Recent Thesis Grant Recipients

Class of 2023

Maxwell Blum, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Information Diffusion in Online Social Networks: A Simulation Experiment
Advisor: Peter DeWan

Maxwell Blum '23 grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and graduated as the Salutatorian and the Captain of the Men's Varsity Tennis team at Faith Lutheran High School. At Dartmouth, he is pursuing a double major in Quantitative Social Science and Music with a concentration in music production. On campus, he works as a Tour Guide Trainer for the Dartmouth Office of Admission, a contributing columnist for The Dartmouth, a mental health ambassador for the Dartmouth Mental Health Union, and is a member of the Dartmouth Finance Society. In his free time, Max enjoys playing the keys with his on-campus band and cross-country skiing. Building off his internship experiences at the investment offices at Dartmouth College and Children's Health in Dallas, Texas, after graduation, Max intends to pursue a career in sustainable asset allocation for endowments and foundations.

 

Joshua Freitag, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: What Makes an Impartial Jury?: Perceptions of Jury Impartiality and Court Legitimacy
Advisor: Elsa Voytas

Josh Freitag is a '23 from Vancouver, Washington. He is majoring in Quantitative Social Sciences with minors in Hispanic Studies and Public Policy. On campus, Josh is Business Manager for The Dartmouth Sings A Cappella group, a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, plays club soccer, is a SIBS mentor, a student assistant for the Rockefeller Center, and a first-year Undergraduate Advisor. Josh plans to attend law school next year and hopes to pursue a career in public interest law.

 

Eric Hryniewicz, Geography
Thesis: The Flow of Power: Adressing Asymmetric Flood Risk in the Upper Valley
Advisor: Michael Cox and Christopher Sneddon

Eric Hryniewicz is a '23 studying Geography and Environmental Studies. Eric became interested in land use and water management after two deadly floods swept through his hometown destroying part of Ellicott City, Maryland which has rapidly developed with insufficient planning for water management. Eric is fascinated by collective action problems, development, and conservation and hopes that through research we can make better decisions that protect natural resources and uphold justice for the vulnerable.

 

Herny Jin, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Examining How Unauthorized Asylum Seekers and Legal Immigrants Shape Canadian Welfare and Immigration Attitudes
Advisor: Jeremy Ferwerda

Henry Jin is a Dartmouth student majoring in Quantitative Social Science and minoring in Global Health. Henry's academic interests include immigration, redistributive, and public health policies. Henry hails from his hometown in Vancouver, Canada and is a part of the Dartmouth College Marching Band.

 

Abigail Johnson, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: The Elements of Access: Designing Equitable Public Transit to National Forests
Advisor: David Lutz

Abigail Johnson is from Andover, Massachusetts and studies Quantitative Social Science and Human-Centered Design at Dartmouth. She most enjoys combining her love of human geography and design to make outdoor spaces more equitable and accessible for all people. Her thesis focuses on how public transit can be better designed to open up access to large parks such as national forests. In her research, she is examining whether the installation of new public transit systems in Sedona, Arizona has increased park access, and if so, whether that increased access varies by race or socioeconomic status. Abigail loves to get outside through hiking and paddling with the Dartmouth Outing Club and riding with the Cycling Team, and she is a TA for ENGS12: Design Thinking.

 

May Oo Khine, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Studying Changes in COVID-19 Vaccination Attitudes by Race Across Major Socio-Political Events
Advisor: Soroush Vosoughi

Bio not available

Eric Lee, History
Thesis: The Prosecution and Persecution of the Hudson Valley Loyalists
Advisor: Paul Musselwhite

Eric Lee is a member of the Dartmouth class of 2023 majoring in history and earth science. Eric is from Stormville, New York, and his history thesis focuses on the Revolutionary War-era experiences of residents of his hometown and the surrounding areas—especially those prosecuted for Loyalism. Eric has been interested in early American history since he was in elementary school and discovered his interest in geology in college. In Eric's spare time, he enjoys reading, hiking, and riding his bicycle. Eric has three sisters and two cats. Next year, Eric hopes to participate in resource exploration out west, while continuing to study history independently.

