The Hart Leadership Program is proud to introduce eight students who have been awarded SOL Summer Grants. The grants are awarded to qualified undergraduates to design and conduct community-based research projects collaboratively with partner organizations for 8-12 weeks during the summer of 2018.

In a competitive application process, students designed their own community based research project, identified potential community partners and faculty mentors, and proposed detailed budgets for their summer. The grantees participated in Spring training modules about research methods, reflective writing, and safety and security issues. The students also made a commitment to participating in Visible Thinking, the annual forum for undergraduate research sponsored by the Duke Office for Undergraduate Research.

The 2018 SOL Summer Grant recipients come from disciplines across Duke University, and will conduct research in a wide variety of fields.

Affordable Housing

Aanan Henderson (‘20) is a History and Economics double major. He will partner with Strategic Actions for a Just Economy in Los Angeles, California, to study the effects of local taxes on affordable housing.

Gino Nuzzolillo (‘20) is pursuing a History major and was a participant of the yearlong SOL program in 2017. This year, he will partner with the Community Empowerment Fund in Durham, North Carolina, to conduct research on city-wide initiatives that address access to affordable housing and the financial capability-building of residents.

Community

Bigyan Babu Regmi (‘20) is pursuing an Economics and Statistics double major. He will partner with the National Planning Commission in Nepal on a research project about the government response to the earthquake in 2015 and the rebuilding efforts currently underway.

Erin Williams (‘20) is pursuing a double major in Public Policy Studies and Cultural Anthropology. Erin, who was a participant in the SOL program in 2017, will continue her partnership with White Bison in Colorado. This summer, she hopes to study the phenomenon of missing native women within the context of their native communities.

Education

Linda Zhang (‘20) is a Public Policy Studies major and will partner with the Siemen’s Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Linda, who was participated in the SOL program in 2017, will continue her research about higher education by investigating vocational apprenticeship program as an alternative to higher education.

Environment

Tevin Brown (‘19) is pursuing an interdisciplinary major in Earth and Ocean Sciences and Computer Science. Tevin will partner with the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica on a project concerned with mitigating the risk of landslide during heavy rain events.

Lauren Pederson (‘19) is an Environmental Science major. She will partner with the Limahuli Garden and Preserve, one of the five gardens within the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.  Lauren will work with the Garden to conduct assessments of the Limahuli stream, with the goal of turning their monitoring methods into a model for other streams across the island.

Health

Nisha Uppuluri (‘19) is a Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies and Global Health double major. She will partner with the Centering Pregnancy Program in the Durham County Public Health Department, to study the impact of self-advocacy programming among Latin American mothers.

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