Students across Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs division were recognized by AAP faculty with a range of student awards based on their outstanding capstone projects, theses, and other work during the 2023-2024 academic year.
The winners for the 2023-2024 academic year are:
Center for Data Analytics, Policy, and Government
Rex Dyer received the Outstanding Thesis in the Area of Democracy Studies award for his thesis titled Neoliberalism, Nascent Authoritarianism and the Techno-Autocratic Turn of History. His thesis examines the failure of neoliberalism – a system of enforcing property rights, free markets, free trade, and an emphasis on economic competition – to serve the economic and social needs of many people and how this failure has fueled a growth of populism and the return of authoritarianism in multiple countries.
Meghan Elizabeth Rai received The William F. Clinger, Jr. Award for her thesis Popular Opinion about Climate Change: How Voters Form Opinions about Climate Policies and Investments in the United States. Her thesis recognizes climate change as an urgent complex scientific issue and examines how voters form opinions about climate change and how those opinions may be informed by their own experiences as well as by political elites.
Andre James Beliveau received the Outstanding Thesis in the Area of American Political Development for his thesis Royalists, Reformers, and Republicans: The Roots of American Conservatism. His thesis argues that American conservativism is fundamentally “fusionist” in character tracing its roots back to combining elements of Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s political philosophies or later combining, as Frank Meyer did in the 1950s, elements of traditionalism, fiscal conservatism, and libertarianism. Beliveau contrasts this understanding of conservatism’s “New Right,” as embodied in the politics of Trump and the political philosophy of various present-day thinkers, and how this turn presents a formidable challenge to American conservatism as it has been understood historically.
Brian Kenneth Golden received the Outstanding Applications of Research Paper award for his research Public Options: Assessing Fiscal and Regulatory Strategies to Boost Public School Enrollment. His research paper addresses how to save America’s commitment to public education in the face of growing public mistrust. He recommends solutions that amend structures rather than attitudes, including increasing the proportion of school funding received federally – where it can be issued with more consistency across districts and years, compromising with alternative school options, and supporting mandatory intra-district open enrollment programs.
Norman Max Chesin Simon received the Outstanding Thesis in the Area of Presidential Studies for his thesis The Post-Presidency: Why it Matters. The thesis addresses a gap in research focusing on how the post-presidency of former presidents is not assessed very systematically by presidential scholars. The thesis focuses on several specific areas – political, diplomatic, and humanitarian – where presidents exercise their elder statesmanship role productively.
Master of Arts in Science Writing
Dan Paley received an Outstanding Student Award for his profound engagement with learning and his ambitious work while in the program, which included publication of a children’s book about wildland firefighters.
Emily Shepherd received the Outstanding Student Award in recognition of the professional-level and literary writing she produced and published while a student. Our faculty praised her writing for its ambition and originality and applauded her for contributing to the development of fellow writers.
Andrew Chapman was one of two students to receive the David Everett Award for Outstanding Thesis. The award recognizes his talent for making science lucid, interesting, and even fun. In Chapman’s words, his essays and stories strive to “build off of the joy of discovering something new about the world.”
Bridget Yueying Ye also received the David Everett Award for Outstanding Thesis. Faculty praised Ye’s work for its originality, literary ambition, scientific accuracy, and clarity.
Master of Arts in Teaching Writing
Kelsea Conlin received the Outstanding Student Award for her thesis, which featured a short story, a professional article, and annotated bibliography exploring the practice of revision in writing, and a personal reflection on her fifteen-year journey as a writer and writing coach. Her goal for the thesis, she wrote, was “to not only understand my personal revision process more fully but also better understand how to teach it to others most effectively.”
Lindsay Carmichael received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for her thesis, which featured a short story, a professional article and annotated bibliography offering a new approach to teaching writing, and a personal reflection on her relationship with writing and teaching. Carmichael described her thesis writings as “explorations of what it means to listen and respond to calls – calls to teach, calls to write, calls to live differently in this world.”
Master of Arts in Writing
The David Everett Award is given annually to a student graduating from the MA in Writing program who is recognized by the faculty as having an outstanding thesis with promising prospects for publication.