 

You-Chi Liu, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Examining Disparities in Care Utilization for Early-Stage Lung Cancer Patients: An Analysis of Patient and Physician Network Characteristics
Advisor: Erika L. Moen

You-Chi Liu is from Taiwan and currently is finishing up her degree in Quantitative Social Science and Computer Science. You-Chi has always had an interest in equity and healthcare. Her passion in those two topics has inspired her to participate extensively in undergraduate research related to advocating and promoting equity. She worked with Professor Rebecca Johnson to investigate using use local outreach to improve equity in federal oversight in H-2A Visa Program and co-authored the policy recommendation report sent to the Department of Labor. Moreover, she has been in Professor Erika Moen's lab since sophomore year, examining the role of telehealth in improving access in cancer care, specifically in rural settings. Her work with Professor Moen has inspired her to write a thesis on the underlying disparities in access to multi-disciplinary consultations prior to initiating cancer treatment. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school in Computer Science related field.      

 

Jack Maling, History
Thesis:Common Wealth to Commonwealth: The Muscovy Company's Influence on Joint-Stock Corporate Structure
Advisor: Stephan Link

Jack Maling is from Chicago, IL. He is pursuing a major in history and a minor in computer science. His thesis, The Muscovy Company and Its Role in Establishing Early-Modern Democratic Principles, focuses on conversations about democracy in the early-modern period. This work builds on research Jack completed as part of the history foreign study program in 2021. Outside of class, Jack is a member of SIBS, the DALI Lab, and the Dartmouth club soccer team. He enjoys swimming in the Connecticut and skiing around the Northeast. Next year, Jack plans to move to New York City, where he'll join Accenture's Applied Intelligence division.

 

Natasha Raman, History
Thesis: A Faith, A Power: The Influence of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles on China's Approach to Financial and Currency Reform From 1928-1949
Advisor: Stephan Link

Natasha Raman '23 is from Plano, Texas. She is a senior at Dartmouth College, majoring in history with a minor in Chinese. On campus, Natasha is involved with the Political Economy Project, the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, and Sigma Delta Sorority. In her free time, Natasha enjoys reading, watching foreign films, and exploring the Upper Valley.

 

Mitchell Ransden, Government
Thesis: Mudslinging at the Margins: The Conditionality of Negative Campaigning Under Ranked-Choice Voting in the United States
Advisor: Jennifer Jerit

Originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, Mitchell Ransden spent his time at Dartmouth studying political psychology, rhetoric and policy messaging, and social psychology. In addition to coursework in those areas, Mitchell has worked as a research assistant for Professor Brendan Nyhan and as a Research Fellow for the Democratic Erosion Consortium, an inter-university collaboration working to catalogue instances of authoritarian overreach around the world. Outside of the classroom, Mitchell has served as the president of Amarna Undergraduate Society, the Production Manager of the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals, the College's oldest student-run theater group, and has hosted multiple radio programs on webDCR.

 

Irina Sandoval, Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies
Thesis: Por eso estamos como estamos: Latinx Foodscapes, Culinary Subjectivity, and Fatness in
Huntington Park
Advisor: Matthew Garcia

Irina Sandoval is a senior from Huntington Park, CA majoring Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies. Her research interests include Latinx migrant urbanisms, critical food studies, health and body image, gender and sexuality studies, and environmental histories. As an undergraduate student, Irina has worked for the Office of Pluralism and Leadership, the First-Generation Office, the History department, and Novack Cafe. She is also a Neukom Research Scholar, a James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar, and a Mississippi Freedom Fellow.

 

Ryan Schwartz, Government
Thesis: From Wall Street to Main Street: How Equity Ownership and Retail Investor Engagement Shape
Policy Preferences
Advisor: Jason Barabas

Ryan Schwartz was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Ryan is a '23 studying Government and Economics with an interest in how the financial services sector can ameliorate pressing issues ranging from economics, public policy, and political economy. On campus, Ryan is a participant in the Dartmouth Economics Research Scholars program, Pine Real Estate Partners, and is an outfielder for the varsity baseball team. Upon graduation, Ryan will join J.P. Morgan as an investment banking analyst.

