Press "Enter" to skip to content

Class of 2023

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