2023–2024 Summer Full-Time Undergraduate RFs

Projects

Access and Quality of Health Services for Adolescents – Revising WHO Guidelines and Competencies
Addressing Equity Gaps in Disease Surveillance through Low-Cost Tools to Map Typhoid Risk in LMICs
Analysis of Global Data on the Association of Clinical Signs of Illness with Mortality of Young Infants
Documenting the First Open-Source Personal Dosimeter for Radiation Safety Monitoring
Effects of Concrete Floors on Maternal and Child Health
Entrepreneurship Education to Aid Refugees and Developing Economies
Extracting Insights for Political Economy Research Using Advanced AI Methods
Identifying Health-Threats of Toxic Metal-Containing Particulate Matter from Coal-Fired Brick Kilns in Bangladesh
Immigration Law as Development Policy: Mexican Guestworkers and the H-2A Visa Program
Impact of Topical Emollient Therapy on Survival and Health of Very Low Birthweight Infants
Informal/Illegal Agriculture Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa
Judicial Reform and Human Rights in Indonesia
The Role of Technology in Credit Markets for Developing Countries
World Education Reforms: A Global Challenge to Improve Learning for All

Access and Quality of Health Services for Adolescents – Revising WHO Guidelines and Competencies

As part of revising the World Health Organization guidelines and competencies for adolescent health care delivery, this project will guide a global on-line consultation on adolescent health care delivery systems and competencies. Working with the International Association for Adolescent Health and WHO Adolescent Health leadership, and will analyze input from expert informants in health systems and from surveys of adolescents and young adults regarding their priorities and experiences in health systems, health care delivery settings, and in delivery and receipt of care. Consultation and survey data will be presented to a technical expert workgroup, used by WHO to revise guideline and standards documents, and submitted for presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

Faculty supervisor: Jonathan Klein, School of Medicine - Pediatrics Department
Focus country(ies): Regional focus
Research fellow: Bryan Gabriel Gonzalez, '27, Computer Science

Addressing Equity Gaps in Disease Surveillance through Low-Cost Tools to Map Typhoid Risk in LMICs

Typhoid fever remains one of the important bacterial causes of morbidity and mortality globally. New, effective vaccines are available and recommended by the WHO, but uptake in LMICs have been slow as most countries lack data concerning their burden to make decisions about whether and how to introduce vaccines. The conventional surveillance approach has relied on blood cultures performed in clinical microbiology laboratories, but such infrastructure is lacking in many LMICs where risk of typhoid is greatest. These surveillance gaps lead to vaccine equity gaps: the poorest countries are at greatest risk of typhoid and poor health outcomes, yet are least able to show data on risk to gain support for vaccine introductions by Gavi and other funders.

Our approach is to close surveillance gaps as a step towards closing vaccine equity gaps in LMICs. Our lab has developed a very low-cost method to detect typhoid-specific phages in the environment, which can identify communities where typhoid is circulating. We have used this tool to identify communities at risk in Nepal, Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, India, and Niger, and we will be performing additional sampling in these countries and other LMICs. We would like to generate maps of typhoid risk and to combine these data with geospatial data on population density, hydrology and environmental and climatic factors that influence typhoid risk. The goal will be to develop and validate models for typhoid risk that can be used to inform vaccine introduction and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to respond to the typhoid epidemic.

Faculty supervisor: Jason Andrews, School of Medicine - Medicine Department
Focus country(ies): Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nepal, India, Indonesia
Research fellow: Max Yang, '27, Undeclared

Analysis of Global Data on the Association of Clinical Signs of Illness with Mortality of Young Infants

Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) is an approach developed by the World Health Organization to guide the management of childhood illness at primary care level, often by community health workers (CHWs). Infants who are identified with certain clinical signs of illness are referred to health facilities for further assessment and management. In young infants, 7 signs of illness have been found to have the best combination of sensitivity and specificity for identifying infants needing referral for hospital treatment. In recent years, several studies have been conducted to identify the etiology of serious infections and to test various treatment regimens for sick young infants,. Within those trials, data have been collected on clinical signs and subsequent mortality. These data provide an unprecedented opportunity to synthesize knowledge on the relative risk of these clinical signs - singly and in combinations - for mortality, The World Health Organization houses much of this data. The data from other studies will be shared with WHO, and we will work with WHO on-site in Geneva to analyze these global data to provide the first comprehensive, global analysis of clinical signs of illness in young infants and their association with mortality. This knowledge will be used by WHO to re-examine and potential update IMCI guidelines.

