Application Information

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Yuki Kato

Faculty Supervisor Department: Sociology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Urban agriculture, food justice, environmental justice, history 

Faculty Supervisor Email: yk483@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Where Have All the Gardens Gone?: Examination of the Termination of Urban Local Food Provisioning Practices in BIPOC Communities in the late 20th Century

Project Summary: Despite the consistent anecdotal accounts of local food provisioning in urban BIPOC communities through the early 20th century, such practice has rarely been formally or consistently documented. This creates a gap in our understanding of exactly when such practice ceased to be commonplace, if it ever did, and more importantly, why. This is a multi-method, interdisciplinary research project. In-depth interviews with a new generation of local food provisioners will provide how this group understands the historical precedent of local food provisioning practice, and to what extent this knowledge guides their contemporary practice. The archival data analysis examines the role of federal and local government policies, private market practices, and technological advancement that created or decreased the needs for people to procure food for themselves while also restricting who could grow, hunt, fish, or forage food in the city. In juxtaposing the oral histories with archival materials, the aim of the study is not to interrogate the accuracy of the collective memory, but rather to understand why such narratives came to dominate the collective understanding of their community’s history and legacy. The study thus considers cultural erasure and appropriation as central mechanisms, and not just consequences, of the capitalistic cycle of disinvestment and reinvestment.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Scholar will assist in data collection (interview and/or archive) as well as with analysis using Dedoose qualitative data analysis software. The first week will involve intensive training to prepare the Scholar for the work. We will meet weekly to set a concrete agenda for each week, but work may be done remotely. Depending on the pace of the data collection/analysis, the Scholar may also assist in developing a scholarly journal article manuscript.  

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
By the end of the project, the Scholar will assist in producing preliminary data analysis for a component of the project (interview or archive) as a part of the scholarly journal article development.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:
Independent research (ability to work self-guided each day/week), Curiosity and interest in the project’s topic, Comfort with reaching out to individuals to interview or institution to access archival materials.
I prefer that the students have had some social science or archival research backgrounds (e.g., took a course on the topic or have already worked on another research project).

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Mark Giordano

Faculty Supervisor Department: Science, Technology and International Affairs

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Geopolitical Analysis

Faculty Supervisor Email: mg1382@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Geopolitical Analysis for Maps of the Modern World

Project Summary: The Scholar will conduct research on 2-4 topics to inform concepts and create or revise maps/graphics used in the SFS class Maps of the Modern World. The range of potential topics is as wide as the class, but examples include a synthesis of scholarship on the relationship between food prices and political stability, the use of open source intelligence to locate and georeference India’s extraterritorial military bases and listening posts, and an analysis of emerging geopolitical competition for the Arctic. The professor will work with the scholar to choose topics that fit student interests. QGIS or other mapping skills or a desire to learn those skills is beneficial.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Most working days will do a combination of literature review, open source intelligence gathering, synthesis, and creation of visual or other approaches to convey key messages. In some cases, the scholar may be asked to conduct expert interviews.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The scholar will produce 2-4 sets of stand alone maps, graphs and background literature/synthesis that can be used to quickly convey complex geopolitical issues to viewers.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:
Ability to synthesis information from multiple sources, ability to think and communicate visually, excitement

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Andrea M. Headley

Faculty Supervisor Department: McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Criminal Justice, Racial Equity, Social Justice

Faculty Supervisor Email: ah1646@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Civil (In)Justice? The New York Civil Summons Project

Project Summary: In 2016, New York City’s Criminal Justice Reform Act diverted common offenses away from the criminal system to the civil system in hopes of avoiding the criminal penalties associated with more minor offenses (e.g., public consumption of alcohol, public urination, noise, littering, etc.). In contrast to criminal penalties, civil summons typically result in a monetary fine that can be paid online or contested at an in-person hearing. This project seeks to understand the nature, prevalence, and patterns of civil summons in New York City.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
In order to better identify how officers use civil summons, where they deploy this civil enforcement tool, and who bears the burden of civil enforcement, extensive data collection, cleaning, and management are needed. As such, the entails supporting a mixed-methods research study, with specific activities including performing data entry (and cleaning administrative data); conducting preliminary data analysis; reading, interpreting, and summarizing social science literature and research; attending meetings and taking notes; and drafting written documents (including summaries of research).

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
At the end of the project, the scholar should be able to provide a summary of the data entry inputted, high-level descriptive characteristics of the trends in the data, any preliminary learnings on the patterns of civil summons in New York City.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

• Interest in criminal justice, social justice, racial equity, sociology, public policy, or law is preferred.

• The student must also be able to work independently as well as collaboratively as part of a team.
• Experience supporting a social science research project (e.g., conducting literature reviews, engaging in data collection or analysis) or an interest in pursuing a future in research is preferred but not required.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Bryan McCann

Faculty Supervisor Department: HIST

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Brazilian History

Faculty Supervisor Email: bm85@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Brazil’s 2015 Mariana Dam Collapse: Tracking and Interpreting Human and Environmental Costs

Project Summary: Together with Professor Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos of King’s College-London, I am investigating the social and juridical processes stemming from the 2015 collapse of a mining tailings dam in Mariana, Brazil. The collapse buried a nearby village under toxic mud, and poisoned hundreds of miles of the Doce River between Mariana and the Atlantic Coast. Thousands of local residents were uprooted, including members of indigenous and quilombola communities (descendants of formerly enslaved people with continuous communal ties to the location). Our current research includes analysis of legal proceedings currently underway in London against BHP Billiton, one of the companies in the consortium that owned the dam. For strategic and juridical reasons, those proceedings require the witness testimony of executives and technicians from the various companies involved, but do not require testimony of the victims. Instead, in the current trial, damages are assessed via technical reports. Our research will supplement these technical reports with other qualitative and quantitative methods used to analyze the consequences of the dam’s collapse. These include tracking population change in towns and villages along the length of the river, gathering existing testimonial accounts from journalistic and academic sources, and conducting oral histories with residents, including some who were displaced by the collapse. Together, this research will provide a wide range of perspectives and personal experiences of the consequences of the dam’s collapse. We will integrate these findings into our social and juridical analysis of the trial proceedings. This will enable a combination of ground-level, detail of the individual experience of everyday people along the river with a bird’s-eye view analysis of environmental damages and the legal proceedings against BHP Billiton.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Laidlaw scholar will undertake the following:

• Track population change in villages and towns along the Rio Doce from 2014-2024 using Brazilian public data (IBGE, etc)
• Summarize findings on water quality and environmental damages from completed and ongoing Brazilian academic projects (Lattes Platform, etc)
• Gather and summarize existing testimonial accounts from journalistic and academic sources (drawing on a range of Brazilian newspapers, magazines, websites, theses, and oral histories, using databases such as Lattes, JSTOR, Project Muse, etc)

All of the above can be undertaken from Washington DC, using Georgetown University digital resources. If a student researcher is in Brazil and able to visit the Rio Doce region, that will enable a different kind of fieldwork. But that is not necessary for this stage of the research.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The Laidlaw scholar will produce an executive summary of the initiatives listed above, as well as compile additional material in digital folders, with separate summaries for each major folder (e.g., population change, water quality, testimonials).

