most cost-competitive.

4.14 Out of Stock? Outage-Induced Demand Reallocation in Bike Sharing Systems

Thesis reference number: 4.14

Thesis title: Out of Stock? Outage-Induced Demand Reallocation in Bike Sharing Systems

Thesis synopsis: I am looking at how demand shifts in short-term outages (no availability of bikes).

Government

4.15 “Not your Guinea Pigs”: Trust and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the Dominican Republic

Thesis reference number: 4.15

Thesis title: “Not your Guinea Pigs”: Trust and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the Dominican Republic

Thesis synopsis: My thesis examines vaccine hesitancy in the Dominican Republic and the role of trust in shaping attitudes towards vaccination. It combines a national household survey, qualitative interviews, and a social media analysis in a mixed-methods research design.

4.16 Mainstreaming Hate: Radical Right Politicians and the Erosion of the Anti-Prejudice Norm

Thesis reference number: 4.16

Thesis title: Mainstreaming Hate: Radical Right Politicians and the Erosion of the Anti-Prejudice Norm

Thesis synopsis: Does the electoral success of radical right parties erode norms against the public expression of prejudice? I use a combination of experimental and quasi-experimental methods to study this, with a focus on the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party and the Alternative for Germany.

4.17 Propaganda of the Feed: Outsourcing and Innovation in Russian Digital Influence

Thesis reference number: 4.17

Thesis title: Propaganda of the Feed: Outsourcing and Innovation in Russian Digital Influence

Thesis synopsis: An exploration of the internal organization of Russian troll farms. I also discuss the origins of disinformation in Russian domestic politics and how innovation happens in Russian hybrid warfare.

4.18 Spillover of State Abortion Policies

Thesis reference number: 4.18

Thesis title: Spillover of State Abortion Policies

Thesis synopsis: I am analyzing how abortion restrictions in one state may affect abortion-related outcomes in neighboring states. In theory, women may cross state lines to obtain an abortion; what effect does this have on late-term abortions and other outcomes?

[Joint concentration with Statistics]

4.19 Engendering Reparations: Tracing the Emergence of Gender-Based Reparations in Latin America

Thesis reference number: 4.19

Thesis title: Engendering Reparations: Tracing the Emergence of Gender-Based Reparations in Latin America

Thesis synopsis: Gender is chronically excluded from reparations programs, but reparations programs are more gender-inclusive in some places than others. Why? To answer this question, I process traced reparations bills in Guatemala and Peru that largely ignored gender and three successive bills in Colombia that became more gender-inclusive over time.

4.20 Spill They or Won't They: The Impact of Nudges on Proximal Decisions

Thesis reference number: 4.20

Thesis title: Spill They or Won't They: The Impact of Nudges on Proximal Decisions

Thesis synopsis: The use of "nudges" (or behavioral interventions) are used by governments, companies, NGO's and more to incentivize desirable behavior through slight changes in the environment around a decision. This thesis hypothesizes that the behavioral mindset encouraged by certain nudges can linger and "spill over" to proximal, similar decisions, with these externalities altering the true impact of a nudge.

4.21 Security and History: The Role of Threat Perception and Chosen Trauma on the Cooperation of Japan and the Republic of Korea

Thesis reference number: 4.21

Thesis title: Security and History: The Role of Threat Perception and Chosen Trauma on the Cooperation of Japan and the Republic of Korea

Thesis synopsis: This thesis seeks to understand when and how Japan and the ROK choose to cooperate with one another. I combine literature on realist theories of international relations and social psychology theories to come to a nuanced explanation.

4.22 Rejection: How Media-Influenced Bureaucratic Realignment Replicated Legal Barriers to Entry for Syrian Refugees in ...

Thesis reference number: 4.22

Thesis title: Rejection: How Media-Influenced Bureaucratic Realignment Replicated Legal Barriers to Entry for Syrian Refugees in Northwestern Europe in 2016

Thesis synopsis: My thesis focused on the ways asylum procedures in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the U.K. restricted entry for Syrian refugees. Namely, I focused first on legal barriers and then on how bureaucrats also produce barriers in the presence of negative media/public sentiment.

4.23 On the Frontlines of State Control: Collective Prison Resistance in Louisiana State Penitentiary and Mississippi ...