 

Ryan (Ashby) Shores
Thesis: "The third great scourge of the world": Recreational and Medical Drug Use in Britain, 1918-1926
Advisor: Udi Greenberg

Ashby Shores is a '23 from Arlington, Virginia. He is a history major, and most of his studies have focused on Interwar Britain. He participated on the History Foreign Study Program, where he wrote a paper on nightclub policing in 1920s London, which led him to his current research topic of drug regulation. Outside of school, Ashby is the Vice President of the Dartmouth chapter of Save the Kids Action Network and a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity.

 

Philip Surendran, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Quantifying Implicit Bias in Judicial Opinions: A Natural Language Processing Approach
Advisor: Julie Kalish

Philip Surendran is a rising senior from Colombo, Sri Lanka and studies Quantitative Social Science and Computer Science at Dartmouth. His academic interests focus the implementation of machine learning and other statistical tools to explore questions of social interest and public policy. After graduating, Philip plans to pursue a PhD in Machine Learning/AI and continue in academia.

 

Sathya Thenappan, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Effects of Daylight on College Students' Physical and Mental Well-Being
Advisor: Charles Crabtree

Sathya Thenappan, is a '23 at Dartmouth College majoring in Quantitative Social Science and Computer Science and minoring in theatre. Sathya is always looking for ways to draw meaningful connections between his varied fields of study at Dartmouth and to use his technical skills in software engineering and data analysis to address or investigate issues in which he has a keen interest. In particular, Sathya's newfound interest in lighting design through his theatre minor has led to his latest research in investigating the association between the exposure to daylight in college housing and its impact on the physical and mental well-being of college students. Sathya hopes to extend his research in the future to investigate the varied social effects of lighting design in urban cities.

Class of 2022

John Cho, Government
Thesis: Trade-offs in Asian American Political Representation
Advisor: Mia Costa

John Cho is a '22 from Austin, Texas. He is a double major in Government and QSS. During his time at Dartmouth, he has done extensive research with various members of the Department of Government as a Politics and Law Fellow and Undergraduate Research Assistant. John was recently selected as a Stamps Scholar, a 2-year experiential learning program, to do research on AAPI political behavior. On campus, John is active with the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, the Dartmouth Law Journal, and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership.

 

Addison Dick, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: The Impact of Debate Over Science and Liberty on Americans' Political Opinions
Advisor: Sean Westwood

Addison Dick is a '22 from Oak Park, Illinois. At Dartmouth, he is double majoring in Government and Quantitative Social Science (QSS) with a minor in Public Policy. Addison is the Sports Editor for The Dartmouth newspaper, Editor-in-Chief of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs, Vice President of Dartmouth Sports Analytics, and President of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity. He is also a research assistant in the Government and QSS departments. Addison participated in an internship at Voice of America through the Rockefeller Center's First-Year Fellow program during the summer of 2019, and he conducts research in the Class of 1964 Policy Research Shop. Addison has also recently completed internships with Priorities USA Action Super PAC and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. After graduation, Addison plans to pursue a career in government or journalism that incorporates data analytics and public policy.

 

Amanda Donald-Phillips, Sociology
Thesis: "Present in Discussion, Missing In Action": How Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives (DEI) Impact Black Women's Corporate Work Experience
Advisor: Emily Walton

Amanda Donald-Phillips is a Chicago native with a strong passion for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). As a Sociology and African/African-American Studies double major, Amanda has decided to pursue a thesis exploring the relationship between DEI Initiatives and how they impact the mental health of corporate-working Black women. Imploring a qualitative approach, Amanda will use both surveys and interviews to enlighten the positive and negative impacts of DEI initiatives.  On-campus, Amanda is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, a student assistant for the Rockefeller Center, President of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Vice President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, a Dartmouth admissions employee, and more. After graduation, Amanda hopes to pursue a career in Human Resources with a specific focus on diversity work and talent acquisition.

 

Angeline Janumala, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Examining the Effectiveness of Restorative Justice in Response to Sexual Violence at Dartmouth College
Advisor: Elsa Voytas

Angie Janumala is a Quantitative Social Science major and Digital Arts minor from the Bronx, New York. Angie's thesis will examine whether implementations of restorative justice within the American prison system are more or less effective when police take an active role in facilitation. Angie situates this thesis in the context of her general interests in social activism, community building, and the responsible usage of data. On campus, Angie is a First-Year UGA for School House, Senior Fellow with Dartmouth's Office of Admissions, and a member of Chi Delta Sorority and the Tabard, involvements which have also given her the opportunity to put her research interests into practice.

