Major: International Relations
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Thesis Advisors: Kathryn Stoner

Tentative Thesis Title: Analyzing cultural restitution as a transitional justice mechanism that counters authoritarian weaponization of cultural heritage and supports democratic reconstruction by restoring national identity and collective memory, examined through Russia's systematic looting campaign in Ukraine

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Cultural heritage is the material foundation upon which national identity, collective memory, and historical plurality rest. When authoritarian regimes systematically loot and destroy cultural property, as Nazi Germany did across occupied Europe and as Russia is doing today in Ukraine, they are not committing incidental wartime crimes but executing deliberate strategies of identity erasure designed to weaken a people's democratic right to define themselves. My thesis situates cultural restitution within transitional justice frameworks, arguing that the return of looted heritage is essential to post-conflict democratic reconstruction rather than mere property recovery. This dimension of authoritarian threats to democracy remains underexamined in the existing literature, particularly given the critical enforcement gaps that emerge when perpetrators are veto-wielding Security Council members. Understanding how restitution frameworks can be strengthened is directly relevant to Ukraine's eventual reconstruction and to the broader challenge of protecting cultural pluralism against authoritarian aggression.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? The CDDRL program is uniquely suited to my research because cultural restitution is inherently interdisciplinary, requiring political science to understand authoritarian strategy, international law to map accountability structures, and transitional justice theory to evaluate post-conflict reconstruction. It was Professor Stoner who first recommended the program to me after her Russia class, and the more I learned about CDDRL's emphasis on policy-relevant, original research within a cohort of peers, the more it felt like the right home for this project.

What are your summer research plans? I have applied for a Major Research Grant to support a summer fellowship split between the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and the Louvre Museum in Paris, where I will continue archival research under the mentorship of Dr. Emmanuelle Polack, the world's leading expert on Nazi-looted art and head of the Louvre's provenance research department. My primary focus will be the Schloss Collection, one of the largest single-family losses of the Nazi era, tracing dispersed works through auction records, dealer correspondence, and exhibition catalogues in hopes of building restitution files that could support the return of paintings that have been separated from their families for over eighty years.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I am planning to attend law school with the goal of practicing in art law and cultural property restitution. The field sits at a complex intersection of international law, domestic property law, and human rights, and my experience at the Louvre made clear how much practical legal expertise is needed both for individual restitution claims and for reforming the international frameworks that currently shield state actors from accountability for cultural crimes. Long-term, I hope to work at an institutional level, whether through a museum's legal department, a major auction house, an international organization, or in policy advocacy, to close the enforcement gaps that allow these crimes to go unanswered.

A fun fact about yourself: I have been a flamenco dancer for over a decade and have performed with the San Francisco Opera, so I spend a great deal of time thinking about both the preservation and the living transmission of cultural heritage.

Major: Management Science & Engineering; International Relations
Minor: Slavic Languages and Literatures
Hometown:  Houston, Texas
Thesis Advisor: Kathryn Stoner

Tentative Thesis Title: Privatization and State Reassertion: Post-Soviet Lessons for Market Reform

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Russia’s 1990s privatization was supposed to create independent economic actors capable of checking state power. It didn’t. Three decades later, private wealth remains conditional on political loyalty. By examining how property rights became politically contingent rather than legally secure, my thesis engages a question with stakes well beyond Russia: when do market reforms produce autonomous actors who constrain the state, and when do they produce a propertied class that depends on it? The answer matters for post-conflict reconstruction and institutional reform in Eastern Europe and other weak-state contexts.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I grew up listening to my mother recite Marshak’s nursery rhymes, the same ones my grandmother read to her before they fled the Soviet Union. As I came to understand that the land of Pushkin and Pasternak is also the country of Putin, I struggled to reconcile my love of Russia's culture with the actions of its regime. Studying that contradiction rigorously is the only response that has ever felt constructive. CDDRL is the right home for this project. My thesis sits at the intersection of democracy, development, and rule of law, and the program’s interdisciplinary framework, the FSI research community, and an incredible cohort of peers are exactly what this kind of work requires.

What are your summer research plans? I'll spend the first half of the summer interning in BlackRock’s U.S. leveraged finance group in NYC, which will sharpen my framework for credible commitment by grounding it in America’s high-enforcement context. The second half, I’ll be in Kazakhstan conducting fieldwork for my Ekibastuz case study: collecting privatization-era legal materials in Almaty, then traveling to Pavlodar and Ekibastuz for site visits and structured interviews with privatization-era officials and regional stakeholders.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I want to work on how capital and institution-building interact in practice, particularly in Eastern Europe. After Stanford, I plan to spend time in industry before moving into work focused on designing reforms that attract investment without enabling extraction. The reconstruction of a post-war Ukraine is the concrete application I keep returning to, whether from an academic position, a multilateral institution, or somewhere like the World Bank or IFC.