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Advanced reading ability in Brazilian Portuguese, ability to reach out to and follow up with Brazilian scholars and journalists via email, ability to write clear summaries with appropriate detail.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Jun Han

Faculty Supervisor Department: McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Sustainable and Impact Investing, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, Social Impact, Impact Measurement and Evaluation

Faculty Supervisor Email: jh2067@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Comparative Analysis of Sustainable and Impact Investing Ecosystems in the US and China

Project Summary: This research project offers an exciting opportunity to explore and compare the rapidly evolving landscapes of sustainable and impact investing in the world’s two largest economies. The student research assistant will contribute to a comprehensive comparative analysis of the US and Chinese markets, focusing on key aspects that shape these ecosystems.

The research will examine:

• Market size, growth trajectories, and investment trends in both countries;
• Key institutional players, including investment firms, fund managers, and regulatory bodies;
• Policy frameworks and initiatives driving sustainable investment;
• ESG reporting standards and practices, highlighting similarities and differences between the two markets;
• Investment strategies and priority sectors in each market;
• Challenges and opportunities in both ecosystems.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The ideal candidate will have a strong interest in sustainable finance or impact investing, basic understanding of financial markets, and the ability to analyze data from diverse sources. Knowledge of Mandarin Chinese is beneficial but not required. This project provides valuable exposure to the growing field of sustainable finance and offers hands-on experience in conducting cross-market research and analysis.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The deliverable would be a comprehensive report (30-40 pages). The report should synthesize findings from academic literature, industry reports, market data, and policy documents to provide actionable insights for stakeholders in both markets.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Literature Review, Data Analysis, and Policy Analysis

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Monica Sanders

Faculty Supervisor Department: Law Center

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Climate and Environmental Justice, Disaster Risk Reduction

Faculty Supervisor Email: ms4532@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Mapping Environmental Justice: Building a Database of EJ Laws and Policies

Project Summary: This project focuses on developing a database of environmental justice (EJ) laws and policies to support communities impacted by environmental inequities. The scholar will research, analyze, and map EJ-related statutes and regulations across local, state, and federal levels. This project will equip communities with actionable information on their rights and available resources while enabling stakeholders to identify gaps in EJ frameworks. The research will include community input and feedback to ensure accessibility and relevance. The final output will contribute to a broader initiative that informs equitable policy interventions and resource allocation.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Laidlaw Scholar will work for six weeks (days and hours TBD), contributing to several facets of the project:

• Conduct literature reviews and legal research to identify EJ laws and policies.
• Collaborate with community organizations to gather input on legal challenges and capacity needs.
• Utilize digital tools (e.g., GIS, spreadsheets) to map and catalog laws by region.
• Synthesize research findings into accessible reports and visualizations.
• Participate in weekly mentorship meetings to discuss progress and receive guidance.
• Day-to-day responsibilities will include reviewing EJ-related statutes, compiling data in user-friendly formats, and preparing presentations on findings for stakeholder feedback.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The scholar will deliver a curated database (section most feasible) of EJ laws and policies, a summary report highlighting legal and policy trends, and a presentation that includes visualizations (e.g., maps, charts) to share findings with community partners and faculty/team mentors.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Research skills, including the ability to review and synthesize academic and policy documents.
• Basic proficiency in GIS or data visualization tools (training can be provided if needed).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for engaging with community organizations and summarizing research findings.

A passion for environmental justice and interest in developing practical solutions to support impacted communities. Familiarity with legal research or environmental policy is helpful but not required. Training and support will be provided throughout the project.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Andreas Kern

Faculty Supervisor Department: McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: International Political Economy, Central Banking, China’s Financial Statecraft in the Global South, Gender, Women Leadership, and Public Policy

Faculty Supervisor Email: ak679@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: The Political Economy of Digital Finance

Project Summary: Digital finance and payment systems play an increasingly important role around the globe. Whereas in some countries, such as the United States, digital payment systems rely on private sector players (e.g., private intermediaries such as Visa), a recent surge in public payment platforms can be observed. For instance, in countries such as India and Brazil, these public payment systems have become mainstream elements of the financial ecosystem. This research project aims to understand the politico-economic driving forces behind a government’s decision to invest heavily in public payment infrastructure. Importantly, this research project aims to better understand the role of cryptocurrencies and the Digital Belt and Road Initiative in assessing these developments. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent this digital financial inclusion translates into the empowerment of women and marginalized groups.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Laidlaw Scholar would become an integral part of my research team. Depending on their personal preferences, I would be open to assigning tasks in alignment with the specific learning goals of the Scholar. These would include background desk research, conducting literature reviews, background interviews with experts in leading international organizations and the financial industry, and potentially some data collection/processing.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
Again, I would be flexible concerning these deliverables. In an ideal setting, the Laidlaw Scholar could become a co-author in this project.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Analytical Skills: Capacity to evaluate economic and political phenomena, interpret research findings, and draw meaningful conclusions.
• Effective Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills to draft inputs, prepare presentations, and collaborate with interdisciplinary teams. 
• Literature Review and Synthesis: Strong ability to review academic and policy literature, identify key insights, and summarize findings effectively.
• Some basic data management and analysis would be desired but are not necessary for this role.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Krista Ruffini

Faculty Supervisor Department: Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Economics, tax policy, education spending

Faculty Supervisor Email: kr333@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: How Historical Factors Shape State Taxes and Expenditures

Project Summary: This project (joint with Prof Bradley Hardy, MSPP) aims to identify historical factors that shape the progressivity of state tax systems and the resulting implications for public spending. Particular attention will be provided to factors that have disparate impacts for populations of different racial and ethnic groups. 

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The scholar would be responsible for helping compile a literature review of factors that shaped state tax systems; describing features of state tax and spending data using statistical software (with the assistance of the PIs and/or graduate RAs); developing visualizations; and helping prepare presentations and policy briefs.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The scholar will have completed a literature review of state tax systems (which can be used as a future writing sample) and assembled a portfolio of visualizations.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Attention to detail, basic fluency with excel, interest in historical and economic research.
(We are flexible on the project duration — we can accommodate Scholars looking for a longer project)

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Yulia Chentsova Dutton

Faculty Supervisor Department: Psychology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Cultural psychology, psychology of emotions

Faculty Supervisor Email: yec2@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Cultural shaping of the naive models of emotions

Project Summary: The scholar would work on an ongoing project examining naive models of emotions (i.e., people’s beliefs about their own emotions) and their relationship to emotion regulation. We will examine how such models differ across cultural contexts. The scholar would participate in collecting data, coding already collected schematic models of emotion and their descriptions, and participating in data analysis. The scholar will also help us adapt our existing in-the-lab task examining models of emotions to the online format.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The scholar would work as part of a team. They would code already collected models of emotions (graphic representations of what emotions entail and how they unfold over time) and compare their codes to those of other team members to establish reliability. They would also collect new data and prepare data for analysis (e.g., merging and cleaning datasets). Finally, they will have an opportunity to participate in preparing conference presentations and/or papers.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
Deliverables will include coded data and a brief description of establishing reliability and coding. They will also include data files and drafts of the descriptions of data analysis (data analysis will be conducted jointly with the PI)