 

Maya Khanna, History
Thesis: Reimagining Pristine Wilderness: Examining 175 Years of Genocide in America's National Parks (1848-Present)
Advisor: Annelise Orleck

Maya Khanna is a History modified with Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Major from Rochester, Minnesota. Maya was inspired to write a thesis by her advisor, Professor Annelise Orleck, who taught her of the power of History to create positive change in the present. Maya's thesis will examine the legacy of indigenous dispossession in the name of the National Parks. Specifically, she will examine histories of forced land acquisitions at Yosemite and the Grand Canyon to examine the way in which American conceptions of wilderness spaces are deeply implicated in racialized political structures. On campus, Maya is involved with the Dartmouth Outing Club, the Sexual Assault Peer Alliance, the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault, the Rockefeller Center's Management and Leadership Development Program, and the Dartmouth Triathlon Team. After graduation, Maya hopes to attend law school and work with indigenous communities worldwide in the reclamation and management of community lands.

 

 

Maia G Round, Government
Thesis: When The Going Gets Tough: The Effects of Political Polarization on Retirements from the U.S. Senate
Advisor: Jason Barabas

Maia Round '22 grew up in Keene, New Hampshire. She was recognized as a Hometown Hero and served on the NH State Leadership Board. Additionally, Maia served as an intern at the Cheshire County Drug Court for two summers. At Dartmouth, Maia is a Government major with Middle Eastern Studies & Public Policy minors with an interest in Arabic and International Studies. She is a walk-on member of the Varsity Women's Rowing Team and a senior editor for the Dartmouth Law Journal. She was a 2019 First Year Fellow, interned for Congresswoman Ann Kuster, and interned in the Legislative Affairs Office under the Secretary of Defense. Additionally, she interned for the NH Adult Parole Board and Senator Maggie Hassan, and is currently serving as a Junior Advisor to the Board of Restore Hope: Libera. After graduation, Maia looks forward to working in politics and studying law in the US.

 

Allison Tannenbaum, Sociology
Thesis: "Our Hearts and Our Minds Are Still There": Stigma and Incarcerated Pregnancy in North Carolina
Advisor: Deborah King

Allison Tannenbaum '22 is from Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated from Ravenscroft School. At Dartmouth, she is majoring in Sociology, with minors in History and Public Policy focused on organizations in civil society. She is excited to pursue an Honors Sociology Thesis on the impact of stigma on incarcerated pregnancy. On campus, she is the Director of The Dartmouth's Marketing, Analytics, & Technology (MAT) team, as well as a member of The D's Board of Proprietors. She also serves as an instructor for and secretary of the Sexual Assault Peer Alliance (SAPA). She has held internships on Capitol Hill and with the North Carolina General Assembly and Department of Justice. After graduation, she hopes to work in criminal justice policy and attend law school.

 

Class of 2021

Fionnuala Murphy, History
Thesis: 'Las Malvinas son argentinas, los desaparecidos también': The Politics of Memory and the Falklands War in Argentine Society.
Advisor: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo

Fionnuala Murphy is a history major from Yorkshire in the UK. Her senior thesis will focus on the politics of memorializing the Falklands/Malvinas War in Argentina and the creation of competing narratives by the military and human rights groups following the end of the Dictatorship and restoration of democracy. She will explore how these views of the War serve as metaphors for contentious issues surrounding justice and nationalism, and how they interact with the official memory promoted by different presidents. Fionnuala's fascination with this topic comes in part from her family's own experiences of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the intense politicization of this conflict. It is a theme she hopes to continue studying as a post-grad! On campus she serves as an Undergraduate Assistant, a French tutor, and works in the libraries. Additionally, she loves exploring the mountains and is a leader in the Dartmouth Outing Club.