A fun fact about yourself: I was a mutton-busting champion at the Houston Rodeo at age 7. For the uninitiated: small children ride sheep across an arena and are judged on how long they stay on. I held on.

Major: International Relations  
Minor: Math
Hometown: Pound Ridge, NY
Thesis Advisor: Rosamond Naylor

Tentative Thesis Title: Food Security: School Meal Programs in Latin America and China

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? While the availability of sufficient calories and nutrients underpins access to a healthy lifestyle and socioeconomic opportunity, the food system's interdisciplinary and global nature means it is uniquely vulnerable to many types of shocks, including climate, exchange rates, policy, and biological. I chose to focus on school meal programs within the broader food system because they provide a social safety net for children worldwide, encourage school attendance, and are themselves often important players in local food markets. However, they tend to be on extremely tight budgets, sometimes less than one dollar per plate. Understanding the vulnerabilities and dynamics of these programs with the goal of improving resilience and accessibility will be a significant step towards creating healthy outcomes for kids around the globe.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I was attracted to this program for the opportunity to work closely with an expert in the field and to develop a thesis over the course of an entire year. I am excited to work in a cohort system and for the CDDRL planned programming that are central to the program as well.

What are your summer research plans? I plan to conduct literature reviews, interview experts, and create a broad knowledge base so I can hit the ground running in the fall.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: Learn to cook.

A fun fact about yourself: I have a twin sister.

Major: Political Science
Minor: Psychology
Hometown: Palo Alto, California
Thesis Advisor: Lauren Davenport

Tentative Thesis Title: The Puzzle of Repression in Consolidated Democracies: State Violence Under ICE in the United States, Citizen Response, and Lessons From Latin America

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? This topic speaks directly to core debates in democracy, development, and the rule of law. It interrogates a central tension in consolidated democracies: how citizens tolerate, and even endorse, illiberal state violence when democratic institutions are designed to constrain it. By asking whether criminal and national security labels generate public tolerance for repression even in the absence of genuine security crises, it contributes to scholarship on the rule of law, executive constraint, human rights, and democratic backsliding. Centering citizenship status, race, and severity of force as mediating variables connects the project to broader questions about the uneven distribution of rights protections across populations.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I was drawn to the CDDRL honors program for its mentorship by distinguished faculty, methodological rigor, and intellectual community of peers — resources essential to refining and executing a senior thesis. The program's emphasis on comparative politics, the rule of law, democracy, and global development aligns closely with my research interests and long-term scholarly goals.

What are your summer research plans? This summer, I will be interning at the International Crisis Group, where I hope to investigate government responses to pressing security developments, including the "Bukele model" in El Salvador, Mexico's response to the targeting of "El Mencho," and how Colombia's presidential elections may shape security policy. This experience will directly inform my research, and I plan to use the latter part of the summer to begin building my survey. 

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I hope to pursue a PhD in Political Science or Psychology, with a focus on understanding internal conflict and the conditions that enable or prevent violence, whether organized crime or civil war. My interests sit at the intersection of social psychology, criminology, and political science, which I find most generative for explaining the roots of violence.

A fun fact about yourself: I have free dived with a pod of wild orcas in Mexico!

Major: Economics & Art History
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Thesis Advisor: Ran Abramitzky

Tentative Thesis Title: Heritage as Place-Based Development: Measuring Local Economic Change and Incidence

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Governments and international organizations increasingly restore monuments and upgrade neighborhoods on the promise that economic benefits will reach surrounding communities. But the distributional question is rarely tested with precision: does public investment in culture actually benefit the people who live there, or does it capitalize into rents and property values, favoring landowners and newcomers? This is fundamentally a question about governance and rule of law — property rights, regulatory enforcement, accountability, and who has a voice in how public investment is managed all shape whether gains are broadly shared or concentrated. My thesis uses the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative in Delhi, a public-private partnership pairing monument conservation with community investment, to test these mechanisms empirically. As similar models spread across low- and middle-income countries, getting the distributional story right is essential to designing projects that actually serve the communities they claim to benefit.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? My thesis bridges economics and art history, and I wanted an intellectual home that takes pride in interdisciplinary work. CDDRL's community of faculty and scholars — united by a shared attention to institutions, governance, and how rules shape development outcomes — offers the kind of critique that will sharpen a project like mine. I'm also excited to spend a year learning from a cohort whose questions span different regions and disciplines but who share a commitment to rigorous, policy-relevant research.