Thesis reference number: 4.23

Thesis title: On the Frontlines of State Control: Collective Prison Resistance in Louisiana State Penitentiary and Mississippi State Penitentiary

Thesis synopsis: I studied two diverging paths of collective resistance (mainly, protests, strikes, and boycotts) led by men incarcerated in Louisiana and Mississippi state penitentiaries.

History

4.24 Examining International Climate Agreements’ Structural Flaws in Light of Thomas Hobbes’ Political Thought

Thesis reference number: 4.24

Thesis title: Examining International Climate Agreements’ Structural Flaws in Light of Thomas Hobbes’ Political Thought

Thesis synopsis: Examining International Climate Agreements’ Structural Flaws in Light of Thomas Hobbes’ Political Thought

[Joint concentration with Mathematics]

4.25 The Vietnamese Catholic Refugee: The Role of Catholicism in Migration and Community Formation in Boston ...

Thesis reference number: 4.25

Thesis title: The Vietnamese Catholic Refugee: The Role of Catholicism in Migration and Community Formation in Boston, Massachusetts, 1954-2022

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is about Vietnamese Catholic refugees who escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War in 1975, and have resettled in Boston, MA. More specifically, my focus is on the ways in which Catholicism played a role in the migration and community formation in their new environments.

4.26 Just Sojourners? Traveling Artists, Civil Rights Activism, and U.S. National Security

Thesis reference number: 4.26

Thesis title: Just Sojourners? Traveling Artists, Civil Rights Activism, and U.S. National Security

Thesis synopsis: My thesis shows how three American artists—the poet Langston Hughes, the singer Paul Robeson, and the comedian Lenny Bruce—traveled around the world to advocate for civil rights, and how the U.S. government tried to stop them.

[Joint concentration with Romance Languages & Literatures]

4.27 Privatizing the Urban Renaissance: Race, Redevelopment, and the Building of a Postindustrial Grand Rapids

Thesis reference number: 4.27

Thesis title: Privatizing the Urban Renaissance: Race, Redevelopment, and the Building of a Postindustrial Grand Rapids

Thesis synopsis: My thesis tracks the transition from publicly funded renewal to publicly funded urban renewal to privately funded urban redevelopment and the ramifications of urban power structure changes.

4.28 Four-Cornered Statecraft: The United States, Mexico, and Native Americans in Texian Diplomacy

Thesis reference number: 4.28

Thesis title: Four-Cornered Statecraft: The United States, Mexico, and Native Americans in Texian Diplomacy

Thesis synopsis: This thesis asks: how did Texian diplomacy with other states (understood in the Westphalian sense) and Texian diplomacy with Native peoples (not generally understood in the same sense) inform and influence each other? I argue that Texian fears that Mexico would ally with Native tribes, both real and imagined, led to reactive diplomacy with Native tribes. In turn, Texas appealed to the United States for diplomatic and military help when it feared it could not manage its relationship with those Native tribes on its own.

4.29 Institutional Chaos: Examining the Ottoman Empire's Military from 1806-1878

Thesis reference number: 4.29

Thesis title: Institutional Chaos: Examining the Ottoman Empire's Military from 1806-1878

Thesis synopsis: By analyzing the evolution of the military’s relationship with the state during the nineteenth century, I highlight the broader implications of social modernization efforts undertaken by the Ottoman Empire's Sultan and Sublime Porte (the empire's central bureaucratic government). This thesis will argue that the Sultan and Sublime Porte’s centralization failed to politically integrate and satisfy periphery subjects, which resulted in the Ottoman military’s unpreparedness for war against the Russian Empire in 1828-1829, 1853-1856, and 1877-1878.

4.30 The Right to Leave: The Movement for Soviet Jewish Emigration and the Battle Between Cold War Strategy and ...

Thesis reference number: 4.30

Thesis title: The Right to Leave: The Movement for Soviet Jewish Emigration and the Battle Between Cold War Strategy and Human Rights 1963-1975

Thesis synopsis: I study how the movement to free Soviet Jews from the Soviet Union between 1963-1975 shaped US human rights foreign policy.

History and Science

4.31 Monopoly and Its Discontents: how an economic board game and its variations shape alternative capitalisms

Thesis reference number: 4.31

Thesis title: Monopoly and Its Discontents: how an economic board game and its variations shape alternative capitalisms

Thesis synopsis: I examine the board game Monopoly and different versions of it over time to examine how board games act as technologies which can reflect, transmit and change economic ideologies.