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Attention to detail and organizational skills, communication skills
• Ability to work with spreadsheets. Knowledge of statistical software is desirable, but not required.
• Knowledge of Chinese and/or Russian/Ukrainian is desirable but not required.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Michael Parker

Faculty Supervisor Department: Dean’s Office

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Biosecurity

Faculty Supervisor Email: mp1660@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Inspiration from Down Under – The Role of the Australia Group in US Biosecurity Policy

Project Summary: The Australia Group (AG) is an international cooperative of forty-two countries and the European Union that seeks to levy coordinated export control to limit proliferation of chemical and biological weapons. As a member of this group since its inception in 1984, the United States has significantly shaped, and been similarly shaped by, the evolution of these efforts throughout time. In evaluating biosecurity policy regulations of the United States, the AG’s influence is evident but fragmented. This project would seek to better understand the role of the AG in US biosecurity policy decision making throughout time, and to compare and contrast the evolution of export control agreements and legislative/regulatory action in the US. To accomplish this, we will review historical records available online, consult governments of both the US and Australia to obtain currently non-public records, and perform interviews with representatives to the AG. The results of this work are likely to compile important historical information for the biosecurity community, divulge critical information about the influence of international collaboration on domestic biosecurity policy decisions, and provide insights into how policy might evolve moving forward.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Working mostly independently (100% virtual), but with weekly check-ins (via Zoom) to discuss progress and to define new work.

Collaborate/communicate with Australian and US officials to obtain necessary documentation/information.

Drafting of outlines and manuscripts to describe findings.

(potential; depends on funding, availability of partners, etc.) Travel to Australia for approximately two weeks to meet with AG representatives, review archival materials.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
A shared Google Drive folder with organized provision of all collected and produced work from the summer A collection and detailed bibliography of relevant documents on the topic Interview transcripts from discussions with government officials Honing and completing our current rough draft of the work to prepare for publication

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Ability to take feedback and directions and to not only follow through, but to innovate beyond the instructions; ability to work mostly independently
• Genuinely interested in the topic of biosecurity policy and non-proliferation
• (potential, but not certain) Able to travel internationally to Australia for part of the summer

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Emily Mendenhall

Faculty Supervisor Department: STIA

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Health Politics and Chronic Conditions

Faculty Supervisor Email: em1061@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Culture and Chronic Post-Viral Conditions

Project Summary: This project will involve working with a team at the Brain and Mind Institute at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya, focusing on a combination of studies on complex chronic conditions, from Long Covid and ecological grief to Dementia. This context is imbued with donor priority-setting and has often marginalized care for those not living with a condition (e.g., HIV, TB, malaria) earmarked for treatment. This project focuses on how complex chronic conditions are identified and treated within the Kenyan context, as well as what conditions (both social and medical) travel with them. For instance, we might ask: how is something like Long Dengue diagnosed, or are symptoms attributed to another chronic condition (like diabetes)? The student will reside for the six weeks in Nairobi, Kenya, working closely with Prof Mendenhall (remotely) and working directly under Dr. Edna Bosire, a Kenyan medical anthropologist. Must have strong analytical and writing skills.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The fellow will reside at a guest house in Kilifi, Kenya (on the beach!) and work with our study team to interview experts in post-viral care as well as patients. The fellow will work on a team, thereby working alongside a study team focused on this project (taking notes, identifying people interview, managing data, helping write up notes/observations/ideas, etc). They will spend time at the Aga Khan University Brain and Mind Institute Office as well as local hospital clinics. The student will need a thick notebook and will receive extensive training and experience in ethnographic methods.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The fellow will work on our study team to conduct 20 interviews with experts and 20 with patients living with complex chronic conditions.

The fellow will work on a team to conduct these interviews, manage the data, ensure they are transcribed, and work on the team who will build a codebook, code the data, and write up the manuscript.

I am looking for someone who is exceedingly curious, has interest in qualitative research and ethnographic methods, has a passion for East Africa (Kiswahili speaker would be awesome!), and is a self-starter.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Very good writing skills
• Listening and observation skills
• Independent spirit who can drive the project and be comfortable living in Kilifi.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Jamil Scott

Faculty Supervisor Department: Government

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: American Politics; Race and Gender Politics; Legislative Politics and Judicial Politics

Faculty Supervisor Email: js4693@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Running for Justice? Understanding Women’s Path to Prosecutorial and Judicial Office

Project Summary: Scholars recognize women and particularly WOC have more progressive ambition in running for office and seeking positions in the legal system, yet the political, institutional, and personal factors that motivate them to seek office have been paid very little attention. Using state bar passage data, we have the population of potential candidates and nominees for state and local prosecutors and judges given that the vast majority possess law degrees. We will code the state, local, and personal information for each of these individuals who ran for office to determine what allows women, and particularly women of color, to succeed in these arenas. This will also provide us with names and information for our larger project to interview candidates who have won and lost, and also nominees, to understand what motivates women to seek prosecutorial or judicial office. This study not only has implications for women and race and ethnicity politics, but also for studies of state and local politics and policy, and judicial politics. It will also create a new dataset that can be utilized for future important studies. Moreover, these results will have important implications for judicial reform for those interested in how to increase diversity in the judicial system.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Coding state bar association data to match with existing candidate records – both legislative and judicial.

Interviewing candidates who have run for legal office to understand their motivation for seeking office.

Weekly check-in meeting.

Develop draft of research paper through weekly deliverable tasks.

Develop resume and other professional development materials through weekly deliverable tasks.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The Laidlaw scholar will develop a final paper that builds from the larger project by examining which women with law degrees and what factors matter for the decision to run for legislative office rather than judicial office.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Experience with finding and reading academic articles.
• Experience with coding data and search tasks.

Faculty Supervisor Name: Anita Gonzalez

Faculty Supervisor Department: Performing Arts and Black Studies

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: African Diaspora Studies, Performing Arts, Latin American Studies, Black British and Caribbean Studies

Faculty Supervisor Email: alg155@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Popular Culture in Puerto Rico: Santos and Plenas

Project Summary: The research project investigates two components of Puerto Rican popular culture, the wooden Santos figures carved by island artisans, and the Plenas or storytelling songs of the island. Both cultural forms express a type of resistance against colonial cultures through art making. Students will collaborate with collection archivists and museum curators associated with the Instituto de la Cultura Puertorriquena and then visit with craftsmen and practitioners at select sites in Puerto Rico during June/July 2025. The outcome of the research will be a dramaturgy packet/catalog about the Santos and Plena traditions that can be used to develop a musical theater libretto about these cultural traditions. Dr. Gonzalez is a Professor of Performing Arts and Black Studies at Georgetown University and a writer of stories for operas and musical theater productions. The student research will be incorporated into a script for a potential stage production.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Read materials about Puerto Rican history and culture.