What are your summer research plans? After finishing my summer internship, I plan to travel to Delhi to conduct ethnographic fieldwork — interviews with Nizamuddin residents, enterprise employees, and local stakeholders — and to meet with key government agencies and partner NGOs to gather additional quantitative data. I also hope to spend time with artisans involved in the monument restoration to develop an artistic methods subchapter that examines the conservation work itself, bridging the art history and economics sides of the thesis.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I'd like to become a development economist and investor working to build entrepreneurship pathways in low- and middle-income countries.

A fun fact about yourself: I'm fascinated by how art shapes our understanding of history and politics. From Andalusian bronzes to Persian manuscripts, the material record is what first draws me to new development research topics.

Major: International Relations
Minor: Creative Writing (Poetry)
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Thesis Advisor: David Cohen

Tentative Thesis Title: Transitional Justice in Taiwan: Public Opinion (2016–2026)

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Transitional justice is important to DDRL because it addresses processes that respond to large-scale violations of human rights to pursue justice and promote future democratic peace. Taiwan provides an interesting case study in the field of transitional justice because of its relatively peaceful democratic transition, dynamic partisan politics, and active civil society. While prior research in this area has focused on legal-political analysis and the rhetoric of specific legislation, I’m interested in looking at public opinion.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I was drawn to the interdisciplinary cohort experience because I appreciate environments that support diverse perspectives and that are driven by community. 

What are your summer research plans? Lots of reading and making plans to do field work!

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I am interested in a variety of fields and am considering pursuing international law or international business.

A fun fact about yourself: I was a 2024-2025 Stanford Dollie!

Major: Computer Science (Computational Biology)
Minor: Economics
Hometown: Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Seattle, Washington 
Thesis Advisor: Karen Eggleston and Carolyn Bertozzi 

Tentative Thesis Title: Contract Enforcement and Institutional Infrastructure in Pharmaceutical Markets in Emerging Economies

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Through my work in global health, I realized how deeply the functioning of essential systems depends on institutional infrastructure — particularly the private institutions that govern logistics, financial coordination, and contract enforcement. These systems quietly underpin many of the most critical functions of modern economies and directly shape downstream outcomes, such as pharmaceutical procurement, supply chain reliability, and access to medicines.

I became interested in how systems of enforcement and coordination emerge in environments where formal state capacity is limited. In many markets, governance is not exercised solely through government institutions but is often mediated by private infrastructure rails, such as clearinghouses, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), distributors, and financial intermediaries, that coordinate transactions and enforce agreements among actors.

Despite their importance, these forms of “boring infrastructure” remain one of the most understudied areas of global development. My research seeks to better understand how private institutional mechanisms for coordination and enforcement can support economic development and improve access to essential medicines, particularly in contexts where formal legal enforcement and state capacity are limited.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I founded a company about a year ago focused on procurement and financial infrastructure for pharmaceutical supply chains in emerging markets. Through operating the company, Niora Systems, I began thinking a lot about theories in governance, incentives, and institutional structure that were related to medicine access and tied to political science.

As a result of my work, I started writing about my theories on power, institutions, and pharmaceutical markets on Medium. Over time, I realized that many of the patterns I was seeing on the ground included broader theoretical questions about development, rule of law, and institutional design. I wanted to pursue the honors program to formalize these observations into rigorous research and connect my operational experience with political economy frameworks to better understand how institutional infrastructure shapes economic development.

What are your summer research plans? I’ve worked internationally every year I’ve been at Stanford, so I’m excited to spend time in several countries this summer exploring the questions behind my research, including Ghana and South Africa. I plan to look more closely at how suppliers and hospitals are affected by market instability, currency fluctuations, and how trust and reliability in financial transactions influence supplier pricing, risk tolerance, and operations. I’m also interested in studying the private institutions and companies that build the “systems plumbing” behind markets, including logistics networks and transaction infrastructure.