 

Nicolas Berlinski, Government
Thesis: The Message or the Messenger?: A Comparative Study of the Mechanisms of News Media Effects
Advisor: Brendan Nyhan

At Dartmouth, Nicolas has pursued his passions for public policy and economic development as a Government and Economics double major. Beyond his coursework, Nicholas has participated in undergraduate research extensively. He worked with Professor John Carey on the Bright Line Watch project, studying populist rhetoric in the 2016 campaign and malapportionment in the US Senate, and with Professor Brendan Nyhan, co-authoring a study, along with fellow undergraduates, on the effect of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud on confidence in democracy. Most recently, Nicolas has worked in the Economics department with Professor Eric Chyn studying criminal justice in Texas. Additionally, Nicholas is a member of Dartmouth Club Soccer and Chi Gamma Epsilon.

 

Olivia Brody-Bizar, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Sorority Rush: An Examination of Body Image and Social Wellbeing Among Dartmouth Students
Advisor: Jason Houle

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Olivia graduated from the William Penn Charter School before attending Dartmouth. At Dartmouth, she is a Quantitative Social Science major with a special interest in examining health disparities among communities and the societal structures that contribute to these differences. Outside of class, Olivia conducts research with the Dartmouth Institute, works as the marketing and design director for the club Social Impact Non-Proft Consulting (SINC), and enjoys long hikes with her friends. After graduation in June, Olivia will be joining the Boston-based healthcare strategy consulting firm, Health Advances, as an analyst. Long-term, she hopes to return to school to receive a Masters in Public Health and contribute to public policy research.

 

Jared Cape, Geography
Thesis: New Hampshire's Electoral Geographies: District Types, Electoral Methods, and Political Representation
Advisor: Jonathan Chipman

Jared Cape, a member of the Class of 2021, is from Whitefield, New Hampshire, pursuing a major in Geography and minors in Public Policy and Theater. Jared was inspired to write a thesis while simultaneously working on a mapping project of New Hampshire's partisanship and as a democracy reform advocate for ranked choice voting. His thesis explores the combination of district types (single-member, multi-member, and floterial districts), voting methods (instant runoff voting, the single-transferable vote, plurality voting, and plurality block voting), and place as they relate to political representation. Jared has been privileged to participate in the First-Year Fellows Program as an intern for Congresswoman Kuster, the Policy Research Shop, and the Management and Leadership Development Program. At Dartmouth, Jared is actively involved in Collis programming, as Senior Class President, as an Undergraduate Advisor, in theater productions, and teaching swing dancing. Advisor:  Jonathan Chipman

 

Elizabeth Garrison, Government
Thesis: The Impact of Identity and Personal Values on American Public Support for Minority Rights
Advisor: Benjamin Valentino

Elizabeth Garrison'21 is a Government and History double major from Miramar, FL. Garrison was inspired to write her government honors thesis when she interned for the U.S. Department of State with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in the Office of Policy Planning and Public Diplomacy. During her internship, she prepared a social media campaign for the 2019 Human Rights Report. Her thesis will examine how public messaging on human rights impacts American public support for minority rights. Through her thesis, Garrison plans to conduct a national survey testing different human rights messages and hopes to learn why individuals care about certain human rights abuses more than others. On campus, Garrison is a student manager for the War and Peace Fellows at the Dickey Center and is an arts writer for the Dartmouth. After graduation, she plans to attend law school to study international human rights law.

 

Janae Harris, Sociology
Thesis: An Ongoing Wild West: An Analysis of Sociopolitical and Social Factors and Health in Wind River
Advisor: Emily Walton

Janae Harris, a member of the Class of 2021, is a Sociology and Government double major from Riverton, Wyoming, who is interested in the potential relationship between communal and social factors, social stratifies, and experience with health among Indigenous populations. Her thesis will utilize a qualitative interview approach to explore the role of communal and social factors and experience with health in a case study of an Indigenous reservation community.  Through her thesis, Janae hopes to learn more about how physical and social communal factors relate to individual experience with stress and wellbeing among a Native American population. On campus, Janae is actively involved with Native Americans at Dartmouth and Epsilon Kappa Theta Sorority After Dartmouth, Janae hopes to pursue a career related to law and public health. Advisor: Emily Walton.