Tony Payne received The David Everett Award for Outstanding Thesis, Fiction. The thesis reviewer wrote: “Only a handful of theses I’ve read the past few years achieve the literary excellence on display with these stories and chapters…. Every page of this thesis reveals [the writer’s] mastery of the fictive techniques we hope our students will perfect in the program. Development of deep character, use of imagery, employment of completely believable dialogue, advancement of plot based on decisions characters make, and the emergence of theme through these devices constitute the considerable strengths of this thesis. In addition, the work is highly entertaining. I couldn’t stop reading, and I found myself wishing for more.”
Vidya Singh received The David Everett Award for Outstanding Thesis, Nonfiction. Thesis Reviewer wrote: “This thesis was a joy to read on multiple levels—the content itself, the voice, the thoughtful, literary interrogation of self and the world, and the quality of the prose. Each essay had its own specific theme, but as a whole project, the essays combined to create a world, a self-exploration, a cultural exploration, an exploration of intergenerational trauma/memory—a journey, in essence, that swept me right along with it—and left me longing for more. When I think of the word literary, I think quality of ideas, willingness to be vulnerable, and quality of prose. This thesis embodies all three components.”
Katherine Frey Ellison received the Outstanding Graduate Award. Ellison was an astute but kind literary critic in each of her fiction workshops and a valued member of each class she took in the program. Other students were drawn to her generosity—the time she devoted to her feedback letters to classmates—and respected her opinion, seeking her out both inside and outside of the classroom for lengthy conversations about literature. Her own writing reflected this all-consuming intellectual curiosity, her desire to understand craft and the tools at her disposal. The thesis reviewer shared “In reading her thesis, I immediately trusted that I was in the hands of a capable writer who was delicately escorting me through some tangled, dark worlds. The surprises in form, structure, plot, and word choice kept me active, thinking, engaged as I read.”
Tanya Nadzieja Rosalie Carter received the Outstanding Graduate Award. Carter was consistently collegial and gave thoughtful feedback to her classmates in workshops and embraced readings and assignments with a curiosity and openness that set the bar for the whole class. She held herself to rigorous standards and produced a superior novel draft by the time she completed the program. Her thesis reviewer wrote: “The strengths of this novel include sharp characterization; skillful use of roving, third-person limited point of view; compelling, life-like dialogue; dynamic evocation of place; and a multi-layered structure that superbly creates narrative tension by investing characters with interior and exterior conflicts.”
Center for Biotechnology Education
Veena Ghorakavi, in the MS in Bioinformatics program, won the First Prize for the Patrick Cummings Research Award for her independent research work, titled, Endu: Secure Management of Endometriosis Diagnostic Data Utilizing Anonymization, Distributed Ledger Technology and Wearable Monitoring. Ghorakavi developed an application that tracks physical activity for women with endometriosis and stores treatment data in a distributed ledger database. She went on to her thesis work, which comprised user interface testing and wearable integration.
Jonathan Wong, in the MS in Biotechnology program, won the Second Prize for the Patrick Cummings Research Award for his independent research work, titled, Development of an NFAT-Mediated Inducible Retroviral Vector System in CD19-Targeted Vδ1 Gamma Delta T Cells for Enhanced Cancer Immunotherapy. Wong’s work delved into the mechanism of spatial and temporal gene expression control using an all-in-one retroviral inducible vector system. His subsequent thesis work further contributes to the advancement of CAR T cell therapies that are more efficacious and versatile in their applications.
Alex Chen won the Third Prize for the Patrick Cummings Research Award for his independent research work, titled, ReadyCellOne: Computational Tools for Task-Centric Cell Engineering. Chen’s work led to the development of ReadyCellOne, a suite of computational tools intended to enable function-centered cell engineering via assessment of functional capacity in single cells. This innovation can infer and predict the functional activity of cells in relation to a target population and the developmental trajectory from single-cell transcriptomic data.
The prizes for first, second, and third place are $500, $300, and $200, respectively.
The Center for Biotechnology Education also awarded three honorable mentions.