Beyond field observations, I’m grateful for the ongoing conversations I’ve had with professors and operators, both at Stanford and beyond, who have helped shape how I think about these questions. I’m looking forward to continuing those discussions this summer and refining my theoretical frameworks with on-the-ground experience.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: Continue building Niora! Over the past year, we’ve been operating with an incredible team based in Ghana, and my goal is to keep scaling the company to build the market infrastructure that governs procurement systems in emerging markets. I specifically aim to build the financial rails that enable reliable procurement transactions, which are systems in the realm of insurance, clearinghouses, and payment networks. These kinds of institutional infrastructure quietly underpin how markets function, and I believe they represent one of the most important and underdeveloped areas in emerging economies. It’s also a space I personally find incredibly exciting. As emerging markets continue to grow over the next few decades, there is an enormous opportunity to build the systems that make markets more stable, trustworthy, and efficient. 

A fun fact about yourself: I love historical fashion and architecture, and one of my life goals is to wear a Victorian ballgown and restore old medical buildings around the world!

Major: Public Policy (B.A./M.A.)
Minor: Global Studies and Human Rights
Hometown: Bloomington, Illinois
Thesis Advisor: Sharika Thiranagama 

Tentative Thesis Title: Like Mother (India), Like Daughter: Gendered Policing of Interfaith Marriage and the Making of Hindu Nationalist Identity

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? The gendered nationalism that restricts women's partner choice (i.e., "love jihad" legislation) is part of a larger campaign to ease modernization anxieties in India. These dynamics erode democracy by criminalizing personal choices, perpetuating gender inequalities that limit women's economic and social participation, and generating legal contradictions that weaken the rule of law.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I loved the DDRL class, and I appreciate the way that CDDRL encourages interdisciplinary and ideologically diverse collaboration to produce quality research. I believe that CDDRL’s investment in student voice, policy focus, and global networks will equip me with the tools, fluency, and mentorship to bridge scholarship with community action.

What are your summer research plans? I will spend time in Mumbai interviewing women, politicians, legal academics, and community members. 

Future aspirations post-Stanford: Following graduation, I hope to pursue a J.D. centering on International Human Rights Law. While I am still exploring my concrete aspirations, I want to pursue a career doing meaningful research, fieldwork, and policy advocacy regarding the rights of women and other marginalized individuals around the world. 

A fun fact about yourself: The Director of National Intelligence in the Biden Administration once hugged me and told me to join the CIA (I didn't!).

Major: History
Minor: Creative Writing
Hometown: New York, New York
Thesis Advisor: Larry Diamond and Tomás Jiménez

Tentative Thesis Title: Alternative Media Ecosystems and Right-Wing Populism: An Ethnographic Study of Information in ‘Post-Newspaper’ America

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? Media fragmentation and misinformation are important factors in explaining the recent surge of illiberal, populist attitudes on the American Right. Over 2,500 local newspapers have closed since 2005, leaving “news deserts” across the country. This decline has coincided with the rise of partisan cable news, social media, and generative AI to steadily erode Americans’ consensus reality. Together, these developments have led to what some call a “post-truth” era in American politics, where polarized disputes over basic facts — rather than substantive dialogue over policy differences — often consume public discourse.

My project will examine the relationship between local journalism conditions and right-wing populist political attitudes by studying alternative media ecosystems across American communities. Through fieldwork and interviews, I hope to investigate the information sources that Americans consume, whom they trust and why, and how national media shape local political culture. 

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I was drawn to the program’s cohort-based structure and the opportunity to engage with peers approaching the study of democracy from other disciplines. I am confident that our conversations will push my thinking and help me see my research question from new angles.

I was equally excited by the opportunity to work with CDDRL-affiliated faculty members, several of whom I have looked up to for their research and teaching.

What are your summer research plans? I plan to spend 10 weeks conducting interviews, community observation, and archival research in several communities across the American South and Midwest. I expect these ‘deep interviews’ will form the core of my research.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I hope to pursue a career in political or investigative journalism, reporting on democracy in the United States and internationally. To prepare for this work, I intend to complete a Master’s degree in History or Politics, with a focus on modern American political and intellectual developments.

A fun fact about yourself: I began acting onstage at eight years old and have continued ever since, either professionally or in my spare time.