4.32 Mother v. Fetus: Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Court-Mandated Cesarean Section in the United States During the 1980s

Thesis reference number: 4.32

Thesis title: Mother v. Fetus: Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Court-Mandated Cesarean Section in the United States During the 1980s

Thesis synopsis: My thesis investigates the phenomenon of court-mandated cesarean sections in the 1980s and questions why they have been largely been left out of literature about the history of cesarean section. I argue that the revival and refiguring of these court cases within the history of medicine is of wide importance for the history of maternal healthcare because it rebalances the discussion from one of medical necessity of the procedure to equally important questions of patient autonomy and maternal rights in the birthing room.

4.33 What Matters Most: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying and Its Impact on Attitudes Towards Death ...

Thesis reference number: 4.33

Thesis title: What Matters Most: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying and Its Impact on Attitudes Towards Death in the 1960s and 1970s

Thesis synopsis: In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, published On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and Their Own Families. This thesis historically situates On Death and Dying in the larger context of mid-twentieth century American attitudes and changes in death, providing a nuanced portrait of America’s paradoxical relationship with death, which privileged science over the needs of dying patients, and reveals how Kübler-Ross’s unorthodox efforts, while deceptive, paved the way for long-awaited reform for the terminally ill.

Social Studies

4.34 The Jail Health Care Crisis: Barriers to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Jails

Thesis reference number: 4.34

Thesis title: The Jail Health Care Crisis: Barriers to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in Jails

Thesis synopsis: I look at barriers to health care in jails. It's a combination of Sociology and Anthropology.

4.35 Destabilizing Nationhood: New Political Forms in the Thought of Julius Nyerere and Desmond Tutu

Thesis reference number: 4.35

Thesis title: Destabilizing Nationhood: New Political Forms in the Thought of Julius Nyerere and Desmond Tutu

Thesis synopsis: An intellectual history, political theory, critical theory project on the political visions of Desmond Tutu and Julius Nyerere, in particular how they used “African” philosophies, ubuntu and ujamaa, in their post-independence nation-building projects

4.36 Evolution of Polish Political Discourse on Poland-EU relations

Thesis reference number: 4.36

Thesis title: Evolution of Polish Political Discourse on Poland-EU relations

Thesis synopsis: I wrote about how politicians discussed Poland EU relations since Poland’s accession.

4.37 Out in the Cold: Making Ends Meet in Rural Minnesota

Thesis reference number: 4.37

Thesis title: Out in the Cold: Making Ends Meet in Rural Minnesota

Thesis synopsis: An interview-based project that explored how different features of a rural area in Minnesota affected the way low-income residents used survival strategies to get by.

4.38 To Restore the World: Anti Human Trafficking Organizations in Thailand and Protestant Churches in the U.S.

Thesis reference number: 4.38

Thesis title: To Restore the World: Anti Human Trafficking Organizations in Thailand and Protestant Churches in the U.S.

Thesis synopsis: This project explores the long-term partnerships between anti-human trafficking organizations in Thailand and Protestant churches in the U.S., looking at how these relationships have the power to transform the beliefs and practices of the latter. Through over 30 ethnographic interviews and field work with the congregants, ministry leaders, and elders of churches as well as the founders and staff of their partnering organizations in Thailand, I find that these relationships are a site of transformation for American Protestant Christianity. I argue that congregants' personal faith, church-level theological practices, and the church's outlook on sexuality as well as political affiliation are challenged and expanded by working in the Thai human trafficking space.

4.39 What School May Not Teach, #LearnOnTikTok: (Mis)Education in TikTok's Quasi-Curricula for American History & Sex Education

Thesis reference number: 4.39

Thesis title: What School May Not Teach, #LearnOnTikTok: (Mis)Education in TikTok's Quasi-Curricula for American History and Sex Education

Thesis synopsis: The popular video-sharing application TikTok is the latest in a string of social media platforms that has captivated young people across America. This thesis examines TikTok not primarily as a site of entertainment or community-building, but as a venue for a burgeoning sort of pedagogy. Using two long-standing controversies in American public education – sex education and race in American history – as a starting point, the thesis creates evidence for and discusses the implications of the robust (and occasionally inaccurate) body of social media-based education. Eight weeks of digital ethnography are used to map out the scope, accuracy, and bias of this digital “quasi-curriculum.”

