2024 Thesis Prize Winners
David M. Kennedy Honors Thesis Prizes
Engineering and Applied Sciences: Melanie Rodríguez Pabón, Chemical Engineering. "Informing the scale-up of the electrochemical Cu-based CO2 reduction by understanding its performance in impure electrolytes and varying ambient temperatures." Mentored by Thomas F. Jaramillo
Arts & Humanities: Baird V. Johnson, History. "Perpetuating the Union: The Struggle for American Federalism." Mentored by Jonathan Gienapp and Josiah Ober
Natural Sciences: Leila DeSchepper, Human Biology. "Spatial profiling reveals marked transcriptomic changes and epithelial cell remodeling in pediatric ileal Crohn’s disease." Mentored by Michael R. Howitt
Social Sciences: Jessica Zhu, International Relations. "One Prosecutor's Promise: Putting Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes on Trial at the International Criminal Court." Mentored by David Cohen
Firestone Medals for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Ahmad Allen, Psychology. "Now You See Me: Cortical Microstructural Tissue Development in Visual System During First Year of Infant Life." Mentored by Kalanit Grill-Spector
Brennan Bower, Economics. "The Role of Financial Participants in the Renewable Energy Transition." Mentored by Frank Wolak
Owen Brass, Mathematics. "Involutive Floer Theory and Surfaces in Smooth Four-Manifolds." Mentored by Ciprian Manolescu
Elijah Buenarte, Political Science. "Road to Liberation: Transportation, Racism, and the Paradox of Freedom in the United States." Mentored by Hakeem Jefferson
Suyoun Choi, Biology. "Investigating the effects of NRAS-G12D mutant gene dosage in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in human HSPCs." Mentored by Ravindra Majeti
Juan Flores, Sociology. "Vetting Restorative Justice: Exploring Youth Perspectives, Interactions, and Processes in Alternative Diversion Court." Mentored by Forrest Stuart
Constantinos Gallis, Urban Studies. "Elastic Futures: Re-imagining the City’s Relationship with Nature in West Athens." Mentored by Anastasia-Erasmia Peponi and Dehan Glanz
Ana Geller, Human Biology. "Evaluating Age-Associated Changes: Unraveling the Role of TET1." Mentored by Nidhi Bhutani
Liza Goldberg, Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law. "The Psychology of Adolescent Poverty under Climate Change: Evidence from Bangladesh." Mentored by Stephen Luby and Erik Jensen
Sophia Haase Cox, Biology. "The Genetic Basis and Development of a Novel Tailspot Pattern in Xiphophorus variatus." Mentored by Molly Schumer
Harrison Konsker, Human Biology. "Developing a Novel CRISPR/Cas9-Based Gene Therapy for EGFR-Mutated (Exon 19) Lung Cancer." Mentored by Joseph Shrager
Michael Lee, Chemistry. "Characterization and mitigation of degradation in halide perovskite semiconductors for photovoltaic applications." Mentored by Hemamala Karunadasa
Ruoqi (Emily) Li, Biology. "Anterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus is a central hub for the downstream processing of socially transferred pain in the anterior cingulate cortex and the insular cortex." Mentored by Xiaoke Chen
Yuer Liu, Anthropology. "Denaturing Kinship: Gender, Science, and Politics in Urban China's Pet Ownership." Mentored by Matthew Kohrman and Duana Fullwiley
Sophia Longo, Human Biology. "Identification of non-coding genetic variants that disrupt genetic regulatory mechanisms of antigen presentation in cancers and autoimmune diseases." Mentored by Paul Khavari
Gabriella Lundy, Education. "“Build The New Nation That Is In Your Hands”: Young Colombians’ Narratives Of Citizenship After Armed Conflict." Mentored by Ari Kelman and Chiqui Ramirez
Claire Luo, Economoics. "Anti-Collusion Provision for Uniform-Price Auctions." Mentored by Paul Milgrom
Frederick Nitta, Electrical Engineering. "Performance Limits of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Solar Cells under Various Lighting Conditions." Mentored by Krishna Saraswat and Eric Pop
Benjamin Przybocki, Mathematics. "Theoretical Aspects of Satisfiability Modulo Theories." Mentored by Clark Barrett
Gabriel Seir, Bioengineering. "Development of anti-CXCR4 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cells for the Treatment of Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia." Mentored by Agnieszka Czechowicz and Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez
Arman Sharma, Bioengineering. "Engineering a Novel CRISPR-X Modality with Expanded Targeting Ability and its Application to Variant-Effect Mapping for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease." Mentored by Euan Ashley and Russ Altman
Cole Simmons, Symbolic Systems. "Babbage in Babylon: Pioneering Deep Learning Approaches to Sumerian Cuneiform." Mentored by Daniel Jurafsky and Ian Morris
Moritz Stephan, Computer Science. "RLVF: Learning from Verbal Feedback without Overgeneralization." Mentored by Chelsea Finn
Tirth Surti, Physics. "The Core Kinematics and Binary Black Hole Mass of 4C+37.11." Mentored by Roger Romani
Neelay Trivedi, Center for International Security and Cooperation. "The Effect Of Entity List Placement On The Financial Performance Of Publicly Traded Chinese Firms." Mentored by Scott Rozelle and Glenn Tiffert
Xiaomian Yang, Materials Science & Engineering. "Scaling of Tracer Diffusivity in Dynamic Polymer Networks." Mentored by Jian Qin and William Chueh
Robert M. Golden Medals for Excellence in the Humanities and Creative Arts
Jayda Alvarez, Theater & Performance Studies. "Yakuman Chance." Mentored by Young Jean Lee
Isabella Andaya, Stanford Arts Institute. "Dahil Sa'yo." Mentored by Adam Tobin
Keona Blanks, Stanford Arts Institute. "GOBI DUST: A Geomorphology of Belonging." Mentored by Sara Michas-Martin
Marlane Bosler, American Studies. "Reifying Injustice: Race, Gender, and Sexual Violence in Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings." Mentored by Michele Elam
Becca De Los Santos, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages. "“Poor Souls” and “Dangerous Vagabonds”: the Enslaved Pursuit of Liberation in Post-Abolition Senegal, 1848–1865." Mentored by Fatoumata Seck
Zackery Edwards, East Asian Languages and Cultures. "“Shikee ni Tuyumariru (RESONATES TO THE WORLD)”: Unleashing Okinawan Language in Popular Online Spaces." Mentored by Yoshiko Matsumoto and Miyako Inoue
Tianyu Fang, Science, Technology, & Society. "Cybernetic Reformers: Young Intellectuals and Rural Research in Post-Mao China." Mentored by Fred Turner
Julia Feinberg, English. "Dryden's Civic Muse and Poetic Constitution: A Treatise on the Political Poetics of the Reigning Public Poet." Mentored by Blair Hoxby
Lydia Goedert, Music. "Snowflower." Mentored by François Rose
Charu Jain, Art & Art History. "Self-Portraiture for the Self Conscious." Mentored by Jonathan Calm
Malavika Kannan, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. "Rooted in the Soil: Environmental Visions in Dalit Women’s Autobiographies." Mentored by Partha Pratim Shil
Mahina Kaomea, Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. "Weaving Fine Baskets of Resistance: A Genealogy of Native Student Activism at Stanford University." Mentored by David Palumbo-Liu
Cameron Lange, Ethics in Society. "Generation without Representation: Youth Suffrage in Theory and Practice." Mentored by Emilee Chapman