2024–2025 Academic Year Part-Time Undergraduate RFs

Projects

• Accessing Ability of Large Language Models to Assist with Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• Climate Driven Arbovirus Epidemiology
• Communication Strategies for Vector-Borne Disease Research and Community Outreach in Kenya
• Culture, Agency and Water: Projects on the Economic Development of the Middle East and North Africa
• Economic Inequality in the Arab Gulf States
• Effects of urbanization on dengue virus incidence in Cambodia
• Environmental interventions to improve maternal and child health in rural Bangladesh
• Extracting Insights for Political Economy Research using Advanced AI Methods
• How do vendors set prices in open air markets and the role of the supply chain: evidence from East Africa
• Identifying Labor Trafficking in International Supply Chains, a Bottom-Up Approach
• Investigating the socio-environmental drivers of malaria resurgence in Costa Rica
• Machine learning analysis of mortality risk associated with clinical signs of illness in young infants using data from Africa and Asia
• Mitigating Conflict and Polarization
• Preventing dementia in India: Digital tools to deliver region-specific lifestyle interventions
• Projects in Development Economics
• Sand, Sustainability and Gender
• Sustainable coastal communities in Southeast Asia

• The Role of Emotional Ability in Creating New Ideas

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Accessing Ability of Large Language Models to Assist with Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 

Large Language Models (LLMs) hold a promise to become important tools improving various areas of human life, including health care. In this project, we will focus on determining whether LLMs carry bias in terms of different countries and regions on topics specifically related to maternal and neonatal care.   

Research mentor: Ivana Maric, SoM - Pediatrics Department 
Research fellow: Lauren Yu, '26, Computer Science 

Climate Driven Arbovirus Epidemiology 

This project will work to develop a multi-target probe-based hybridization assay (in collaboration with Twist Biosciences) to specifically target the variety of pathogens present in Africa, with a focus on mosquito/tick borne illnesses. Among these are West Nile, Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow Fever, and African hemorrhagic fever virus, which are seeing increasing environmental and human prevalence due to climate change. Along with this, we will include common human pathogens such as HIV, Tuberculosis, hepatitis B, respiratory viruses, and cholera.

The project involves direct collaboration with the South African Medical Research Council and the local government in Laredo, Texas at the Mexico border, who will help collect samples and extract nucleic acids. Samples will be processed at Stanford and will involve various biotechnology techniques including nucleic acid extraction, ddPCR, next-generation sequencing (NGS), and applications of Oxford nanopore long-read sequencing. Specifically, ddPCR will be used to quantify common human pathogens, NGS will be used along with the aforementioned probe based hybridization project, and Oxford nanopore sequencing will help determine human/animal contributions to the environmental samples collected. The project description is fairly flexible, allowing for students to pursue other avenues of research aside from human pathogens, such as microbiome analysis or other effects of climate change.

Research mentor: Alessandro Zulli, Doerr - Oceans Department 
Research fellow: Hansen Tao, '27, Undeclared 

Communication Strategies for Vector-Borne Disease Research and Community Outreach in Kenya  

The LaBeaud lab is a pediatric infectious diseases lab that does global health work with well-established collaborations both locally and internationally in Kenya, Brazil and Grenada. Our work is focused on the epidemiology of arboviral diseases with an environmental sustainability and community engaged lens. We want to ensure that our research results and messages reach the appropriate audiences and lead to transformative change. We have many target communities, including the communities we serve in our global health settings. In this science communications project, the student will help co-develop and implement a communications and outreach plan for our ongoing research projects, as well as work with the members of our lab to measure impact of our communications outreach strategy. This program will allow for a student to also be involved with scientific communication for our nonprofit HERI-Kenya, a nonprofit organization that focuses on bridging the gap between the environment and public health through community activism and outreach communications. HERI is a nonprofit organization based in Kenya, founded 3 years ago. HERI’s main goal is to bridge science communication and community action to achieve sustainable and healthy environments and societies, both locally and globally by translating scientific knowledge into practical action.

