Class of 2023 Honors Thesis Papers
Welcome to the Public Policy honors thesis page. The projects presented here are the result of a year-long process begun by our honors students in January of 2022. These students have produced 20 projects that cover topics as diverse from The Cannibalization of Lottery Revenues through the Expansion of Online Sports Betting to An Undeniable Link: The Impacts of Immigration Policy on the American Agricultural Industry. Students have done everything from interviewing policy experts, crunched databases, and analyzed Tweets. The result is an important array of studies that are both though provoking and intellectually rich. We recognize their hard work and dedication, and thank their thesis advisors for helping students complete their projects.
Deborah Ades – The Geopolitics of Sanctions: Assessing the Impact of Global Geopolitics on U.S. Sanctions on Iran
Gabrielle Battle – Setting the Standard: Meeting the Needs of Sex Trafficked Black Girls in the State of California
Allison Bunker – Documenting Dystopia: An Audio Documentary Approach to Amazon in Seattle
Peter Connolly – The Battle for Chips: Semiconductors Crucial Role in AI Development and its Implications for U.S.-China Strategic Competition
Nicholas Datto – Net Impact: The Relationship Between Internet Access and Voter Turnout Across U.S. Elections and Parties
Devan Desai – Unequal Burdens: Disparities in Baseline Low Back Pain at an Academic Health System
Sabene Figueroa – The Mental Healthcare Access Crisis Among the Homeless Population
Kyle Gray – Negotiating with “Terrorists”: When is Diplomacy an Effective Way to End a Conflict?
Dana Guggenheim – Impact of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Zika Virus Recommendations on Cord Blood Unit Eligibility and Utilization in a Large Public Cord Blood Bank
Alex Hoffman – Securing the Right to Work: The History and Future of Job Guarantees
Finn Hossfeld – Using Media to Understand Public Discourse on Carbon Capture, Storage, and Utilization Technology: A Qualitative Frame Analysis of US Media Coverage of the Petra Nova Project
Gautam Iyer – Remembering… and Forgetting: What Durham Communities Decide to Remember About Themselves, and How They Do It
Dan King – The Impacts of Immigration Policy on the American Agricultural Industry
Payton Little – The Health Policy Puzzle of Gender Affirming Care: Healthcare Policies In North Carolina as a Case Study
Katherine LoBue – An Evaluation of the Durham DEAR Program: Comparing Participant and Staff Perspectives
Leah Markbreiter – Social Connectedness, Altruism, and Vaccine Behavior: Improving Policy for Future Pandemics
Alanna Miller – Segregating Opportunity: The Deprivation of Resources in Durham County’s Racially/Ethnically Concentrated Areas of Poverty
Mary Monti – No Such Thing as a Textbook Case: Comparing Interstate Differences in High School Civics Education
Vaneesha Patel – Planning for Better Communities: Exploring the Relationship Between New Urbanism in Comprehensive Plans and Social Capital
Rachel Proudman – Marginalized and Monitored: Analyzing Reproductive Health and Digital Surveillance in the United States
Taalin RaoShah – Cheaper & Cleaner? A Case Study of Boston’s Community Choice Electricity (CCE) Program
Leah Roffman – Exploring the Distribution of Utility-scale Renewables and Anti-renewable Legislation in the U.S.
Hailey Ross – Talking Trash: Evaluating Pay-as-You-Throw (PAYT) and Compost Contamination on the Front Range of Colorado
Jonathan Schachter – The Cannibalization of Lottery Revenues through the Expansion of Online Sports Betting
Tri Truong – The Birth of a New China: How the U.S. – China Trade War Affected the Economy and Foreign Policies of Vietnam in 2016 – 2020
Neha Vangipurapu – Hindutva at Home: Long-Distance Hindu Nationalism in the Indian American Diaspora