Faculty supervisor: Gary Darmstadt, School of Medicine - Pediatrics Department
Focus country(ies): Regional focus
Research fellows: Khusbu Adhikari, '24, Computer Science

Documenting the First Open-Source Personal Dosimeter for Radiation Safety Monitoring

"Radiation safety of workers is a critical issue globally, although many workers lack the personal radiation monitoring recommended by IAEA and other organizations. The main reasons are that the common technological solutions used today, such as thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) or optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) badges, require a level of infrastructure and logistics that is not readily available everywhere. Together with collaborators in Kenya (engineers, physicists, and radiologists) who we recently hosted at Stanford for a 2-week workshop, we are developing a prototype of a personal dosimeter that is battery-powered, locally calibratable, and gives real-time feedback to the user of their immediate radiation environment. The design is open source and will be shared publicly once finalized, allowing for distributed manufacturing and local ownership. While we are finalizing the device during the Spring, we plan to do pilot testing and engaging with local partners in Nairobi during the summer.

This summer project involves doing pilot testing in Nairobi of our dosimeter prototypes, engaging with community partners, and assisting in the open-source documentation of the project. The latter is critical to ensure reproducibility and real-world impact. We plan to finalize a collaborative research paper on the dosimeter device and release the design at the end of the summer."

Faculty supervisor: Kian Shaker, School of Medicine - Radiology Department
Focus country(ies): Kenya
Research fellow: Jasmyn Lopez, '25, Computer Science and Biology

Effects of Concrete Floors on Maternal and Child Health

Soil-transmitted helminth infections and diarrhea are responsible for a large burden of morbidity and mortality among children under 5 years and are associated with increased growth faltering, anemia, impaired child development, and mortality. Observational studies have found that children in households with concrete floors have a lower prevalence of diarrhea and soil-transmitted helminth infection than those in households with soil floors. However, these findings may be strongly confounded by household wealth. We are conducting a randomized trial in rural Bangladesh to measure whether installing concrete floors in households with soil floors reduces child enteric infection. We will randomize 800 eligible households with pregnant women and install concrete floors before the birth cohort is born. We will collect follow-up measurements when children are ages 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Our team is comprised of experts in environmental and infectious disease epidemiology, including Bangladeshi scientists. Aim 1 is to measure the effect of household concrete floors on child soil-transmitted helminth infection and diarrhea. The primary endpoint is Ascaris lumbricoides prevalence at any follow-up measurement. Secondary endpoints include prevalence of other soil-transmitted helminths and diarrhea. Other outcomes include maternal quality of life and stress. Aim 2 is to measure the effect of household concrete floors on household fecal contamination and child soil contact and ingestion over time. This trial will determine whether concrete floors reduce enteric infection, and investigate mechanisms for how floors impact health, or if they do not, why. Household concrete floors are an innovative potential health intervention that may have additional benefits that we will measure in this study, including reducing the bandwidth tax that low-income families experience by making it easier to maintain a hygienic home environment, and in turn improve quality of life. Our findings will provide rigorous, policy-relevant evidence about whether concrete flooring installation should be delivered as a public health intervention to reduce child enteric infection.

Faculty supervisor: Jade Benjamin-Chung, School of Medicine - Epidemiology and Population Health Department
Focus country(ies): Bangladesh
Cardinal Quarter community partner: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Research fellow: Cassidy Dalva, '25, Economics

Entrepreneurship Education to Aid Refugees and Developing Economies

With 25.9M refugee cases recorded by the UN in 2018, refugees' self-reliance has become a challenge for policymakers. Recent research focuses on refugees' wage employment to address this issue, while many refugee-hosting countries struggle with a high unemployment rate of their citizens. This project focuses on entrepreneurship as a solution for the refugees' self-reliance issue. Literature shows that refugees have stronger entrepreneurial incentives compared to local citizens, but they face greater challenges in starting and growing their businesses. This project aims to study how providing entrepreneurship education and facilitating refugees' team formation using data-driven methods, such as machine learning and matching algorithms, can promote entrepreneurship among refugees.