Donald Kramer, a Spring 2024 graduate of the MS in Bioinformatics program, won an honorable mention for his 3D multi-scale mapping of a whole organism that reveals complex inter-organ connectivity.
Anuradha Mansinghka, a Spring 2024 graduate of the MS in Biotechnology program, won an honorable mention for “Establishing synaptic connectivity of a human iPSC-derived cortico-spinal tract (CST) cultured on multielectrode array (MEA) plates from human IPSCs using different techniques.”
Kaizen Nathani, a Summer 2024 graduate of the MS in Bioinformatics program, won an honorable mention for Comprehensive Analysis of Alternate isoform expression patterns in Primary Prostate Cancer: Unravelling Molecular Diversity across patients with diverse risk groups and racial ancestry.
Master of Science in Energy Policy and Climate
Carrie Jean Gannetta, won the Outstanding Capstone Project award for Insuring Change: Exploring the Role of Insurance in Driving Climate-Positive Behaviors. Gannetta worked closely with mentor Dr. Belinda Chiera and focused on the very important role that insurance plays in climate change as it relates to business. This important research will help businesses in the future better assess mitigate damage.
Daniel Rex Hazelton won the Outstanding Capstone Project award for Planning for Evacuations with Electric Vehicle: Understanding the Risks, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigation Approaches. Hazelton worked closely with mentor Dr. Geoffry Morrison to assess the electric grid and how it will react under conditions of hurricanes and other natural disasters. His work will help emergency agencies such as FEMA to better plan these situations.
Theodore Henry won the Outstanding Capstone Project award for Strategic Vulnerabilities of U.S. Offshore Wind Assets: A “New” U.S. Border Requires a Long-Term Security Plan. Henry worked closely with mentor Will Rodgers to analyze the risks associated with offshore wind regarding climate change and other security issues such as foreign agents. His work will help agencies plan and strategize detection of these important energy sources.
Charles William Kable Jr. won the Outstanding Capstone Project award for Exploring Programmatically Optimized Utility Solar PV Site Selection in Texas. Kable worked closely with mentor Manuel Jose Millan Sanchez to design and implement a very detailed and well-taught solar energy platform. This platform will help optimize the use of solar power for various situations in Texas.
Master of Science in Environmental Science and Policy
Madeline Fox Cholnoky received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award. Cholnoky worked closely with mentor Dr. Mary Allen to examine the Impact of Conservation-Oriented Dive Experiences on SCUBA Instructor Employee Satisfaction and Job Retention in Southern Florida, Mentor.
John Joseph Smallwood III received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award. Smallwood worked closely with mentor Dr. Rachell Issacs to review the mechanisms of forest decline and efficacy of prevention strategies in the Santa Fe Mountains of New Mexico.
Olivia Whatley received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award. Whatley worked closely with mentor Dr. Jerry Burgess to examine the Potential Applications of Mycorrhizae-Aided Tree Communication for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
Thomas Patrick Blair received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award. Blair worked closely with mentor Dr. Jorge Santiago Bley to review Mid-Canopy Height and Leaf Thickness are Correlated to Caterpillar (Lepidoptera) Habitat Choice in an Eastern USA, Temperate, Oak-Hickory Forest.
Master of Science in Geographic Information Systems
Adam Thomas received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award. Thomas studied on time series forest moves to redirect streamflow rates in the upper Colorado watershed using spatial temporal clusters. Thomas also created a national award-winning map that earned him best cartography at the Esri Federal User Conference which focused on Where the Water Flows. This map was also featured last month in San Diego at the Esri’s User Conference.
Marko Zlatic received the Outstanding Capstone Thesis award for his capstone titled Predicting Wildlife Point Locations: A Geospatial Approach to Wildfire Modeling in Mainland United States. Zlatic was also a presenter for GIS After Dark, a GIS-focused speaker series, during which he shared portions of his capstone thesis with the group.
Master of Science in Intelligence Analysis
Tom Michael Gempp won the award of Outstanding Capstone Project for An Assessment of Threats to U.S. Space Systems: Implications for Intelligence Operations. Gempp examined the wide range of threats to our satellite system posed by nation-state actors and emerging technologies, and their potential impact on vital U.S. warning systems.