The project will include working with the HERI team to design a science communication to educate the community on some of the research being done in Kenya and how its work is to better the health of the community the research is done. Additionally, the project will include updates to the website to talk about the new projects that are being implemented, creating brochures, and establishing more of a social media presence to get the word out to potential stakeholders and investors about the work the HERI does. The project will build a connection between the research that is done at Stanford on environmental health and the work that is being done on the ground in Kenya. For example, one of the first assignments will be to design some types of science communication to spread awareness about RVFV transmission via milk. Rift Valley Fever Virus is a zoonotic arbovirus that primarily impacts ruminants but is also known to transmit to humans via direct exposure to fluids and tissues of infected livestock. RVFV transmission via milk is a largely unstudied area for surveillance and the lack of understanding of human risk represents a major gap in RVFV epidemiology and poses a major public health riska and our lab is currently assessing this risk. 

Research mentor: A. Desiree LaBeaud, SoM - Pediatrics Department 
Research fellow: Koree French, '25, Human Biology 

Culture, Agency and Water: Projects on the Economic Development of the Middle East and North Africa 

We are recruiting a Stanford student to assist with several research projects focused on understanding and addressing key socio-economic challenges in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The student will support a research agenda on the interaction between cultural norms and the process of economic development in the region.

First, the student will assist in developing several fully funded Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). We are currently working on three field experiments to test how culturally grounded policies can alleviate key constraints to development, namely water scarcity in Jordan and Egypt, and religious tension in Lebanon. In Jordan, supported by IGC, we aim to provide the first causal evidence of the gendered impact of water scarcity, measuring its effects on women’s time use, mental health, employment, and education. In Egypt, supported by J-PAL MENA, we aim to understand how taste, cultural preferences, and perceptions of healthiness can drive higher adoption rates of new safe water solutions, compared to conventional chlorination methods. In Lebanon, supported by J-PAL GI, we plan to study the effects of correcting misperceptions about income inequality between religious groups on prejudice, trust, and support for pro-poor policies. Second, the student will join an ongoing historical project, exploring the link between the Arab slave trade and the spread of Islam in Africa. We are investigating how the intensity of the slave trade influenced group conversion to Islam and how this has shaped contemporary religious practices and beliefs among African Muslims. 

Research mentor: Giulia Buccione, King Center on Global Development 
Research fellow: Sara Abdelhamid, '26, Economics 

Economic Inequality in the Arab Gulf States 

With a total GDP of over $3.5 trillion, the Arab Gulf states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) loom large with regard to transnational flows of people, capital, and commodities. About 60 million people live in the six states, about half of whom are expatriates. The Arab Gulf states are some of the largest oil producers in the world. Yet despite the political and economic significance of the region, we know relatively little about forms of inequality that exist in the Arab Gulf region. This project will explore issues of inequality between citizens and migrant workers as well as between men and women. 

Research mentor: Lisa Blaydes, H&S - Political Science Department
Research fellow: Ella Bullock-Papa, '26, Economics 

Effects of urbanization on dengue virus incidence in Cambodia 

In a rapidly changing world, mosquito-borne diseases pose a major threat to global public health. Dengue virus (DENV), a flavivirus transmitted by the urban-dwelling mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is considered to be the most rapidly spreading mosquito disease worldwide with 50-100 million cases occurring annually. Half of all DENV infections occur in Southeast Asia, wherein Cambodia experiences one of the highest rates of infection. The transmission and spread of DENV are highly dependent on vector abundance and urban infrastructure. Today, Cambodia is projected to experience the greatest rate of urbanization in Southeast Asia as a result of decades of rapid development in formerly rural regions. While urbanization is associated with increased mosquito-borne disease risk in regions outside of Cambodia, a study examining this relationship in Cambodia currently does not exist. In this study, we will use dengue case data to create machine learning models evaluating how human pressure—a synthetic measure of land use change and urbanization—has impacted the landscape of DENV incidence in Cambodia.