Participate in Zoom sessions with Puerto Rican arts administrators.

Travel to Puerto Rico for seven to ten days to view museum collections and interview local artisans.

Develop text and collect images about the artisans and songs we will be researching.

Use the text and images to create a catalog in Canva that will serve as research material for the development of a new musical theater work.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The expected deliverable is a visual catalog with text that will be created in Canva and used as an informational tool about Puerto Rican Santos and Plenas. The catalog will be used to educate the public about these two art forms and to promote a proposed musical theater production about Puerto Rican culture.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Interest in history and culture,
• Skills or experience with visual design.
• Good oral and written communication skills.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Carole Sargent, PhD

Faculty Supervisor Department: Office of the Provost, English

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Women political writers of the 17th and 18th centuries, LGBTQ+ studies

Faculty Supervisor Email: cs432@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Why the English political poet Elizabeth Singer Rowe was driven out of politics (LGBTQ+ interest)

Project Summary: In 1710 Elizabeth Singer Rowe, a popular Whig political poet, married abruptly at age 36 and stopped all political writing. I claim that she may have been driven out of political writing by a Tory woman adversary who published anonymous political satire about her, claiming she was lesbian. Her late and rushed marriage (36 was quite old for a first marriage at the time) may have been strategic, and it seems to have worked. She became a devotional writer after that and left the political stage. For years I have tried to prove that she was targeted by a political adversary, and I’ve tried to publish about it in academic journals, but the evidence is scanty. In 2022 I gave a keynote talk in her hometown of Frome, England laying out the story as I understand it. The response was overwhelmingly positive. In this project we will work on three deliverables: (1) A brochure about her; (2) the outline of a very short book (the type that can be sold by the Frome historical society); and (3) a draft of an academic paper for a research journal in early modern women’s studies about my findings, for which the Laidlaw student will be credited.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: You and I will work together to assemble the evidence, write it up, and create the three deliverables. I would like to meet as often as you are able, even daily, for about an hour each time, although it can be 2-3 times a week if you can’t meet daily. Depending on how much time you want to devote to this, it can be quite an absorbing adventure. The town of Frome, England is eager for this material as well, so you can become friendly with a charming and historic community.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: 

1. A historical brochure

2. The rough draft of a short booklet for historians visiting Frome, Somerset, UK;

3. Notes toward an academic article (great for a student who wants to learn to publish research).

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

1. Should be eager to conduct early modern women’s research and comfortable with LGBTQ+ studies

 2. Excelling writing skills with an aptitude to learn research methods

 3. Although the student does not have to be a native speaker of English, s/he should be comfortable writing and reading English, including the early modern (17th-18th century) forms of the language.

4. Zeal

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Kristin Sinclair

Faculty Supervisor Department: Educational Transformation

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Youth organizing and activism

Faculty Supervisor Email: ks1748@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: #We Came to Learn: Youth organizing for Police-free schools in Washington, DC

Project Summary: Since 2018, youth organizers with the Black Swan Academy (BSA) in Washington, DC have been highlighting the negative impact of police in K12 public schools, particularly on Black and other marginalized students. Their advocacy efforts call for district officials to remove of police and, instead, invest in mental health services, resources and supports. This community-based research project draws on three years’ worth of qualitative data collected on these efforts, including over 40 hours of participant observation of organizing activities, semi-structured interviews with 20 BSA youth, six BSA adult members staff, and five adult allies, as well as other publicly-facing documents and artifacts of police-free schools organizing efforts. This project contributes to the growing literature on the ability of young people to impact local education policy change and build conditions for real safety in schools.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Daily tasks will include completing trainings related to conducting qualitative research, cleaning interview transcripts, coding interview transcripts, and identifying themes in the data. Other key tasks include collecting and organizing additional archival, publicly available data related to BSA’s police-free schools work. This will be a collaborative research project and also require regular (every other day) virtual (and possibly in-person) meetings with me and at least one meeting with representatives from Black Swan Academy. Toward the end of the six weeks, students will work on writing up an analytic memo and creating a community-driven, publicly-facing product based on the research that will support BSA’s on-going organizing efforts.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The scholar would produce a 10-20 page analytic memo of the key themes and findings related to this data set. Additionally, the scholar would work with me and representatives from BSA to conceptualize, develop, and create a public-facing artifact of this research project. If interested, opportunities to aid in writing and publishing scholarly journal articles will be available.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

Qualitative data coding and analysis skills, academic writing, and data visualization (story maps, etc.) skills. I am prepared to support the student in developing those skills.

This is a flexible project, and could certainly run longer than six weeks if the student was interested. I’m hoping for someone who is interested in community-engaged qualitative research with a racial and social justice lens. I emphasize collaborative relationships with my research assistants, and always see potential for longer-term relationships (conference presentations, authorship on publications, etc.) if the fit and interest is there. I would also love a student who is work-study eligible, as they could potentially continue to work on this project during the school year through the CSJ’s work study program.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Jeremy Barofsky

Faculty Supervisor Department: McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Administrative burden, public policy, health policy

Faculty Supervisor Email: jb3338@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Measuring the impact and prevalence of administrative burdens in the U.S. safety net

Project Summary: The Laidlaw Scholar would contribute to two projects within the Better Government Lab (BGL) that examine how administrative burdens in safety-net programs impact access to government resources and how those burdens change over time. In the first project, BGL is building a toolbox of all credible digital interventions in the safety-net space. We focus on programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and WIC that provide health coverage and resources to low-income individuals. This toolbox will summarize current research findings on how digital interventions to reduce administrative burdens impact safety net access and participant wellbeing. These results will also be translated into easily digestible guidance for policymakers and implementers to generate evidence-based policy impact. The second project will build a policy database of administrative burdens across states and over time for the SNAP and Medicaid programs. This monitoring effort will be used to inform policymakers, practitioners, and the public on how burdens are changing over time and allow us to highlight high- and low-performing states.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: The Laidlaw Scholar will work directly with Jeremy Barofsky, an Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy and the Executive Director of BGL, as well as other BGL faculty on the digital toolbox. The scholar will work to understand and systematize the evidence on how technology impacts administrative burdens in safety-net programs. This will primarily include a literature review of the published literature. It would also include translation of these results for policymakers to make these findings accessible to a broader audience. In the second project, the scholar will also engage BGL faculty to build the administrative burden policy database by systematically searching for changes to administrative burden policy changes in Medicaid and SNAP across all states. In addition, this project will require learning about the policy changes that occurred during and after the COVID-19 pandemic such as during Medicaid unwinding and through the new administration. For both projects, the scholar could engage in data analysis using Stata or R depending on the needs of the projects as well as the scholar’s skills and interests.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The Scholar will be tasked with producing deliverables based on the needs of the projects worked on during the internship period. These deliverables are likely to include research summaries of the published literature included in the toolbox and dissemination materials targeted to a policymaker audience. For the administrative burdens monitoring project, the deliverable will be web search of changes to administrative burdens from January 2024 to mid-2025 in SNAP and Medicaid across all states and organizing these results in a policy database with the BGL team.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• an interest and some background on safety-net policies such as Medicaid and SNAP
•  the ability to summarize published research on the impact of digital interventions that reduce administrative burdens
• interest in translating this research to a broader policy audience.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Kenneth Tercyak, PhD