 

Shira Hornstein, Government
Thesis: Wasting a Good Crisis: The Effects of Polarization on Public Opinion During National Emergencies
Advisor: Brendan Nyhan

Shira Hornstein, a member of the class of 2021, is a Government and Biology double-major from Westwood, Massachusetts. Hornstein was inspired to pursue a senior thesis during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, as she became curious about partisan polarization of American COVID-19 opinion. Thus, her thesis will aim to answer the question: why has COVID-19 become a polarized topic in the United States? Hornstein will use quantitative survey methods to examine her question. On campus, Hornstein is co-captain of the Varsity Equestrian Team, works in Dartmouth admissions as an Admissions Ambassador, volunteers at Maynard House, tutors for Health Access for All, and is a member of Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. After graduating from Dartmouth, Hornstein plans to attend medical school and attain a Masters in Public Health in the hopes of pursuing a career in medicine and health policy research.

 

Kyoung Jin (Kasey) Rhee, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: White Liberal Enthusiasm for Appeals to Minorities
Advisor: Brendan Nyhan

Kasey Rhee, a member of the Class of 2021, is a Quantitative Social Science and Government double major with research interests in public opinion and racial politics. Her QSS thesis examines the rise in white racial liberalism, and its implications for racial appeals and insincere expressions of white solidarity. Specifically, using a survey experiment, she pursues two objectives. First, she synthesizes cross-disciplinary work on racial appeals, belief perseverance and social psychology to verify that voters punish insincere behavior from politicians. Second, she identifies who punishes white politicians more severely for insincere racial solidarity: co-ethnic whites, or minorities themselves. Her focus on insincerity aversion was developed through her prior work. That research began as an independent study and was extended to a co-authored project with Professors Yusaku Horiuchi and Charles Crabtree. On campus, Kasey is involved with the sailing team, Chi Delta sorority, RWIT, and America Reads.

 

Madeleine Sach, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: The Effect of Cues from Groups with Issue Relevance on American Public Opinion
Advisor: Kathleen Powers

Maddie Sach, a member of the Class of 2021, is from Westchester, New York, pursuing a major in Quantitative Social Science and Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages. In her thesis, Sach is expanding on past public opinion research she conducted at Dartmouth and during her internship at FiveThirtyEight. Her thesis will examine whether an individual's support for a public policy is more swayed by messages from her own racial in-group or by a racial/ethnic group that is perceived to be especially relevant to the policy. In doing so she will attempt to answer why opinions on policies that implicate a certain racial/ethnic group – such as reparations – often diverge from the preferences of that group. At Dartmouth, Maddie is a War and Peace fellow, Editor-in-Chief of World Outlook, and a mentor for Dartmouth Women in Law and Politics. She also interns part-time at Medley Global Advisors, analyzing public opinion polls.

 

Jennah Slayton, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Politicians Punished: How Politician Race and Previous Support for Victims Affect Constituent Reactions to Political Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
Advisor: Mia Costa

Jennah Slayton is a senior at Dartmouth College from Stillwater, Minnesota. She is double majoring in Quantitative Social Science with a focus on government and French Studies with a focus on French opera. Jennah has a passion for the intersection of data and advocacy; her previous work examined the role of partisanship in constituent reactions to allegations of sexual misconduct against sitting politicians as well as work on the effect of race on evaluations of politicians' quality of email responses. Jennah has also been involved with clean energy advocacy and research, and she was hired by Energy Action Network to examine energy burden and inequity in the state of Vermont. After graduation, she hopes to create data-driven solutions for global social issues.

Class of 2020

Peter Charalambous, Government
Thesis: Walking on Eggshells: The State of Campus Discourse
Advisor: Russell Muirhead.

Peter Charalambous is from Garden City South, New York and is pursuing a major in government as well as a minor in public policy. When spending time at Keble College on a Rockefeller Center exchange program, Peter was surprised to witness his peers at Oxford speak so candidly about important social and political issues, which stood in stark contrast to many of his experiences at Dartmouth where these conservations were sparingly occurring. This contrast inspired Peter to pursue a thesis that examines why, how, and where students honestly express their political and social beliefs as well the impact of these conversations on both higher education and society at large. Peter also serves as a managing editor for The Dartmouth, a chair of the Hanover Community Kitchen, and works on the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault.

