Austin Kozlowski

For my honors thesis in sociology, I am examining the relationship between agricultural mechanization and participation in capitalist markets in the Chitwan Valley region of Nepal. Through an analysis of longitudinal survey data, I hope to discover if the adoption of modern farm technology is helping to fuel a transition in economic behavior from subsistence to market orientation. Specifically, I will explore the possibility that the adoption of agricultural technology by a few households can cause an entire neighborhood to shift from subsistence economy to a market economy.

 

Becky Lau

My research focuses on the interplay of empathy, intergroup interactions, and meta-stereotypes. Empathy can either be harmful or helpful in intergroup interactions because meta-stereotypes (worries regarding negative evaluation by out-group members) are triggered to different extents.  For example, when lower prejudiced people empathize with racial out-group partners, they try less hard to be sensitive because of overly complacent views of how non-prejudiced they appear. However, hardships related to racism disclosed by the partner buffer against the negative effects of empathy by signaling a potential for appearing insensitive.

 

Blythe Moreland

My project involves using the methods of network theory, where one describes a system of interactions and the organization therein, to astrophysical objects such as galaxy clusters.  I wish to explore how these methods can describe a system of gravitationally interacting galaxies and parse their structure as a cluster evolves.

Brittany Smith

My study will document the experience of one Black male corporate leader of one legal case, with the experience of a White business leader in another case. With the convictions for white collar crimes being the same, I am interested in how both men are treated and penalized within the same criminal justice system when class status is the same, and race is different. I hope to demonstrate that systematically, the criminal justice system has (un)intended racial consequences that are so deeply entrenched that the interpretation of the laws punishing white collar crime disproportionately treat, sentence, and punish business leaders differently based on  racial identities.

Cydney Seigerman

Due to the abundance and strength of C–H bonds in organic molecules, it is difficult to achieve site-selective C–H functionalization during organic synthesis. Current work in the Sanford group involves the use of oxime ethers to direct Palladium-catalyzed C-H functionalization with a high degree of site selectivity. Because the oxime auxiliary essential to these reactions may not be a desired component of the final product, the objective of my project is to develop a novel and synthetically useful methodology to cleave the N–O bond of oxime ethers in order to recover the alcohol-derived substrate.