Faculty Supervisor Department: Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Dr. Tercyak’s research focuses on developmental and biobehavioral aspects of cancer risk, communication, and intervention, including public health genomics, tobacco control, and skin cancer prevention. His work in hereditary cancer syndromes examines health messaging, decision support, outcomes of genetic education and testing, and the role of peer support in promoting healthy behavior. Dr. Tercyak’s work in tobacco control focuses on primary prevention in adolescents/young adults. His research in childhood cancer survivorship examines the organization and delivery of follow-up care to promote equitable health outcomes, clinical-behavioral outcomes of pediatric tumor molecular profiling, and lifestyle behaviors affecting long-term health and resilience. Other efforts focus on supporting the comprehensive care needs of parents with cancer, and behavioral interventions to promote family quality of life during cancer treatment.

Faculty Supervisor Email: tercyakk@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Cancer Prevention and Control in Families

Project Summary: My research lab focuses on developmental and biobehavioral aspects of cancer risk, health communication, prevention, and intervention. We study public health genomics, tobacco control, skin cancer prevention, and more. We also explore how cancer and cancer risk impact the family–examining health messaging, decision support, the outcomes of genetic education, testing, and peer counseling, and how parenting, child rearing, and coping skills are influenced by cancer. The Tercyak Lab is a part of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Division of Population Science. We conduct research within the greater Washington, DC community–and with collaborators from across the United States. The Laidlaw Scholar will work with Dr. Tercyak to identify a project of interest, and assist in the analysis of project outcome data. Please visit https://sites.google.com/georgetown.edu/tercyaklab for details. One example is our partnership with a national non-profit organization providing information and support to young women with breast and ovarian cancer. We are conducting a comprehensive program evaluation of their interventions. The evaluation focuses on culturally-relevant breast and ovarian cancer education programming which guides young breast and ovarian cancer survivors from diagnosis through survivorship. Our evaluation aims to review and help improve program components, strengthen collaboration with local, regional, and national partners, increase utilization of structured education support services, and raise awareness about available resources.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Scholar’s responsibilities will include: reviewing the medical and behavioral/social science research literature on the given topic, preparing a written review of select findings about the topic, developing and testing a research hypothesis, learning how to use biostatistical software, interpreting results, creating data tables, and preparing research findings for dissemination. The Scholar will conduct their mentored research in-person and will be provided with a workstation. The Scholar will also attend weekly lab meetings, and carry-out other ancillary project-related duties as assigned.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The Scholar will be expected to prepare and deliver a poster presentation at the conclusion of their fellowship.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Interested in preventive medicine, public health, psychology/behavioral science, and cancer. Experience with the scientific method and interested in learning about clinical science. Basic understanding of applied statistics is helpful.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Kai Liu

Faculty Supervisor Department: Physics

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Physics and materials research for sustainability

Faculty Supervisor Email: kl881@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Multifunctional filtration media

Project Summary: Our group focuses on synthesis and experimental investigation of nanostructured materials.  In particular, we are developing a novel type of multifunctional particulate filtration media based on nanoporous metallic foams that are extremely light-weight, with enormous surface areas while maintaining mechanical stability.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Student(s) working on the project will be involved with all aspects of the research, including sample synthesis, characterization, data analysis, manuscript preparation and research presentation.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
Gain understanding of how the sample design and microstructures would help improve the performance and functionality of the filtration media.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Prior laboratory experience in physics/chemistry. Data analysis. Presentation.
Be able to think critically.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: James Freericks

Faculty Supervisor Department: Physics

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Quantum Mechanics

Faculty Supervisor Email: freericj@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Developing a video to properly illustrate wave-particle duality

Project Summary: I need someone with video editing skills and voice acting skills to help complete a short video that explains how wave-particle duality works using computer-generated 3d graphics (which have already been completed). No knowledge of quantum mechanics is necessary, but an interest to develop high quality educational videos for youtube is a must.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The scholar will help develop and edit the script. Will be the narrator for the video, and will edit the final product to complete the work.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The end product will be a 5-10 minute educational video suitable for posting on Youtube.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Video editing, voice acting, and an interest to learn about quantum mechanics.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Sam Halabi

Faculty Supervisor Department: Health Management and Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Global Health Law

Faculty Supervisor Email: sfh9@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Universal Health Coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa

Project Summary: The Center for Transformational Health Law (CTHL) is partnering with the World Health Organization’s Office for the Africa Region (AFRO) in developing tools and capacity support to expand access to basic health services across the continent. Focusing on maternal and infant health including access to medicines, the student fellow would develop country-specific profiles and identify major gaps in access to services considered essential to prevent catastrophic out of pocket payments for health products and services.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
The Laidlaw Scholar would largely be responsible for executing discrete research requests within the National Library of Medicine database and other publicly available databases. The scholar would undertake a comprehensive search using keywords and then synthesize search results into actionable memos.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The scholar would produce approximately 4-6 memos and would also be credited in publications for submission.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:
Interest in global health; familiarity with NLM/NCBI databases and keywords; strong writing ability
Working knowledge of French or Portuguese desirable but not required

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Taylor Jones

Faculty Supervisor Department: The Earth Commons

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Environmental Monitoring and Climate Science

Faculty Supervisor Email: tj302@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Establishing an Urban Tree Monitoring Site at Georgetown

Project Summary: As a new member of the international Urban Tree Physiological Network (UTEN), I need a student to help design and install wireless sensors on 1-3 trees on the Hilltop campus. These sensors will continuously monitor the health and growth of the trees and how they are interacting with the environment. The student will also analyze the data from the tree(s) and come up with creative ways to present their findings in ways that engage the campus, the local community, and UTEN. A pilot version of this project completed years ago involved the creation of social media accounts for specific trees that reported data in real time. One of these trees quickly gained over 10,000 followers on twitter, highlighting the potential of using real-time sensors and social media for general public science communication. This project would aim to establish an existing tree on campus as not only a source of scientific data, but as a must-follow social media account (tree-fluencer?) for people on campus in a way that promotes awareness about the role trees play in our urban lives.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:
Since most of the hardware for the tree sensor kits has already been ordered, the scholar’s first task will be working with me and other members of my lab to determine which trees to instrument and how best to do that. They will then install the sensors and monitor the sensors closely throughout the summer (I anticipate many bugs and broken sensor parts!). They will collect and organize many types of data surrounding the trees, such as preparing leaf samples for analysis, photographing canopy extent, etc. They will work with members of my lab to develop an automated social media presence for the trees as well. All of this work will expose the students to engineering skills (there will be circuitry, 3d printing, etc.) as well as plant physiology, climate science, and science communication in exciting ways.