Research mentor: Erin Mordecai, H&S - Biology Department 
Research fellow: Dylan Loth, '25, Biology 

Environmental interventions to improve maternal and child health in rural Bangladesh 

We are currently conducting a series of studies in rural Bangladesh to investigate innovative environmental interventions to combat infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the health impacts of climate change. At the core of our current research is a randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of concrete flooring on child enteric infections in rural Bangladeshi households. This study seeks to provide rigorous evidence on whether a seemingly simple environmental modification – replacing soil floors with concrete – can significantly reduce the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths and diarrheal diseases among young children. Beyond measuring direct health outcomes, we're also exploring how this intervention might improve maternal quality of life and reduce household stress. We're also investigating the complex issue of AMR in these communities, where factors such as dense populations, frequent human-animal contact, and inadequate sanitation create ideal conditions for the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. The goal of this research is to identify novel interventions that address the intricate web of social and environmental factors contributing to AMR, with a focus on solutions that can be implemented at the household level. Simultaneously, we're confronting the looming threat of climate change on health in Bangladesh – a country uniquely vulnerable to its impacts. Our research in the Chauhali sub-district, an area prone to extreme heat, severe flooding, and river erosion, positions us to study and develop adaptive strategies for some of the world's most climate-vulnerable populations. We're particularly interested in interventions that can promote resilience of mothers and young children in the face of increasing climate-related health risks. 

Research mentor: Jade Benjamin-Chung, SoM - Epidemiology and Population Health
Research fellow: Eva Gorenburg, '25, Human Biology 

Extracting Insights for Political Economy Research using Advanced AI Methods 

One of the research projects with co-authors employs advanced Natural Language Processing techniques in investigating dynamics of political agency’s reports to uncover potential forms of biases that could threaten immigrant integration. Another research project aim at digitizing historical voter registration records. Lastly, other closely related research projects aim colonial statistical tables and maps from 19th and 20th century North Africa and Sub-saharan Africa.

Research mentor: Ashrakat Elshehawy, King Center on Global Development 
Research fellow: Nathan Zhou, '28, Undeclared 

How do vendors set prices in open air markets and the role of the supply chain: evidence from East Africa 

This project focuses on understanding supply chains in agriculture/food products in East Africa. More specifically, we focus on vendors and traders selling in open air markets to understand (1) the relationship between suppliers and buyers and (2) how prices are set by vendors and traders in these markets. Through Randomized Control Trials, we can explore (1) how shocks spillover along the supply chain and (2) how market prices adapt when competition in markets changes, vendors can access cheaper goods or finally when demand for food products increases.

Research mentor: Eleanor Wiseman, King Center on Global Development  
Research fellow: Will Berriman, '26, Economics

Identifying Labor Trafficking in International Supply Chains, a Bottom-Up Approach

Human trafficking and forced child labor are among the most pernicious problems in global supply chains. Labor trafficking networks in key industries persist as a result skilled evasion of detection by hiding behind complex ownership structures, illicit third-party recruitment practices, and use of remote or temporary work sites at the most distal tiers of global supply chains. Despite efforts of many governments and industries, the lack of systematic evidence and robust supply chain methodologies has severely limited intervention efficacy, leaving traffickers unchecked and exposing firms to extensive risk of responsibility.

The Stanford Human Trafficking Data Lab seeks a part time research assistant to support a project designed to explore new approaches to supply chain tracing for key industries in Brazil. While traditional supply chain risk assessments take a top down approach to identify as many lower-tier contributing partners as possible, we propose the development of a complementary bottom-up approach. Specifically, when trafficking is discovered, victims are rescued, and perpetrators prosecuted, our methodology would identify all supply chain partners to which the perpetrating firm has contributed, identifying which supply chains have been affected by the illegal labor trafficking. This linkage is a critical precondition enabling regulatory incentive structures (placing responsibility for clean supply chains on international buyers) to generate market-driven corrections.