4.40 “With Brick, Concrete, Steel, and Dreams”: Community-Building through Transnationalism and Identity Negotiation in ...

Thesis reference number: 4.40

Thesis title: “With Brick, Concrete, Steel, and Dreams”: Community-Building through Transnationalism and Identity Negotiation in Boston’s Little Saigon

Thesis synopsis: My thesis explores the creation and maintenance process of ethnic enclaves, specifically Vietnamese ethnic enclaves, in the United States. Using field notes from participant observations and interview evidence, I argue that the community of Boston's Little Saigon is created through transnational ties and maintained through a negotiation of migrants' Vietnamese and American identities.

4.41 "Young Forests of Freedom": Ernest Jones's Anti-Imperialist Framework of Socialist Internationalism

Thesis reference number: 4.41

Thesis title: "Young Forests of Freedom": Ernest Jones's Anti-Imperialist Framework of Socialist Internationalism

Thesis synopsis: My thesis is a historical project studying late English Chartist leaders George Julian Harney and Ernest Charles Jones and their treatment by historians. Both men were known then and since as the chief Chartist “internationalists,” by the early 1850s atop the Chartist organization and Marx’s men in London. I argue that this conception overlooks a key difference between the two — Jones’s sense of Indian injustice versus Harney’s usually implicit acceptance of British imperial holdings — that offers an alternative framework of internationalism in the 1850s.

4.42 The Last Link: The Inequity of India's Response to Child Trafficking

Thesis reference number: 4.42

Thesis title: The Last Link: The Inequity of India's Response to Child Trafficking

Thesis synopsis: India's approach to child trafficking focuses on incapacitating street-level recruiters who are only the last link in long chains of exploitation that culminate in the extraction of forced labor. I argue that this is ineffective because it fails to produce rights-enhancing outcomes for children and in iniquitous because it criminalizes the poor while absolving wealthy employers. I also argue that this approach is not simply a product of corruption and laziness on the part of the police, as is often argued, but also a product of a legal framework and bureaucratic incentives that structure this myopic criminal-justice response.

4.43 A Cornerstone in a Structure That is Not Complete: The Social Stability of Low-Income Americans in the Age of Health ...

Thesis reference number: 4.43

Thesis title: A Cornerstone in a Structure That is Not Complete: The Social Stability of Low-Income Americans in the Age of Health Care Reform

Thesis synopsis: This thesis seeks to better understand the ways that society can support disadvantaged individuals during social crises. Using the lens of social stability, I explored the effects of two Medicaid expansions—one in 1990 and the other in 2014—on markers of resilience for low-income Americans. I employed the empirical methods established by the credibility revolution in economics to analyze whether these reforms led to greater social stability for low-income Americans.

4.44 Memory Will Tear Us Apart: Monumentality, Ruin, and Nostalg

Thesis reference number: 4.44

Thesis title: Memory Will Tear Us Apart: Monumentality, Ruin, and Nostalgia in the Formation of Post-Soviet Lithuania

Thesis synopsis: I joined historical archival research on Soviet urbanism and critical theory to understand the physical topography of memory in Lithuanian cities. I used critical theory to analyze how politics of memory are formed and what their implications can be.

4.45 Easy as ABC?: Sources of Political Contention Over Equity in School Funding in Vermont

Thesis reference number: 4.45

Thesis title: Easy as ABC?: Sources of Political Contention Over Equity in School Funding in Vermont

Thesis synopsis: This thesis enters the academic dialogue about why equity in school funding is such a difficult and fiercely contested policy terrain, arguing that such political disputes are rooted in the confluence of competing fiscal interests and value-laden conflict over education policy goals. I address this topic using the case study of Vermont, examining the political process of policy proposals advanced in response to a legislature-commissioned study that found that various categories of high-needs students are under-weighted in the school funding formula.

Sociology

4.46 Black Beauty is Green? Exploring Conceptualizations and Instances of Sustainability in Black Hair Care

Thesis reference number: 4.46

Thesis title: Black Beauty is Green? Exploring Conceptualizations and Instances of Sustainability in Black Hair Care

Thesis synopsis: I see sustainability as what will cause the end of our current means of production, so I detailed the process of unmaking capitalism as both ideological and material from the individual level. I used Black hair care as a case study to define sustainability and I explored the influence of beauty politics.