Expected Scholar Deliverables:
The scholar will produce a guide on how to install, monitor, and care for the various sensors used in the project. This will be used on planned future expansions. They will also have ownership over some of the data and the social media output of the project.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:
Willingness and desire to learn engineering and data science skills.

Willingness to do ecological field work (it could get hot / humid / dirty).

Self motivated and reliable – the student will be expected to monitor the health of sensors on a near-daily basis without constant faculty oversight.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Tina Liu

Faculty Supervisor Department: Neurology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Brain plasticity, Vision

Faculty Supervisor Email: tl925@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: VIBRANT study (Vision Improvement through Behavioral Rehabilitation And Neuroplasticity Training)

Project Summary: Every year, over 12 million people worldwide suffer from stroke, affecting one in four adults at some point in their lives. Given that nearly half of the cerebral cortex is involved in visual processing, cortical damage affecting vision can significantly impact the quality of life for stroke survivors. However, current diagnostic and treatment methods are often limited in addressing these visual deficits.

The VIBRANT study integrates visual behavior (psychophysics, eye-tracking), neuroimaging (structural and functional MRI), and neurorehabilitation (transcranial electrical stimulation) with the long-term goal of achieving precision vision recovery. In addition to the CITI training, Laidlaw Scholars will receive MRI safety training through CFMI and transcranial electrical stimulation training through the Visual Perception and Plasticity Lab.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities:

1. Assisting with recruitment, phone screening and scheduling of stroke patients and healthy volunteers for research

2. Supporting experiment setup and data collection, and maintaining accurate documenting experiment logs

Expected Scholar Deliverables:

By the end of the project, the Scholar will produce a detailed report or presentation summarizing their findings and insights. This will include an overview of the research approaches they engaged with (e.g., functional/structural MRI and transcranial brain stimulation), a discussion of their contributions to the study, and an analysis of the implications of their work in the context of human brain research. The final output should demonstrate their understanding of the methodologies and their ability to critically evaluate experimental results.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Experience with human subject research
• Strong communication skills
• Technical proficiency (e.g., familiarity with basic programming or statistical analysis tools)

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Emanuela Del Gado

Faculty Supervisor Department: Physics

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Materials physics, computational physics, sustainable materials, smart soft materials, disordered systems, cooperative dynamics, collective processes, disordered networks, network topology

Faculty Supervisor Email: ed610@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Memory, self-healing, and failure in soft nano-materials

Project Summary: Materials made from polymers, colloidal suspensions and surfactants, are at the core of novel technologies that require tunable mechanics. In many cases, these soft and adaptive solids are gels, that is, they are prevalently composed of a fluid in which a relatively small amount (sometimes tiny!) of solid material is embedded. The key is that the solid component, typically made of small particles or aggregates, is spatially organized into an open, porous network and hence, in spite of being the minority constituent, is able to provide rigidity and control the mechanical response of the whole material. Gels are ubiquitous in nature, providing the means to optimize mechanical functionalities without necessarily blocking transport or diffusion of various substances, while they require in principle arbitrarily small amounts of solid matter. In the biological context, their highly adaptive and tunable rheological response is central to biological functions. For technological applications from 3d printing to food and personal care products, because of the sparse and reconfigurable solid matrix embedded in the fluid, they can flow, be stretched, squeezed, or fractured. The project will explore computer simulations of nanoparticle gels, to gain insight into how these materials can self-heal or fail, and store information in their complex microstructures.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Visualize simulations data and explore a range of visualization tools. Analyze data produced by large scale computer simulations, using analysis tools devised in Del Gado’s group. Visualize analyzed data to convey specific interpretation of the physics revealed by the simulations. Participate to Del Gado’s group discussions on data interpretation and visualization. Explore and read papers on related topics (gels, soft materials mechanics, networks,…) and discuss them with the research group.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: Plots of data obtained from data analysis. Visualizations of simulations data as videos or simulations snapshot. Report on the analysis performed and explanation of the plots/visualizations obtained. Summary of papers read.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Curiosity and desire to learn about materials, soft materials, computer simulations, and data visualization. 
• Interest in working with the group, learning through research, and participating in discussions. 
• Interest and capacity to explore computational tools. Capacity to search for papers on relevant topics, extracting essential information, and summarize the reading to discuss with the research group.
• Knowledge and familiarity with coding is beneficial. In terms of coding, some familiarity with Python, MatLab, or C++ would be beneficial.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Sam Halabi

Faculty Supervisor Department: Health Management and Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Global Health Security

Faculty Supervisor Email: sfh9@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Advancing Law and Ethics of Pathogen Genomic Data Sharing

Project Summary: The rapid sharing of accurate and high-quality data about potentially pandemic pathogens has become a cornerstone of international readiness and international agreements. The Laidlaw Scholar would provide analyses of how ethical and legal frameworks apply to the sharing of data, including potentially sensitive data about human contributors to data sharing networks.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: The scholar’s day-to-day responsibilities would focus on research within both openly accessible public health databases (NLM/NCBI) as well as proprietary databases like Science Direct and generating research memoranda.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The scholar would be responsible for drafting a series of 4-5 page memos analyzing legal and ethical frameworks applicable to sharing pathogen data.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

Background in microbiology or genetics is helpful but not required.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Martha Weiss

Faculty Supervisor Department: Biology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Plant-insect interactions, insect behavior, ecology

Faculty Supervisor Email: weissm@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Don’t Bite the Hand that Seeds You: Characterizing the Pollinator and Prey Communities of Carnivorous Plants in the DMV

Project Summary: 

Across the nutrient-starved wetlands of the eastern United States, plants have had to evolve unique ways of getting the food they require to grow and reproduce. An exceptional few of them have become carnivorous, possessing specialized traps which ensnare and digest insects. However, these plants still rely on insects to pollinate their flowers. How often do these pollinators fall victim to the carnivorous plants they visit? Have plants evolved strategies to avoid eating their pollinators? And do some carnivorous plants eat the pollinators of other carnivorous species?

