2025–2026 Academic Year Part-Time Undergraduate RFs

Projects

• Accelerating Systematic Reviews of Development Studies
• Aerial History Project
• Computer Vision, Drones, and Dengue
• Detecting Trafficking in Global Supply Chains
• Ecological and Socioeconomic Drivers of Tick-Borne Viruses
• Ecosystem Restoration in Tropical Peatlands
• Health Economics Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Heat Adaptation in Informal Settlements
• Impacts of Generative AI on Creativity
• Infectious Diseases, Environment, Global Health, and Climate Change
• Machine Learning Analysis of Clinical Signs of Illness and Infant Mortality in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
• Measuring Impact of Black Soldier Fly Farming
• Mitigating Conflict and Polarization
• Persistence of Forest Restoration
• Refugee Policy in Kenya
• Social-Ecological Trade-Offs in the Bolivian Amazon
• Stillbirth Burden in South Asia
• Strengthening Social Capital Among Refugee Entrepreneurs: Testing AI Tools for Tie Formation and Maintenance
• Sustainable Development in Education Policies Worldwide
• The Future of Humanitarian Food Assistance
• Urban Growth in the Colombian Amazon
• Vietnam's Mixed Healthcare System
• Wildfires, Environment, and Human Health

Accelerating Systematic Reviews of Development Studies

Systematic reviews of health and development research are resource- and labor-intensive, and a cornerstone of scientific evidence. These comprehensive studies, which typically take months to complete, can now potentially be carried out in mere hours without compromising on their precision and rigor. We are developing an LLM-assisted pipeline for systematic reviews that could save significant time and resources for researchers, policymakers, healthcare entities, and commercial organizations. To streamline this process, we have broken down the PRISMA guidelines into smaller tasks that are particularly well-suited for large language models, ensuring the process remains rigorous, grounded, and trustworthy. We are looking for data science, CS, or CS-adjacent students interested in health and development, particularly those with expertise in systems, user interface, or database design.

Research mentor: Eran Bendavid, Medicine Department 
Research fellows: Mengnan Sun, '29, Undeclared; Ruohua Lin, '26, Economics

Aerial History Project

The Aerial History Project (AHP) is a multi-year research initiative joint between the Global Policy Lab and colleagues at Stockholm University. The project aims to better understand how economic development and environmental change interact — for example, by understanding how climate change is affecting human migration in Africa, how natural disasters affect economic development in the Caribbean, and whether deforestation can be forecast on multi-decadal timescales. The project is digitizing, combining, and applying machine learning to analyze millions of historical aerial photographs collected around the world.

Research mentor: Solomon Hsiang, Earth System Science 
Research fellow: Siddhartha Suresh, '28, Economics

Computer Vision, Drones, and Dengue

Dengue fever is a viral disease that can cause life-threatening infections and is rapidly increasing globally, propelled by the dual crisis of climate change and pollution. It is spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes which often lay their eggs in discarded trash that gets filled with rain or flood water. We are mapping these breeding sites using high resolution drone imaging in order to better understand local transmission dynamics and test interventions to interrupt transmission. This project takes annotated, high resolution drone images and applies deep learning models to identify the trash sites in our maps.

Research mentor: Joelle Rosser, Medicine Department 
Research fellows: Anirudh Mazumder, '29, Computer Science; Ruikuan Zhu, '29, Undeclared

Detecting Trafficking in Global Supply Chains

Advances in data science have revolutionized the ability to access, process, and rapidly analyze large volumes of publicly available administrative data, creating new opportunities for identifying trafficking, illegal deforestation, and other socially harmful practices in global supply chains. In collaboration with the Brazilian government's primary anti-trafficking law enforcement agency, the Federal Labor Prosecution Office (FLPO), we are developing a new technical tool — Chain-Link — that integrates data from a variety of administrative sources to identify supply chains linked to labor trafficking and illegal deforestation. Chain-Link offers a novel approach for independent, data-driven identification of human trafficking and illegal deforestation in distal supply chain tiers, making evidence-based assessments accessible to stakeholders with the ability to incentivize improvements. As a demonstration case, we implement the tool within industrial charcoal, a key input to pig iron and steel production and a major export-oriented sector in Brazil.

Research mentor: Grant Miller, Health Policy 
Research fellow: Kyler Shu, '27, Mathematical and Computational Science

Ecological and Socioeconomic Drivers of Tick-Borne Viruses

Public health resources are typically allocated based on reported cases of infectious diseases. However, for under-recognized diseases like tick-borne viruses, relying solely on case reports may overlook important factors that influence reporting. This project investigates how ecological and socioeconomic factors affect the likelihood that a country reports cases of tick-borne viruses. Using a machine learning approach, we analyze a global dataset of tick-borne virus reports along with 24 environmental and socioeconomic variables. This project supports the goals of the WHO's Global Arbovirus Initiative, which aims to identify potential interventions for enhancing recognition and reducing disease burden.