Faculty supervisor: Charles Eesley, Management Science and Engineering Department
Focus country(ies): Uganda
Research fellow: Aurora Feng, '24, Economics and Anthropology; Merry Merry Seng Maran, '25, Political Science

Extracting Insights for Political Economy Research Using Advanced AI Methods

The first research project with co-authors from Stanford, Oxford, and Humboldt University of Berlin examines crime reporting. The aim of the project is employing advanced Natural Language Processing techniques in investigating dynamics and themes of German police reporting on crimes.

The second research project with co-author from Essex and Emory aims by employing a large dataset from Colombia to explore themes on the topic of money in politics, examining the interplay of campaign donations and contracting.

Faculty supervisor: Ashrakat Elshehawy, King Center on Global Development
Focus country(ies): Germany, Colombia
Research fellow: Emily Molins, MS '25, Management Science and Engineering

Identifying Health-Threats of Toxic Metal-Containing Particulate Matter from Coal-Fired Brick Kilns in Bangladesh

Coal-fired brick kilns are major contributors to the high concentration of airborne PM2.5 within Bangladesh and pose detrimental health risks to local communities, particularly to young children. The health threats of PM2.5 formed during coal combustion in brick kilns are determined by their chemical and structural properties, which are largely unknown. The proposed project aims to 1) determine the metal content of PM2.5, 2) Quantitatively identify PM2.5 particle chemical and structural properties, and 3) Assess the health risks associated with toxic metals in the fine PM2.5. Samples have been collected from feed materials and coal-fired exhaust of brick kilns in Bangladesh. We will interrogate the particles using advanced techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of this project will advance our understanding of the health impacts imposed by brick kilns distributed throughout Bangladesh, and they will inform targeted policies and interventions for mitigating the health risks to local communities.

Faculty supervisor: Scott Fendorf, Earth System Science Department
Focus country(ies): Bangladesh
Research fellow: Amelia Hawkins, ’25, Earth System Science

Immigration Law as Development Policy: Mexican Guestworkers and the H-2A Visa Program

This project, led by professors Beatriz Magaloni and Melanie Morten, examines the effects of guest worker programs on the economic well-being of H2-A workers and their families. The H2-A program, aimed at hiring foreign agricultural workers temporarily to address labor shortages, has been active since the 1950s. This project is the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the H-2A program, focusing on migrants between Mexico and the US. Surveys will be collected from workers before, during, and after their US employment, along with input from household members to gauge material well-being, wages, working conditions, and overall experiences. Partnerships with organizations like REDDES in Mexico and WAFLA in the US help inform the design and policy relevance of the project. The study's outcomes could inform policy decisions, broaden the guest worker program's scope, and enhance working conditions for participants, with the potential to influence similar initiatives globally.

Faculty supervisors: Melanie Morten, Economics Department, and Beatriz Magaloni-Kerpel, Political Science Department
Focus country(ies): Mexico, United States
Research fellow: Yared Avalos, '25, Public Policy and Iberian and Latin American Cultures; Lesley Mendez-Ortega, '25, Sociology

Impact of Topical Emollient Therapy on Survival and Health of Very Low Birthweight Infants

Faculty supervisor: Gary Darmstadt, School of Medicine - Pediatrics Department
Focus country(ies): Regional focus
Research fellow: Japnoor Kaur, '25, Human Biology

Informal/Illegal Agriculture Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa

The project focuses on shedding light on informal/illegal agriculture trade flows (trade that is not recorded in official trade statistics, going through unofficial border crossings), agriculture market places and how value chains affect food availability and security in the area. The project also focuses on bargaining interactions and corruption at the borders. The project is located in East Africa.