Research mentor: Grant Miller, SoM - Health Policy 
Research fellow: Kaylee Shen, '25, Earth Systems 

Investigating the socio-environmental drivers of malaria resurgence in Costa Rica

Global change is altering the distribution and magnitude of risk of vector-borne disease transmission. Climate warming affects the of rate vector development, pathogen development, and survival, while changing precipitation patterns and land-use/land-cover influence the location and abundance of vector habitat. In Costa Rica, malaria was nearly eradicated by 2015, but over the last nine years, has experienced a resurgence with hundreds of cases reported annually. At the same time, Costa Rica has undergone agricultural intensification, particularly the conversion of land for pineapple and palm plantations, alongside other dimensions of environmental change. Here, we will use annual malaria case reports provided by the Ministry of Health, remote-sensing data, and statistical analyses to investigate the potential drivers of malaria resurgence in Costa Rica.

Research mentor: Caroline Glidden, H&S - Biology Department 
Research fellow: Julieta Lamm-Perez, '27, Biology 

Machine learning analysis of mortality risk associated with clinical signs of illness in young infants using data from Africa and Asia 

Community health workers (CHWs) play a critical role in low- and middle-income countries in identifying and managing sick young infants. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed clinical algorithms - known as Integrated Management of Childhood Illness - to guide CHW clinical assessments and management. We are collaborating with WHO to assemble global data from several studies across multiple countries in Asia and Africa on the risks for mortality associated with various clinical signs identified in young infants under 2 months of age, and are applying machine learning analysis to identify patterns of clinical signs which are particularly ominous. We have assembled the data and conducted initial analysis this past summer. Over the coming academic year, we will advance these analyses to identify signs individually and in combinations that are most highly associated with mortality of young infants. Results will be used to inform modifications of WHO global recommendations for the identification and management of sick young infants. This is the first study to assemble global data on clinical signs and their association with mortality of young infants, and to apply machine learning to gain further insights into how to most effectively recognize and management sick young infants in low- and middle-income countries. 

Research mentor: Gary Darmstadt, SoM - Pediatrics Department
Research fellow: Khusbu Adhikari, '25, Computer Science 

Mitigating Conflict and Polarization 

Reading, analyzing and coding original archival sources on India's independence movement and the Mau Mau rebellion, among others, including secret intelligence reports, media reports and military files. 

Research mentor: Saumitra Jha, GSB - Political Economy 
Research fellow: Khushmita Dhabhai, '26, Political Science 

Preventing dementia in India: Digital tools to deliver region-specific lifestyle interventions 

Of the more than 55 million people living with dementia globally, 60% live in low- and middle-income countries, with growing prevalence in South Asia. The associated socioeconomic burden and dearth of curative treatments underscores the importance of effective strategies to prevent dementia to improve the quality of life of aging populations. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) from the worldwide (WW) FINGER study have shown that lifestyle interventions encompassing diet, exercise, cognitive training, vascular risk monitoring and social stimulation can reduce cognitive decline in Finland and several other countries, but have not yet been tested in India—a large, diverse country where dementia remains stigmatized despite growing prevalence, especially disadvantaging older women. This multidisciplinary collaborative research project, led by Stanford University with external partners ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition of India and the WW-FINGER network, will create digital tools to disseminate the lifestyle intervention in India and conduct a pilot RCT based on ongoing collaboration with a geriatric study of over 600 participants in urban and rural settings in and around the city of Hyderabad.

Research mentor: Karen Eggleston, DoR - Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) 
Research fellow: Yuvna Gupta, '27, Computer Science 

Projects in Development Economics 

The first set of projects are located in Burundi, and the research investigates which factors in this context lead to farmers to not widely profitable new agricultural to other farmers. A second experiment investigates why it is that employers in developing countries are likely to hire their relatives as employees in their business. While many papers hypothesize that this is due to limited trust outside of kinship networks, this project proposes that partially this is due to family pressure put on employers to hire relatives who are underemployed. The final project investigates whether a new technology – earned wage access – which allows workers to withdraw their wages in advance of their payday, benefits workers, or harms them (by enabling more overspending).