Research mentor: Samantha Sambado, Biology Department 
Research fellow: Aspen Singh, '27, Human Biology

Ecosystem Restoration in Tropical Peatlands

Tropical peatlands are wetland ecosystems that store large amounts of carbon belowground in their waterlogged soils. Across Southeast Asia, drainage and deforestation have shifted these ecosystems from carbon sinks to large sources of CO₂ emissions. Efforts are now underway to restore and rewet tropical peatlands. We are studying an experimental peatland rewetting and agricultural site in Indonesia to investigate the impacts of restoration on tropical peatlands. The results of our project will provide data needed for evidence-based land management, climate mitigation planning, and sustainable development across Southeast Asia.

Research mentor: Alison Hoyt, Earth System Science 
Research fellow: Sophia Bonanno, '28, Earth Systems

Health Economics Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

The student will support with early-stage research on health economics in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes a planned experiment in Uganda (and possibly Kenya) studying the demand for antibiotics, medical provider behavior and prescribing practices, and policies that aim to improve healthcare provision for pediatric fevers and upper-respiratory infections. The student will support with data cleaning and exploratory analysis, literature review, and learn about the early stage design of a randomized controlled trial.

Research mentor: Carlos Paramo, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) 
Research fellow: Ana Paulina Quiroz, '26, Political Science

Heat Adaptation in Informal Settlements

Our work aims to reduce the effects of extreme heat on the residents of coastal informal settlements. We will be deploying a data collection platform to characterize the effects of heat on health, creating a plan for community-assisted implementation of promising heat interventions, and working with communities to implement and evaluate interventions in high-risk coastal informal settlements in Makassar, Indonesia. To monitor the effects of heat on health and to evaluate interventions, we will be deploying a combination of standard and novel environmental and health outcome measures including survey administrations, environmental sensors, and wearable devices. The project currently focuses on the use of reflective roofs to cool informal settlement homes, with plans to pilot this intervention and collect health and environmental data across 300 households over the next two years.

Research mentor: John Openshaw, Medicine Department 
Research fellow: Rachael Gold, '28, Undeclared

Impacts of Generative AI on Creativity

In a 2×2 RCT design, we randomized access to a scaffolded generative AI tool to middle-school students in Rio de Janeiro, in the context of two standard creativity tasks: the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) and the Divergent Association Task (DAT). We estimate impacts on creativity transfer — performance in unassisted tasks — within and across assessments. Specifically, we test whether being assisted in the first task impacts creativity in the same task (within-task transfer) and in the next task (across-task transfer), benchmarking effect sizes to those of being randomized to AI assistance in the second task and to a control group. We further collect data on students' executive functions and survey them on a range of beliefs and perceptions about their academic self-concept, the tasks, and generative AI.

Research mentor: Guilherme Lichand, GSE – Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS) 
Research fellow: Paulina Huang, '28, Undeclared

Infectious Diseases, Environment, Global Health, and Climate Change

The research assistant can contribute to different ongoing activities within the lab based on their interests. Our mission is to improve population health by creating high quality evidence about what health interventions work, in whom, and where, when, and how to implement them. Most of our research is focused on infectious diseases, including malaria, diarrhea, soil-transmitted helminths, and influenza. We use a variety of epidemiologic, computational, and statistical methods — including causal inference and machine learning — in pursuit of our mission. Ongoing research projects include a randomized trial testing the effect of replacing soil floors with concrete on maternal and child health in Bangladesh; quantifying the relationship between housing features in low-income countries and health outcomes; using causal inference models to determine where preventive malaria interventions are most effective; and developing novel metrics for climate adaptation and resilience at the household level in low- and middle-income countries.

Research mentor: Jade Benjamin-Chung, Epidemiology and Population Health 
Research fellow: Sanjay Palta-Hill, '27, Biomedical Computation

Machine Learning Analysis of Clinical Signs of Illness and Infant Mortality in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa

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 have assembled global data from studies across multiple countries in Asia and Africa on the risks for mortality associated with various clinical signs identified in young infants under two months of age. We have conducted initial machine learning analyses and will complete machine learning and time-varying Cox regression analyses of the data. Results will inform modifications of WHO global recommendations for identifying and managing sick young infants. This is the first study to assemble global data on clinical signs and their association with infant mortality and apply advanced machine learning approaches to gain further insights into how to most effectively recognize and manage sick young infants in low- and middle-income countries.