Major: Political Science
Minor: International Relations
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
Thesis Advisor: Larry Diamond & Amichai Magen

Tentative Thesis Title: The Israeli Electorate’s Rightward Shift: Understanding Israeli Voting Behavior in Response to Sustained Terrorist Violence

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? My thesis will examine how sustained security threats shape democratic political behavior and institutional norms over time. Through a comparative analysis of the First and Second Intifadas, I will investigate how distinct patterns of violence, from largely grassroots uprisings to more organized and lethal attacks, differentially influenced Israeli voting behavior and electoral realignment. By tracing how exposure to these forms of violence shifted voter preferences, this project seeks to understand how security threats affect Israelis' willingness to support or participate in peacebuilding negotiations. More broadly, the research contributes to the study of democracy under threat by exploring how sustained insecurity can reshape political incentives, electoral outcomes, and public openness to negotiated conflict resolution.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I am drawn to the CDDRL Honors Program because of the opportunity to study democratic resilience within a rigorous, debate-oriented intellectual community. My experience at Stanford in Washington showed me how transformative it can be to work alongside peers who are deeply committed to understanding and strengthening democratic institutions. I see CDDRL as a similarly ideal environment in which to pursue research I am passionate about while engaging with urgent questions about democracy, security, and political change alongside students and faculty who share that commitment. 

What are your summer research plans? I plan to travel to Israel in late June to conduct interviews with academics, civil society leaders, and members of the judicial system to better understand how key actors in Israeli society interpret recent shifts in voting behavior and political alignment. Upon returning to the U.S., I will spend the remainder of the summer with an organization in Washington, D.C., working to promote Israeli-Arab normalization and cooperation.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I hope to pursue a career in Middle East diplomacy, focusing on strengthening regional cooperation and advancing Israeli normalization with Arab states. I am interested in the role that civil society, economic partnerships, and international institutions can play in supporting long-term stability and cooperation in the region.

A fun fact about yourself: I am a great parallel parker!

Major: Economics
Hometown: Oakland, California
Thesis Advisor: Jonathan Gienapp and Lukas Althoff

Tentative Thesis Title: Rights Balancing on the U.S. Supreme Court

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? The broader contribution of this thesis is twofold. First, it offers a new perspective on Supreme Court jurisprudence, not only as constitutional interpretation but also as a separate philosophy embedded in doctrine. Second, the thesis bridges legal history and economic analysis in exploring how judicial reasoning translates into economic effects. By identifying how foundational assumptions shape the law, this research aims to clarify the interconnectedness between the legal system and political economy.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? The program appealed to me because it transforms an individual process of thesis writing into a team sport, as the cohort pushes one another to rethink their ideas from new lenses and provides inspiration for the different ways a thesis can be completed. Instead of working in isolation, I was drawn to the structured format that allows for continuous feedback and group bonding for a whole year.

What are your summer research plans? After working, I plan to conduct interviews, do a deep literature review, and continue my data analysis to have a strong foundation for the direction of my research.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: Work and graduate school.

A fun fact about yourself: I have bowled at the White House!

Major: Political Science
Minor: Economics 
Hometown: Samutprakan, Thailand
Thesis Advisor: Lisa Blaydes

Tentative Thesis Title: Fragile Elites, Resilient Regimes: Why Social Revolution Has Not Emerged in Thailand

Why is this topic important to the field of democracy, development, and the rule of law? In non-democratic countries, elected politicians and citizens risk playing on the autocrats’ field, following their rules and never truly controlling the game. Through an analysis of social revolutions, I plan to explore the factors that could transform the persistent imbalance of power between the state and society. Within Southeast Asia, a comparative study of Thailand may offer unique insights into why countries on the verge of democratization ultimately fail to transition. By identifying the conditions that may inhibit Thailand from experiencing social revolutions, I seek to pinpoint where the country falls short in countering authoritarian actors.

What attracted you to the CDDRL undergraduate honors program? I resonate with CDDRL’s interdisciplinary approach and hope to contribute to expanding advocacy for democracy beyond a purely political matter, recognizing its mutually reinforcing relationship with development and the rule of law. I am also excited to learn from leading scholars and a cohort deeply engaged in a topic I care deeply about. Coming from Thailand, I am eager to understand my country’s political system against the broader backdrop of authoritarian and comparative politics.

What are your summer research plans? I look forward to assisting Professor Michael McFaul in researching the impact of great power competition on third countries. By examining how foreign intervention and influence shape policies, society, and the economy, I hope to gain insights into how these dynamics may affect the emergence of social revolutions. I also plan to conduct interviews with Thai scholars, state officials, and nonprofit leaders.

Future aspirations post-Stanford: I came to Stanford with big dreams of contributing to my country through politics. Over time, however, I realized that meaningful change comes from people across many sectors of society, which has led me to explore a range of industries and career paths. After Stanford, I hope to build professional experience in the private sector before potentially pursuing law school.

A fun fact about yourself: My home in Thailand is shared by an extended family of about 40 people, so I grew up in a lively household and sometimes miss the chaos and warmth of it.