The pine savannahs and bogs of Maryland and Virginia are home to three major lineages of terrestrial carnivorous plants – the sundews, butterworts, and pitcher plants. Each has its own method of prey capture, and each has a different floral display. Characterizing which insects are prey, pollinators, or both to each group of plants will help determine the ways in which they avoid eating the insects that help them reproduce. Differences between these avoidance behaviors will highlight how separate lineages of carnivorous plants balance the continued survival of their pollinators with the prospect of a nutritious meal.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: This project involves work both in the field and in the lab. Fieldwork will take place in bogs and savannahs in Maryland and Virginia, within a 4-hour drive of the Hilltop Campus, between June and July 2025. These sensitive habitats harbor a wide diversity of rare plants, including orchids, and are not generally open to the public. Field work will be carried out alongside other researchers and will consist of insect trapping, prey surveys of carnivorous plants, and field observations of pollinating events. Once collected, insect samples will be brought back to the lab to be identified. In addition to the immediate study, the data collected over the course of this project will serve as the foundation for future work focused on carnivorous plant – insect interactions.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The scholar will write a formal report of the study, including its methodology and conclusions, and will present their results in the form of a poster or short talk after the study’s end. Scholars will gain literacy in scientific field work, experimental design and data collection, insect ID, statistical analysis, science communication, scientific writing, and outreach.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Be comfortable outdoors and in relatively remote habitats for extended periods of time, and in the presence of associated wildlife
• Be detail-oriented and motivated to collect reliable data, both in the lab and in the field
• Be able work in a group and respond to instruction, and to use that instruction to work independently in an effective manner
• Interest and enthusiasm

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Leslie Ries

Faculty Supervisor Department: Biology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Global change ecology

Faculty Supervisor Email: lr354@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: How butterflies adapt to climate change

Project Summary: In our lab we conduct physiological lab studies on how developing caterpillars respond to altered environments and use that information to make large-scale (regional to continental) projections of how butterfly species may be responding to current climate change and how they could respond to future climates. Students in the lab have opportunities to develop independent projects, from developing their own lab experiments to answering questions using a data analytics approach.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: There are a variety of jobs in our lab. The summer is when we are catching butterflies and rearing caterpillars. We have adults lay eggs then we place those eggs in different environmental conditions and track their development all the way through eclosion (emerging as an adult). There are many tasks involved, from feeding and cleaning out containers, to weighing caterpillars and taking other developmental data as they progress. We often score morphological features like wing patterns using a variety of techniques, including manual tracing and AI computer vision. Thus, days can be a mixture of carrying out experiments, caring for caterpillars, scoring information, doing dishes, and compiling, organizing and analyzing data. We encourage students to focus on independent projects that will help them develop the skills they need to meet their own educational and lifetime goals.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: We will develop an independent project and we expect a write up of the work that was done (whether completely independent or part of an ongoing project).

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? No

Project Requirements or Skills:

• a strong attention to detail
• some experience working with data (e.g., in excel or google sheets) – even if only in a classroom setting, 
• Some background or interest in ecology (this can be having taken Foundations of Biology II).

Just a note that we can be flexible with the time, but mid-June to end-July would be a better timeline for us.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Rhonda Rolfes

Faculty Supervisor Department: Biology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Molecular genetics in yeast

Faculty Supervisor Email: rolfesr@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Inositol pyrophosphates from Candida albicans

Project Summary: Inositol pyrophosphates (IPPs) are energy-rich signaling molecules that perform critical roles in eukaryotes, although the mechanisms to do so are not well understood. We are analyzing IPPs in the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans to better understand their roles in cell physiology, stress responses and pathogenesis. We use genetic, molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology approaches to study this — including mutating genes, measuring changes to gene and protein expression, examining changes to the IPP pools, and assessing phenotypes.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Design experiments with input of the professor, follow protocols to conduct those experiments, analyze data, and interpret the meaning of the data.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The student should be able to reproduce an experimental result; these data may be included in future publications.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills: 

• Biology major preferred
• Ability to follow a protocol faithfully, ability to be aware of what is happening at each step, and perseverance when learning.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Ella Striem-Amit

Faculty Supervisor Department: Neuroscience

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Brain plasticity and reorganization

Faculty Supervisor Email: es1487@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Mapping actions across the hand and foot using kinematic tracking

Project Summary: People born without hands perform all their daily actions with their feet, and we, too, can effortlessly translate simple actions between our hands and feet (imagine writing with your toes on the sand). This suggests that our brains have a motor plan that works regardless of the body part, which can serve for action control even if one loses control of their arm (e.g. due to stroke or amputation). To test if our motor plans are shared across body parts, we perform behavioral and neuroimaging experiments on typically-developed people and people born without hands.

The scholar will conduct a mentored, semi-independent investigation of the similarities between hand and foot actions using behavioral measures. They will collect data recording hand and foot actions, use a markerless pose estimation (DeepLabCut) for analyzing the data. They will test if there are shared motor plans and synergies (joint muscle group activations) between the hand and foot that can be similarly neurally controlled. If time suffices, they may also test if these shared synergies are mapped to brain responses using existing fMRI datasets.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Work responsibilities will include participant recruitment, behavioral data acquisition, data analysis and writing a summary of their work (hopefully contributing to a research paper).

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The outcome should be a research result, summarized in a short research article format.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

Scholars should have some experience in conducting research with human participants and attention to detail. Programming skills are an advantage. The project is available from the beginning of July.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Matthew Hamilton

Faculty Supervisor Department: Biology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Ecological genetics and genomics

Faculty Supervisor Email: hamiltm1@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Ecological genetics of the salt marsh plant Spartina patens

Project Summary: The Hamilton lab is studying salt marsh plants that form the foundation of mid-Atlantic salt marshes, a habitat type that is threatened by sea level rise and human development. The salt marsh plant Spartina patens occupies the high marsh and genetic variation may help the species be more resilient to habitat changes. This species is both sexual and clonal, and the processes that regulate genetic variation in such plants are not well understood. The lab is working on genotyping to measure the spatial organization of genetic variation, as well as on chloroplast genome sequencing, and computational steps of data preparation and analysis. Parts of the project involve computer simulation and machine learning, and I am happy to work with students interested in coding and computational biology.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Students would be directly involved in lab work such as isolating DNA from plant samples, carrying out PCR, collecting and scoring genotype data, and preparing DNA for DNA sequencing. Students can join in field work trips to salt marshes to collect samples. Students could also be involved in electronic data organization and formatting, data analysis, or in helping to write or running simulations and then organize and summarize simulation results.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: The student is expected to learn and understand the research techniques and data analyses with the possibility to pursue a subproject. Students are encouraged to work toward a subproject that could be presented at a regional or national meeting, or to contribute to a peer reviewed paper. Work started during the summer can be continued during the academic year.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

Students must be careful and able to self-evaluate their work, curious and motivated to learn techniques as well as the predictions and hypotheses that motivate the project, and excited about actively participating in the process of hands-on scientific research. (Computational work requires some prior background in a language like C or python or with R or Matlab.)