Research mentor: Gary Darmstadt, Pediatrics Department 
Research fellow: Jerry Wang, '28, Mathematics

Measuring Impact of Black Soldier Fly Farming

In South Coastal Kenya, inadequate sanitation and unmanaged waste contribute to food and waterborne illnesses, as well as arboviral diseases like dengue. Plastic waste exacerbates pollution, creates mosquito breeding grounds, and intensifies climate-sensitive disease risks. In response, Stanford's Disease Ecology in a Changing World (DECO) program and the Health and Environmental Research Institute-Kenya (HERI) are piloting a women-led, community-managed Black Soldier Fly (BSF) farm. This innovative solution aims to transform organic waste into high-protein animal feed and nutrient-rich fertilizer, reducing food waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and disease risks while improving food security, sanitation, and climate resilience. This project explores the intersection of BSF farming, waste management, and public health, with a focus on plastics, pathogens, and contaminants in BSF rearing systems.

Research mentor: Angelle Desiree LaBeaud, Pediatrics Department 
Research fellow: Haley Solis, '27, Environmental Systems Engineering

Mitigating Conflict and Polarization

This project will involve studying organizational and economic approaches to mitigating violent conflict and political polarization, both historically and in contemporary settings.

Research mentor: Saumitra Jha, Political Economy, Graduate School of Business 
Research fellow: Kathy Shao, '28, Economics

Persistence of Forest Restoration

Natural climate solutions such as forest restoration are essential for tackling climate change while providing co-benefits for biodiversity, water, and livelihoods. Yet they face growing scrutiny because forests are not always permanent. Current approaches to assessing permanence in carbon markets focus almost exclusively on biophysical risks such as fire or drought, neglecting the social, economic, and governance factors that research shows strongly shape whether restored forests endure. This project will be among the first to systematically integrate ecological, social, and governance drivers into models of reforestation persistence. We focus on Brazil's Atlantic Forest — reduced to just 12% of its original extent — combining project-level data, satellite imagery, and statistical and machine learning models to generate predictive maps of reforestation persistence. Using the Natural Capital Project's InVEST software, we will link persistence outcomes to ecosystem service benefits, quantifying the climate, biodiversity, and water quality losses when reforestation reverses.

Research mentor: Gretchen Daily, Biology Department 
Research fellow: Laia Bent, '26, Earth Systems

Refugee Policy in Kenya

In this project, we will examine the politics of refugee policy in Kenya. This will include analyzing five years of committee meeting minutes from the national parliament in Kenya in which members discussed and debated policy reforms related to refugees. By analyzing internal committee reports as a source of text and narrative data, we aim to describe a nuanced picture of policy debates, concerns, and opportunities for refugees in Kenya and the East Africa region more broadly.

Research mentor: Shelby Carvalho, GSE – Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS) 
Research fellow: Cate Greenman, '26, International Relations

Social-Ecological Trade-Offs in the Bolivian Amazon

This research employs a case study approach in Eastern Bolivia to better understand the social-ecological factors — including climate change, land succession, migration, and globalization — that are impacting and possibly restructuring patterns of land use and land control in the Amazon Basin. Through semi-structured interviews with ranchers and geospatial analysis, this project aims to better understand how this understudied and diverse group of actors is making decisions about natural resource management and the implications of these decisions for the social-ecological future of the region. Cattle ranchers manage vast territories across the Amazon Basin and have the potential to mobilize land use transformations with sweeping implications as they respond to diverse social-ecological stressors. This work will provide key insights regarding social-ecological trade-offs in agricultural commodity frontiers to inform pathways and policies that galvanize and support sustainability transformations in mixed-use landscapes.

Research mentor: Nicole Ardoin, Social Science Division 
Research fellows: Samuel Minev, '26, Earth Systems; Martina Basgall Sequeira, '29, Undeclared

Stillbirth Burden in South Asia

There are an estimated 1.9 million stillbirths around the world each year, nearly as many as the number of deaths in the neonatal period. Despite the large burden and the fact that many stillbirths are preventable through quality antenatal and intrapartum care, stillbirths receive little attention in global policies, programs, research, and funding. We conducted a population-based study in five sites across Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, enrolling 71,302 pregnancies and identifying 2,320 stillbirths. We conducted a "verbal autopsy" — a structured interview with the family to ascertain the context and potential contributory factors — for 1,669 of the stillbirths. In this project, the student will apply WHO OpenVA software to analyze these stillbirths to gain insights into risk factors, causes, and potential preventive interventions, with the possibility of applying machine learning methods to further investigate factors associated with antenatal and intrapartum stillbirths.

