Led by an interdisciplinary group of faculty at Harvard University,
the Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) fosters discussion, research and public outreach on all aspects of modern
U.S. politics (with "modern" referring to developments between the Civil War and the present).
Issues of concern to CAPS affiliates range from patterns of public opinion,
electoral politics and civic participation, to the operations of governmental
institutions, the dynamics of social movements and groups in politics, the
ideological and intellectual roots of American politics, and the causes and
results of public policies.
In order to encourage innovative research by undergraduate students, the
Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) will award up to eight summer
research fellowships in the amount of $2,500 each to Harvard College juniors
who are writing a senior thesis on any aspect of contemporary American
politics. Undergraduates in any concentration in the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences are welcome to apply. The purpose of the fellowship is to enable
students to spend time in the summer and in the fall of their senior year on
thesis research. Next application deadline is in Monday, March 10, 2008.
Application
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2007
Undergraduate Thesis Grant Recipients
Ronald Anguas (Government)
Electoral implications of election day
voting registration in the United States.
Olivia Brown (History)
In sickness and in health: U.S. influence
on Cuban healthcare and subsequent medical exchanges between Cuban
independence and revolution.
Noah Hertz-Bunzl (History)
Competing ideologies in the Cold War in Africa.
Jeremy Landau (Government)
Constitutional competition: Congressional responses to judicial review and
coordinate construction of the Constitution.
Yang Li (Government)
Undocumented workers in the suburbs: A study of local political reactions in
established and new Latino communities.
James Maguire (Social Studies and Religion)
Responding to Evangelium Vitae: American Catholicism and the death penalty.
Luke Messac (Social Studies)
African pandemics and American political will: Determinants of congressional
funding levels for global health interventions.
Lauren Raouf (Government)
The small wars experience and organizational learning in the U.S. Army and
Marines, 1898-1940.
Adam Sandel (Government)
A critique of the Carolene Products rationale for interpreting the
Constitution.
Sopen Shah (Social Studies)
Gender on the campaign trail: How male candidates run against female
competitors in senatorial campaigns, 1982-2002.
Hummy Song (History)
How the Japanese became yellow: Shifting perceptions of Asian immigrants,
1850-1930.
Michelle Steward (Sociology)
The role of patterned values in perpetuating stratification: A
qualitative study of neighborhood satisfaction.
Jillian Swencionis (Social Studies and Psychology)
Why don't we believe 'Scooter?' Perception of defendant memory and its
effects on jury decisions.
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2006
Undergraduate Thesis Grant Recipients
Carolyn Amole (Government)
"Do American Women Governors Act Differently
than their Male Counterparts while in Office?"
Brad
Feldman (Government)
"The Intelligent Design of the Christian Right:
Changing Evolution Discourse through Strategic Agenda Setting"
Michael Gould-Wartofsky (Government)
"Remembering and Reorganizing: Understanding the
Role of Collective Memory in the U.S. Labor Movement Today"
Loui
Itoh (Government; Comparative Study of Religion)
"Do Professions of Faith Violate Public Reason?
An Investigation of whether Contemporary American Politicians Abide by the
Limits Imposed by Political Philosophers on Religious Speech"
Ryshelle Mccadney (Government)
"The Politics of Disaster Relief"
Nikhil Mirchandani (Government)
"Actualizing American Trade Leadership? An
Analysis of the Effectiveness of Presidential Public Appeals Favoring Global
Trade Liberalization"
Tracy
Nowski (Women, Gender & Sexuality)
"Gender on the Gubernatorial Campaign Trail"
Joshua Patashnik (Government)
"Public Opinion and Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era"
Samuel Simon (Social Studies)
"Days of Wage: Ethnicity and Immigration in the Fight for Higher Wages"
Asya
Troychansky (Social Studies)
"The Politics of the American Tourism Industry in Costa Rica"
Stephen Wertheim (History - International Relations Track, Focusing On U.S.
Foreign Policy)
"Debating World Order: Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Elihu Root,
and the League Of Nations, 1914-1921"
David
Zhou (Government)
"Many Faces in the Mirror: The Representation of Latino and Asian
Interests by Minority and White Members of Congress"
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2005 Undergraduate Thesis Grant Recipients
Luke Appling (Government)
"The Effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on Political Participation"
Jennifer Bennett (History;
Economics)
"Portuguese Labor Importation into Hawaii, 1877 to 1913"
Mae Bunagan (Social Studies;
Women, Gender, and Sexuality)
"Raising Their Voices: Participatory Citizenship among Immigrant Women in
New York City"
Ryan Delahoyde (Government)
"Bigger Is Not Always Better: Impacts of Consolidation Policies on Rural
Education in North Dakota"
Joseph Green (Social Studies)
"Class Consciousness in Exurbia"
Joseph Hanzich (Government;
Certificate in Health Policy)
"A Perplexing Prescription: An Analysis of the Passage of the Medicare
Prescription Drug Modernization and Improvement Act of 2003"
William Martin (Government)
"Urbanism and Metropolitan Activism: How Does the Built Environment Affect
Participation in Local Politics"
Whitney Satin (Social Studies)
"Polluting the Vote: How Environmental Policy and Pollution Affect
Voting Behavior in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley'"
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2004 Undergraduate Thesis Grant Recipients
Peter Brown
(Sociology and Romance Languages)
"From National Ethos to
Fragmented Communities: A Comparative Analysis of Brazilians and Brazilian
Immigrants in the Greater Boston Area"
Yan Fang (History
and Literature)
"Chinese Americans' Interactions with African-Americans During the Civil
Rights and Black Power Movements"
Scott Goldman (Social Studies)
"Nascar and the Reconstruction of Rural America"
Russell Leino (Government)
"Lessons from US Intervention: The Narcotics Trade and Panama Since 1989"
Joshua Ludmir (Government)
"Policies of Tolerance: Local Government Strategies to Promote Better Human
Relations in Orange County, California"
Jessica Marlin (Government)
"Why They Join: The Case of the American School Food Service Association and
the impacts of their Activism on the National School Lunch Program"
Anat Maytal (Government and Women's Studies)
"The Media Coverage of Women,
Ten Years later in the 108th Congress: Has Anything Changed Since the 'Year of
the Woman' in 1992?
Elizabeth McCarthy (Social Studies, Certificate in Health Policy)
"Obesity in America: How Political and Cultural Ideologues Determine a Social
Response"
Christine Tran (Government)
"The Role of a Multiethnic Vietnamese Subpopulation in Informing the Dynamics
of a Vietnamese Group Identity in American Politics"