 

Sunny Drescher, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Engendering Support?: The Effects of Gendered Information Cues on Voters' Policy Preferences
Advisor: Yusaku Horiuchi

Sunny Drescher studies Quantitative Social Science, Government, and Public Policy. She is particularly interested in studying civic engagement, law enforcement, and social inequality. At Dartmouth, Sunny is a news writer for The Dartmouth newspaper and works in the Policy Research Shop. She is a War and Peace Fellow and a student manager at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. Sunny has interned at the Superior Court for the District of Columbia as well as at the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. After graduating, Sunny plans to go to law school and pursue a career in public service.
 

Alyssa Gao
Thesis: Diversity Policies and Practices of Leading Environmental Advocacy Organizations in Washington, D.C.
Advisor: Michael Cox

Alyssa Gao is from Chicago, Illinois, pursuing a major in Environmental Studies and minors in Public Policy and Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Gao was inspired to write a thesis during her internship at the Brookings Institution, where she conducted research on transparency, accountability, and participation efforts in the natural resource sector. Her thesis will examine the diversity policies and practices of leading environmental advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C. Through her thesis, Alyssa hopes to learn how institutions can empower people from different backgrounds to work towards a more sustainable future. At Dartmouth, she has served as a Women in Science Project Intern and as a research assistant for the Public Service Legacy Project. Outside of research, Alyssa is actively involved in the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, the Dartmouth Law Journal, and the Sexual Violence Prevention Project. She also spearheaded the development of an annual Intercollegiate Sustainability Summit.

 

Samantha Hussey, Sociology
Thesis: "[B]e of itself an act of liberation": Transnational Black Freedom Ideologies of Errol Hill, the Black Arts Movement, and the Caribbean Arts Movement
Advisor: Julia Rabig

Samantha Hussey is a Sociology major and Government and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies double minor from Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi, who is interested in the interplay of race, gender, and socioeconomic status within social interactions and identities. Through her thesis, she will use a mixed methods approach to investigate Dartmouth's social scene and its effects on students' social identities in order to answer: What factors create and influence Dartmouth's social hierarchy and labels; how do social hierarchies and labels influence students' social identities; and how are such hierarchical rankings and labels reinforced by members of the Dartmouth community? On campus, Hussey is involved with The Dartmouth, School House Executive Board, Kappa Delta Epsilon Sorority, Movement Against Violence, Native Americans at Dartmouth, and Hokupaʻa. After graduating from Dartmouth, Hussey plans to attend law school with hopes of pursuing a career in employment or labor law.
Thesis: A System for All?: An Examination of Social Hierarchy, Power and Identity Within Dartmouth's Greek Life
Advisor: Janice McCabe

 

Alexandrea Keith, History
Thesis: "[B]e of itself an act of liberation": Transnational Black Freedom Ideologies of Errol Hill, the Black Arts Movement, and the Caribbean Arts Movement
Advisor: Julia Rabig

Alexandrea Keith comes from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated from Julia R. Masterman High School. At Dartmouth, Alexandrea is a double History and African and African American Studies major. Alexandrea is involved in America Reads and has served as a Rockefeller Center Student Program Assistant for Communications. Alexandrea is also Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, focusing her research on the Black Arts and Caribbean Arts movements. After graduation, Alexandrea plans to enroll in a graduate degree program in order to study transnational notions of racialized freedom within the African diaspora.

 

Ethan Klaris, Histoy
Thesis: To Punish Them and Make Them Very Poor: Morality and Total War on the Southern Plains, 1868-1875
Advisor: Robert Bonner

Ethan Klaris is a history major and philosophy minor writing his senior honors thesis on the moral reactions of U.S. soldiers to the Indian Wars. His study focuses on the period from 1865-1890, tracking the development of Indian policy from the Civil War to the massacre at Wounded Knee. The central question of the thesis asks: how did proximity to Indian fighting influence the attitudes of soldiers toward the events of the conflict? In investigating this question, Klaris hopes to shed light on how and why this period came to so stain our national history. During his time at Dartmouth, Klaris has concentrated in military history with an eye toward the intellectual and ethical implications of warfare during conflicts such as the Vietnam War, French Revolution, and the World Wars. Klaris was born in New York and hopes to attend law school after graduation.