Research mentor: Nicholas Swanson, King Center on Global Development 
Research fellow: Layal Kazerooni, '25, Economics 

Sand, Sustainability and Gender 

Sand is the second most used natural resource in the world, second only to water, and the single most mined material. Global consumption has tripled over the past 20 years, with sand dug from pits and quarries on land, dredged from riverbeds, or increasingly extracted from marine and coastal environments. Beyond local scarcity concerns, sand mining poses considerable sustainability and equity challenges. Poor monitoring and weak governance result in biodiversity loss, habitat alteration, threats to fisheries, changes in livelihoods, and illegal activities. Although it can be an important source of income through artisanal and small-scale mining, the rights of local communities to land, water, and culture are often sidelined for mining and land reclamation projects they rarely benefit from. Women, in particular, are disproportionately excluded from decision-making processes and the most at risk from the loss of artisanal mining.

Improving sand governance has consequently been described as one of the most pressing resource issues of the 21st century and one that is essential to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet research on the topic is limited, precise data on sand extraction and use are scarce, and the issue remains largely absent from discussions on sustainability and gender equity. This project aims to address these gaps by embracing a holistic approach to the social-ecological dimensions of sand mining around the world. In particular, the project will increase the visibility of women’s contributions to sand mining, including the key challenges and opportunities they face, with a focus on governance mechanisms that could support the sustainable and inclusive transformation of the sector.

Research mentor: Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Doerr - Earth System Science 
Research fellow: Chloe Chan, '27, Undeclared 

Sustainable coastal communities in Southeast Asia 

The project examines the ways in which conflicts between competing economic, social, and environmental goals, policies, and legal and regulatory frameworks result in outcomes that massively impact coastal communities and their environments in SE Asia. While, on the one hand, governmental regulations may require protection of indigenous populations, marine environments (coral reefs, mangroves, fisheries), small scale fisheries, and terrestrial forests, imperatives for short term political and economic goals may override such protections through a process that is far from transparent. This results too often in outcomes that increase the vulnerability and decrease the sustainability of coastal communities that depend on their marine and nearby terrestrial environments for their livelihoods. Such negative effects are only increased by climate change and other sources of environmental degradation.

This multi-year project will examine case studies in SE Asia's two archipelagic nations (Indonesia and Philippines) with comparative case studies drawn from coastal Cambodia (the site of massive economic development by foreign enterprises) and the small, and extremely vulnerable, island nation of Timor Leste (East Timor). In the coming academic year specific pilot studies will focus on nickel mining in Indonesia's pristine marine environment at Weda Bay in Halmahera Island, conflicts between shrimp farming (with associated destruction of mangrove forests) and fishing communities in the Karimunjawa Islands off the coast of Central Java, and a study of the significant disparities in economic development between coastal communities in the northern and southern parts of the Central Java coast. Our initial pilot projects are centered on Indonesia because of the depth of our ongoing engagement there as well as because it is the largest archipelagic nation in the world, has the largest mangrove forests in the world, the second largest coral reefs, is the second largest producer of seaweed (after China), an has 21 million citizens whose communities and livelihoods are directly connected to small scale fisheries, aquaculture, and seaweed farming. 

Research mentor: David Cohen, H&S - Classics Department 
Research fellow: Maya Lee, '25, International Relations 

The Role of Emotional Ability in Creating New Ideas 

Innovation plays a pivotal role in fostering economic growth, yet there is a limited understanding of whether it can be taught. I conduct a randomized evaluation of an education program implemented by a state government and a nonprofit organization, providing an opportunity to 6,224 8th-grade students from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop frugal innovations for global and local problems in India. To assess students' innovative ability, I created a novel scale with inputs from experienced inventors and used a lab-in-the-field game from experimental economics.

I have collected data of almost 7000 students repeated over three assessments cycles. It is a very rich data that can help us understand how innovation skill using design thinking programs can be taught, and how it affect students peer networks. For instance, students who work in teams may become friends, or have a peer affect on their academic outcomes.

Research mentor: Saloni Gupta, DoR - Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) 
Research fellow: Jessica Kang, '28, Undeclared