Faculty supervisor: Eleanor Wiseman, King Center on Global Development
Focus country(ies): Kenya, Uganda
Research fellow: Will Berriman, '26, Economics and Computer Science

Judicial Reform and Human Rights in Indonesia

As a result of our many years of ongoing work with the Supreme Court of Indonesia we have been offered a unique opportunity for a student to engage in directed research at the Supreme Court. The Judicial Reform Team Office (JRTO) of the Supreme Court plays a key role in advising the Court leadership (Chief Justice, Vice-Chief, and Deputy Chief Justices) on important issues facing the Court. The Supreme Court in Indonesia oversees the entire judiciary and is responsible for the recruitment, training, promotion, and discipline of the 8000+ judges in the country. The JRTO also serves as the body that does research for and drafts important policy documents such as the 10 year Reform Blueprint and the Judicial Code of conduct as well as on specific issues. Our Stanford Center works with the JRTO in implementing research, training, and the drafting of policy papers and curriculum modules for the National Judicial Training Center. Starting in Summer 2024, and because of the success of our previous interns at LeIP and IOJI, we have been asked by the JRTO to nominate Stanford student researcher to participate in the ongoing joint research projects on which I am collaborating with the JRTO. The student RA will work with me (I will be in Jakarta for 5-6 weeks in Summer 2024) and the JRTO on issues including: the pending appeal in the Paniai human rights trial; the drafting of the updated Practice Guidelines for the Indonesian Human Rights Courts; conflict of interest policies for judges; new training curricula on human rights and the rule of law for the National Judicial Training Center.

Faculty supervisor: David Cohen, Classics Department
Focus country(ies): Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore
Research fellow: Kaylee Shen, '25, Earth Systems

The Role of Technology in Credit Markets for Developing Countries

There are many potentially high-return investments that fail to find financing in developing countries. This problem is particularly relevant for small and new firms, which face severe liquidity constraints due to information asymmetry, collateral requirements, high transaction costs, and other institutional details such as legal and regulatory constraints, underdeveloped financial infrastructure, and cultural and social factors. In this project, we partner with Xepelin, a Latin American fintech company that aims to be the leading B2B digital bank in Latam, to understand the role that technology and AI can have in addressing the first three factors that contribute to the lack of financing for small firms in Mexico, using a combination of detailed administrative data on loan applications and firm behavior, surveys and randomized experiments.

Faculty supervisor: Claudia Allende, Economics Department
Focus country(ies): Mexico, Chile
Research fellow: Jules Lustig, '27, Undeclared; Dylan Vinay Jatwani, '27, Undeclared

World Education Reforms: A Global Challenge to Improve Learning for All

"Education sits at the core of the global development agenda. Schooling is often believed to be a tool for enhancing individuals’ lives and attaining greater economic and social goals. However, school systems have been facing persistent challenges of inequality, as well as new crises arising from a global pandemic, natural disasters, and conflict/wars among countries. To tackle these problems in education, governments engage in an array of reforms. While existing studies have assessed the effectiveness of education reforms in particular country contexts and time periods, our research project takes a comparative and historical approach to studying what types of reforms occur, where, and why, and what effects they have on education and society. To answer these research questions, the World Education Reform Database (WERD) team (www.werd.world) has built a database of over 10,000 education reforms from 189 countries and territories, and from years between 1970 and 2020. Reforms in WERD capture publicly stated goals about how governments should enact changes in education systems around the world, thus focusing on a discursive dimension that sheds light on beliefs about the role of education in a society.

Research assistants working with the WERD team will gain insights on how low and middle-income countries have sought to address global development challenges through their education systems by helping to build the database (e.g., collecting new reforms, cleaning the dataset to prepare for public release). Skill, time, and interest-permitting, research assistants may also conduct guided analyses to identify thematic areas related to development in low and middle income countries. Students with country- or region specific interests and language fluencies may be given the opportunity to produce case studies or research briefs that contextualize WERD data within the larger literature on education reform and development in these countries/regions."

Faculty supervisor: Patricia Bromley, Graduate School of Education - Social Sciences, Humanities and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS)
Focus country(ies): Regional focus
Research fellow: Leily Rossi, '25, International Relations