 

Rachel Mashal, Psychology
Thesis: College Students' Attitudes Towards Physician-Assisted Death for Persons with Dementia
Advisor: Robert Santulli, MD

Rachel Mashal is from Long Island, New York. She is an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College double majoring in Psychology and Philosophy. Throughout her time at Dartmouth, she has become keenly interested in bioethics as it relates to the intersection between both Psychology and Philosophy. After taking Dr. Robert Santulli's Cognitive Decline and Dementia course her junior winter, Rachel was inspired to conduct a senior honors thesis investigating college students' attitudes towards physician assisted death for persons with dementia. Rachel's research aims to help answer important public policy questions about how to make ethical medical decisions for persons with dementia. Furthermore, Rachel hopes that her research can help persons with dementia, caregivers, family, friends, and physicians. In her spare time, Rachel loves giving tours on campus, snowboarding at the Dartmouth Skiway, and spending time with friends.

 

Katarina Nesic, Government
Thesis: Russian Sanctions: An Underexplored Weapon of Russia's Economic Statecraft
Advisor: William Wohlforth

Katarina Nesic is a Government and Russian double major from Belgrade, Serbia. Katarina is interested in the use of economic statecraft tools and their impact on foreign policy strategies and goals. She is a glossophile – Ishe loves learning languages and is fluent in six. For her thesis, Katarina plans to use both quantitative and qualitative research methods to provide a didactic view of Russia's use of economic sanctions. Some of the questions that she intends to answer can be stated as follows: What is the sanctioning pattern that states follow; What explains the variation in the pattern of Russian sanctions? On campus, Katarina is mostly involved in Greek and also works as a Departmental Librarian in the Russian department. After graduation, she intends to attend a masters program in Public Policy or International Relations either in the US or UK.

 

Grace Sherrill, Quantitative Social Science
Thesis: Consensus in Care: Deservingness, Policy Feedback, and Partisanship in the U.S. Long-Term Care System
Advisor: Dean Lacy

Grace Sherrill is from Greensboro, North Carolina and graduated from Greensboro Day School in 2016. At Dartmouth, Grace majors in both Government and Quantitative Social Science, concentrating in public policy. She worked for three terms as a Presidential Research Scholar for Dr. Bonny Whalen, who studies quality improvement initiatives for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Grace is a student assistant for the Dartmouth Leadership and Attitudes Behavior program, as well as a campus tour guide. She has pursued internship experiences at a Boston-based community health nonprofit and an economic research firm. Most recently, she spent her summer working on a policy research project for the Kosovo Ministry of Health. After Dartmouth, Grace hopes to pursue a graduate degree in public policy and apply her quantitative skillset to studying the development and implementation of health and social policy.

 

Andrew "Sosa" Sosanya, Government
Thesis: Prohibitions & Predictions: The Future of Autonomous Weapons
Advisor: William Wohlforth

Andrew "Sosa" Sosanya is interested in the junction of technology and politics, focusing on the complex issues of misinformation, artificial intelligence, and the militarization of space. Sosa grew up in Newark, NJ and looks to examine war and peace issues through multidimensional perspectives. He is currently writing his thesis on artificial intelligence's role in the changing information dynamic in international politics. At Dartmouth, Sosa studies a combination of astrophysics, government, and computer science. Amongst other interests, Sosa is an amateur photographer and is currently learning to play bass guitar.
 

Marjorie (Molly) Susman, History
Thesis: The Role of the Papacy During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I
Advisor: Carl Estabrook

(bio not available)

 

Jennifer West, Government
Thesis: A Woman's Worth: Examining the Impact of Reconstruction Programs on Women's Quality of Life Outcomes in Afghanistan
Advisor: Lisa Baldez

Jennifer West is from Washington, D.C. majoring in Government and History modified with Geography. Jennifer is interested in international human rights law and policy, with a passion for gender equality in both domestic and international contexts. Throughout her time at Dartmouth, Jennifer has served as a research assistant for a project within the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and conducted internships in the political and entertainment sectors. She is currently writing a thesis that aims to analyze how women were uniquely affected by the war in Afghanistan and whether post-conflict reconstruction projects were able to adequately improve women's quality of life outcomes within the country. After graduation, Jennifer hopes to pursue a career as an advocate for human rights and gender
equality in either the legal or policy field.