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Carrie Graham, PhD, MGS

Faculty Supervisor Department:  McCourt School of Public Policy

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Health Policy, Medicare, Medicare Advantage (private insurance plans that administer Medicare)

Faculty Supervisor Email: cg1409@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Medicare Advantage Policy Analysis

Project Summary: The Medicare Policy Initiative (MPI) is a new research unit within the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at the McCourt School of Public Policy. The MPI team’s mission is to improve the federal Medicare program to ensure that 66.4 million Medicare beneficiaries (mostly older adults and people with disabilities) have access to affordable, high value health care. We conduct rapid turnaround policy analysis and provide technical assistance to Congress and the Administration regarding proposed changes to the Medicare program, especially focused on proposals to expand the use of private insurance companies (Medicare Advantage) to provide Medicare to older adults and people with disabilities. The MPI team will conduct research on aspects of the Medicare program including: key informant interviews with policy stakeholders (health plans, policymakers, providers and advocates), track proposed changes to the Medicare program by the new administration, and conduct policy analysis to inform policymakers and other audiences about the potential impacts of those changes. Research results will be summarized in an external facing report and several fact sheets.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: The Laidlaw Scholar will work closely with a team of Research Professors and Research Fellows who are experts in Medicare policy to summarize the Medicare research into a final report. The scholar will also have an opportunity to contribute to quick turnaround fact sheets or blogs on emerging issues. On a daily basis, the undergraduate will:

1) attend weekly team meetings and twice weekly mentor meetings

2) help to schedule and facilitate interviews with health policy/Medicare stakeholders and track completion

3) code and summarize interviews

4) conduct literature reviews of relevant Medicare Advantage policy proposals as needed

5) write drafts of report sections, edit and format the final report. After the completion of the project, the Laidlaw scholar will have a sophisticated understanding of the Medicare program and familiarity with key health policy stakeholders.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: Summary of 10-20 key informant interviews with Medicare policy stakeholders, Literature review summarizing relevant Medicare research, and formatting of a final, public facing report.The scholar will also contribute to 1-2 rapid turnaround blogs or fact sheets on emerging issues in Medicare.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Intellectual curiosity and interest in health policy, especially Medicare. Experience conducting literature searches and summarizing literature. Excellent organizational skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and interest in working in a fast-paced, team environment.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Sreejith Nair

Faculty Supervisor Department: Oncology

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Molecular Cell Biology of Cancer

Faculty Supervisor Email: sn778@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Transcription condensates in cancer

Project Summary: One area of research in our lab examines the role of RNA-protein complexes in gene regulation. We specifically study how the biophysical properties of transcription apparatus is altered in response to hormone signaling and how we can exploit these properties in treating cancer. This study will employ transcriptional assays, high-resolution microscopy, and various molecular and cell biology tools. In addition, we have several lab projects that examine how gene regulatory machinery contributes to cancer. All these projects need a long-term commitment for completion and publication. Students will be trained on various molecular biology tools and computational biology.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: Students will initially work with senior lab members and other undergraduate peers to gain valuable experience in mammalian cell culture and molecular and cell biology tools. The students will then be assigned a specific project that will be part of a larger research problem addressed in the lab (see the project summary). In addition, students will participate in lab chores, lab meetings, and journal clubs to participate in project discussions and also present their results.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: At the end of summer, the students will be expected to prepare a document (mini-thesis) describing the background, hypothesis, aims, results, and discussion of their project. They will be also required to present their work in the lab meeting and prepare a poster to present in undergraduate symposium

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

Passion for basic research and a willingness for hard work. Previous experience in lab techniques and programming will be advantageous.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Rajesh Veeraraghavan

Faculty Supervisor Department: Center for Ethics and Democracy, Massive Data Institute

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: AI and Society

Faculty Supervisor Email: rv408@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Social Audits of AI Algorithms

Project Summary: This project focuses on examining the role of social audits of algorithms in ensuring transparency and accountability in AI systems used in public welfare programs in Washington, DC. The student will analyze how AI is being applied in welfare decision-making, such as determining eligibility or allocating resources, and evaluate the mechanisms in place for public oversight.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: 

The student will:

• Analyze government reports and disclosures on AI use in welfare programs to understand transparency practices.
• Conduct interviews with policymakers, welfare program administrators, and advocacy groups to explore perceptions of AI’s impact on equity and access.
• Evaluate the potential of participatory mechanisms, like social audits, to improve fairness in AI-driven systems.

This research aims to identify how algorithms can both enhance and hinder public service delivery, offering insights into how participatory methods can address systemic challenges and build trust in technology use for social welfare.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: A review of publicly available documents on algorithmic systems used in welfare decision-making, focusing on transparency and accountability measures. Summaries of interviews with policymakers, welfare program administrators, and advocacy groups on the perceived benefits and risks of AI in these programs.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Research and Analysis: The ability to critically review government reports, analyze policy documents, and synthesize information about the use of AI in welfare programs.
• Interviewing and Communication: Skills in conducting interviews with stakeholders, including policymakers and advocacy groups, to gather qualitative data and insights.
• Evaluation and Policy Writing: Capability to assess the effectiveness of participatory mechanisms like social audits and articulate findings in a clear, actionable report with policy recommendations.

Faculty Member Information

Faculty Supervisor Name: Rajesh Veeraraghavan

Faculty Supervisor Department: Center for Ethics and Democracy, Massive Data Institute

Faculty Research Focus/Interest: Participatory AI with community support

Faculty Supervisor Email: rv408@georgetown.edu

Project Details

Project Title: Public Interest Tech: Senegal collaboration

Project Summary: The proposed project aims to develop a public interest technology using AI to address a specific challenge in public services for marginalized communities in Washington, DC. Working in partnership with a local community organization and a government agency, the project focuses on creating a participatory AI system that aligns with the needs of underserved populations. This hands-on initiative will build on work started in the CLAB Senegal course, though participation in that course is not required, as prior efforts will be well-documented. The project emphasizes iterative design, real-world testing, and engagement with stakeholders to ensure practicality and inclusivity.

The project provides students with the opportunity to refine AI prototypes, learn from direct feedback, and integrate the needs of both community members and policymakers. The final outcome will aim to demonstrate the feasibility and impact of participatory AI in improving public service delivery, laying the groundwork for scalable, community-driven solutions.

Laidlaw Scholar Responsibilities: The student will work closely with project mentors and local stakeholders to advance the development of the AI-based public service prototype. Daily tasks include:

• Field Testing: Collaborating with community partners to test prototypes in real-world settings, gathering qualitative and quantitative data on usability and effectiveness.
• Iteration and Improvement: Analyzing feedback from field tests and refining the technology to improve functionality, accessibility, and community alignment.
• Community Engagement: Organizing and facilitating workshops to gather input from community members, ensuring the solution reflects their needs and builds trust.
• Workshop Planning: Assisting in planning a larger workshop to share progress, gather broader feedback, and strategize future interactions with policymakers.
• Students will gain hands-on experience in applied AI design, community-based research, and stakeholder collaboration while developing skills in technical refinement and participatory processes.

Expected Scholar Deliverables: A refined prototype based on field testing and community feedback. A detailed report on usability data, community input, and recommended improvements. Documentation of community workshops, including insights and feedback. A workshop plan and materials for engaging policymakers and scaling the initiative.

Do you expect this project to run longer than six weeks? Yes

Project Requirements or Skills:

• Community-Based Research Skills: Ability to engage with marginalized communities effectively, ensuring their voices are central to the design and implementation process.
• Proficiency in conducting workshops, interviews, and participatory activities to gather meaningful feedback and insights.
• Technical and Analytical Proficiency: Willingness to do usability testing, troubleshooting, and integrating feedback into iterative design processes. Desire to work with data would be a plus, but not required.
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Communication: Capacity to work across disciplines, connecting technical knowledge with social, ethical, and policy dimensions.
• Strong communication skills to articulate findings, facilitate stakeholder discussions, and produce well-documented deliverables for academic and practical use.