Research mentor: Ivana Maric, Pediatrics Department 
Research fellow: Suhani Luitel, '28, Undeclared

Strengthening Social Capital Among Refugee Entrepreneurs: Testing AI Tools for Tie Formation and Maintenance

While previous programs have focused on business training or startup capital, they rarely address the social barriers that prevent refugee entrepreneurs from building sustained professional networks. Entrepreneurs may attend events or workshops, but without the skills or structure to sustain new ties, the momentum quickly dissipates. Recent research shows that social capital can be built deliberately, and that structured coaching on soft skills — such as empathy, listening, and effective follow-up — can enhance an entrepreneur's ability to initiate and sustain valuable business relationships. This project tests a new approach: using artificial intelligence to deliver personalized, lightweight support for relationship building. By equipping refugee entrepreneurs with AI-enabled tools that guide them in initiating conversations and maintaining follow-up, we explore whether scalable digital interventions can strengthen their networks and improve business outcomes.

Research mentor: Charles Eesley, Management Science and Engineering 
Research fellow: Daniel Hadi, '27, Economics

Sustainable Development in Education Policies Worldwide

This opportunity invites undergraduates to join the research team that created and maintains the World Education Reform Database to explore global variations in sustainable development education. Students will contribute to the Database's construction and leverage the information in over 14,000 education policies from more than 250 countries and territories to analyze how different countries incorporate principles of sustainability into their educational systems, from early childhood programs to higher education curricula. Researchers will investigate the integration of topics such as climate change, renewable energy, gender and social equity, and economic resilience into national education frameworks. Students can also examine how factors such as socioeconomic status, government priorities, and regional challenges influence educational approaches to sustainability.

Research mentor: Patricia Bromley, GSE – Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS) 
Research fellow: Shayla Fitzsimmons-Call, '26, International Relations

The Future of Humanitarian Food Assistance

The network of international institutions and multi- and bi-lateral structures that have historically supported humanitarian assistance to countries and regions experiencing food insecurity crises is experiencing unprecedented strain. We are looking for a research fellow to conduct a review of major donors' approaches to emergency food assistance. Much of this information is documented in websites, briefs, policy documents, and internal organization documents. Outputs from this work will be shared directly with the Food Security Leadership Council — a unique opportunity for a student to interact with some of the world's most insightful and impactful leaders in food security and humanitarian issues.

Research mentor: Jen Burney, Social Science Division 
Research fellow: Leo Abramsky-Sze, '28, Undeclared

Urban Growth in the Colombian Amazon

Amazonian cities are expanding rapidly, transforming landscapes long shaped by Indigenous stewardship. This urban growth alters ecological interactions — particularly between humans, wildlife, and disease vectors — while also reshaping cultural and social dynamics. Despite these profound changes, urbanization in the Amazon remains understudied compared to deforestation or conservation in forest areas. This project investigates how urban expansion in Leticia, Colombia — a tri-border Amazonian city — affects ecology, human–wildlife interactions, and the emergence of mosquito-borne diseases. Combining ecological fieldwork and participatory methods with local communities, the project seeks to document how construction types, neighborhood patterns, and local knowledge influence both environmental and public health outcomes, aiming to generate more equitable frameworks for sustainable Amazonian urban futures.

Research mentor: Valeria Ramirez Castaneda, King Center on Global Development 
Research fellow: Stella Maris Leon Velita, '29, Bioengineering

Vietnam's Mixed Healthcare System

The fellow will support research examining the evolving role of private healthcare providers in the mixed healthcare systems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and their contribution to achieving Universal Health Coverage, with a specific focus on Vietnam. The student will support data analysis of the latest wave of national survey data for Vietnam as well as policymaker interviews, literature review, and comparative analysis with other LMICs. The resulting book will be the first comprehensive, mixed-methods analysis of Vietnam's private health sector, combining national household survey data, in-depth interviews with policymakers and providers, and policy document analysis. An advanced and proactive student may also have the opportunity to research (and potentially co-author) related projects about universal health coverage in Cambodia and the use of AI for medical student online classes in Myanmar.

Research mentor: Karen Eggleston, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) 
Research fellows: Han Dao, '26, Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity; Sharmmen Raj, '28, Undeclared

Wildfires, Environment, and Human Health

This research explores the unique connection between wildfires, the environment, and human health, with the goal of reducing the health impacts of wildfire-related environmental exposures, particularly in relation to infectious diseases. One component focuses on water quality impacts after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires: samples collected from the Palisades fires will be analyzed for contaminants including nutrients, heavy metals, and PAHs, offering hands-on laboratory research experience. A second component is an epidemiological study examining how wildfires contribute to the risk of tuberculosis in Brazil using large datasets, requiring qualifications in epidemiology and strong R programming and statistical skills.

Research mentor: Onja Davidson Raoelison, Medicine Department 
Research fellow: Sarah Mian, '28, Undeclared