Undergraduate Research Archive

Ayushi Narayan receives 2014 Rintels Prize for the Best Senior Honors Thesis in the social science

We are pleased to announce that Ayushi Narayan has been awarded the 2014 Jonathan B. Rintels Prize for the best senior honors thesis in the social sciences.  Ayushi's thesis examined the impact of natural gas fracking on the educational attainment of youth.  The project started with her term paper in Economics 48, and she extended it into an honors thesis working with Elizabeth Cascio. 

Ashley Wong ’14, Yi Yang ’14, Lucy Xie ’14, Janine Leger ’15, Irvin Gomez ’14

Ashley Wong ’14, Yi Yang ’14 (both Presidential Scholars), Lucy Xie ’14 and Janine Leger ’15 are working with Taryn Dinkelman to investigate the short- and long-run impacts of mass male labor migration from Malawi to South Africa over the period 1950 to 1990. The research team assists with data organization, digitization and analysis. Yi Yang ’14 travelled to Malawi over summer 2013 to collect archival material for the project. These projects are supported by the IZA/DFID Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries Programme and the Welton Fund.

Irvin Gomez ’14 works with Taryn Dinkelman and a team at the University of Chile are running an experiment to provide Chilean schoolgoers with information about and assistance with college applications. This work is supported by the Chilean Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), J-PAL’s Post-Primary Education Initiative and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Dana Niu, Mary Peng and Max Mucenic

Dana Niu '13, Mary Peng ’15, and Max Mucenic ’14 are working with Eric Edmonds to understand how trade and other factors influence living standards and child outcomes in Tanzania, India, and other low income countries. These projects were supported by the Welton Fund.

Jennifer Armstrong

Jennifer Armstrong '13 is writing a thesis on how coconut oil trade influences schooling and work decisions in the Philippines in collaboration with Eric Edmonds.

Maha Malik

Maha Malik '13 is working with Doug Irwin on the migration of Nike's footwear and apparel production across different Asian countries over time. This project was supported by the Welton Fund.

William Zhou

William Zhou ’15 is a Presidential Scholar working with Andrew Samwick on “The Insurance Value of Financial Aid.”  Using simulation and calibration methods, this project provides estimates of the scope and value of the insurance that federal financial aid provides against income uncertainty, in that families whose income declines are expected to pay less for college.

Priya Shanmugam

Priya Shanmugam '13 is writing a thesis under the supervision of Bruce Sacerdote looking at decision fatigue. She is using over 10 years of detailed data from the New Hampshire Parole Board to investigate whether parole board decisions made later in the day are more likely to revert to a default decision as the parole board becomes fatigued.

Mahnum Shahzad, Cirrus Foroughi, and Shotaru Nakumura

Mahnum Shahzad '15, Cirrus Foroughi '13 and Shotaru Nakumura ‘13 are Presidential Scholars working with Bruce Sacerdote on the NH College Going Initiative, running college mentoring and college entering experiments in 5 states. This project was supported by the Welton Fund.