4.47 The Ones that Got Away? Exploring the Economic Consequences of Fleeing Domestic Abuse, Its Connection to ...

Thesis reference number: 4.47

Thesis title: The Ones that Got Away? Exploring the Economic Consequences of Fleeing Domestic Abuse, Its Connection to Financial Networks, and its Impact on Mental Health

Thesis synopsis: This thesis will explore the financial consequences of fleeing domestic violence, with a focus on how they vary by financial networks and how it impacts an individuals' mental health. Through semi-structured, in-depth interviews of fifty one domestic violence survivors across the United States, I broaden our current sociological knowledge of loss by exploring how, due to challenges to financial stability after leaving, loss is actually extended after fleeing an abuser. My research agenda is hence twofold: What are the economic consequences of fleeing an abusive partnership, and how do these vary depending on individuals’s financial networks? Moreover, how do such economic consequences impact one’s long-term mental health and wellbeing?

4.52 Delaying the "Final Step": Perspectives on Identity, Belonging, and U.S. Naturalization from Mexican Lawful Permanent ...

Thesis reference number: 4.52

Thesis title: Delaying the "Final Step": Perspectives on Identity, Belonging, and U.S. Naturalization from Mexican Lawful Permanent Residents in the Greater Houston, Texas Area

Thesis synopsis: This thesis explores why Mexican Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) who are eligible to apply for U.S. Citizenship have low naturalization rates and uses semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 Mexican LPRs. To answer this primary question, this thesis explored how Mexican LPRs vary in their migration experiences, navigate belonging and exclusion in the U.S., and perceive and interact with the U.S. naturalization process. Ultimately, Mexican LPRs who are eligible to naturalize may plan to naturalize but have “delayed the final step” because they have already constructed belongingness in the U.S. since receiving LPR status and because structural barriers within the naturalization process must be overcome.

Special Concentration (Geography and Identity)

4.48 The Earth's Stretchmarks: Winds as a directional system generated from the ground in Mesopotamia and Greece (11th c. to ...

Thesis reference number: 4.48

Thesis title: The Earth's Stretchmarks: Winds as a directional system generated from the ground in Mesopotamia and Greece (11th c. to 1st c. BCE)

Thesis synopsis: I am evaluating how the winds served as an abstract orientation system in two cultures of the ancient world and how they remained used as cardinal directions even after the advent of high-precision astronomy. The research tackles myth, mathematical philosophy and architecture.

Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality

4.49 A Woman's Place is at the Convention: Feminists Within the Republican Party, 1972-1980

Thesis reference number: 4.49

Thesis title: A Woman's Place is at the Convention: Feminists Within the Republican Party, 1972-1980

Thesis synopsis: By analyzing the role and eventual ousting of prominent Republican feminist Mary Dent Crisp, I argue that the Republican Party cemented its rightward shift not with the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, but with Crisp's ousting and the coinciding removal of the Equal Rights Amendment in the Party Platform. I anchor my chapters in the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Republican National Conventions, and my thesis combines all three of my fields of study: history, gender studies, and government.

[Joint concentration with History]

4.50 Single (M)Otherhood, "It's Difficult, But I Can Do It:" Community-Building Practices for Single Mothers in ...

Thesis reference number: 4.50

Thesis title: Single (M)Otherhood, "It's Difficult, But I Can Do It:" Community-Building Practices for Single Mothers in Southeast Michigan

Thesis synopsis: While navigating social stigmatization, material hardship, and childcare and work responsibilities, how do low-income, single mothers in one county in Michigan navigate building community and how do they choose to conceptualize support? Told through in-depth interviews, single mothers are able to reinvent social support categorizations to figure out how to center love, joy, and respect in their interpersonal relationships with family and friends (informal support) and community organizations (semi-formal support).

[Joint concentration with Social Studies]

4.51 To the Stars, In the Closet: Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in the United States Space Program, 1957-1987

Thesis reference number: 4.51

Thesis title: To the Stars, In the Closet: Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in the United States Space Program, 1957-1987

Thesis synopsis: This thesis traces the U.S. space program's investment in the exclusion of gay employees from its ranks and the major shifts that occurred in the justification for and methods of orchestrating that exclusion. This thesis emphasizes the need to combine both space history and queer history to understand these developments and the importance of this history in understanding the current complex relationship between the space program and the LGBTQ+ community.

[Joint concentration with History of Science]