Research Interns

Olivia Mills (CAS ‘27) is pursuing a major in Anthropology with a specialization in Health and Medicine. She is interested in the ways in which the bodies of marginalized persons are managed by state institutions and how those institutions frame their obligations to the unclaimed. Beyond the classroom, Olivia has found uniquely diverse work, including positions as a cake decorator, soccer referee, and house manager of a residence for formerly unhoused women. This year, she will be taking part in the Anthropology Teaching Collection Curation Project (ATCCP) under Dr. Andreana Cunningham, providing critical historical and legal context for tracing the provenience of skeletal remains in the BU Anthropology Teaching Collection. Through archival research and qualitative text analysis, her project tracks how poverty and social isolation were actively constructed as legal conditions of bodily availability to institutional science. The project: AY 26/27 CISS Paid Undergraduate Research Internship Program Proposal (Mentor: Andreana Cunningham, CAS/Anthropology).

Nikhil Pol (CAS ’27) studies political science and economics in BU’s College of Arts and Science. After graduating in May 2027, he aspires to pursue a career in political media and creative strategy; working with candidates, political organizations, and government bodies on public facing messaging and communications is an ardent focus of mine. He is thrilled to be a part of Dr. Michelle Amazeen’s ’Countering Climate Obstruction’ project. Learning about the mechanisms behind corporate efforts to misinform the public and the techniques of mass mobilization required to counter them is a research experience that is essential to my future goals. Apart from academics, I enjoy watching documentaries, playing basketball, and trying my hand at creative writing. The project: Countering Climate Obstruction: Native Advertising Analysis and Influencer-Led Interventions (Mentor: Michelle Amazeen, COM/Digital Media, Associate Dean of Research, and Communication Research Center director).

Carolina Ribeiro Sanctis (CAS ’27) is a senior pursuing a double major in Economics and Environmental Analysis & Policy. Her research interests center on energy economics, electricity markets, utility regulation, and the financial implications of the energy transition. Through the CISS internship, she will work with Professor Robert Kaufmann to examine how electric utilities’ capacity commitments and their implementation relate to stock-market performance, while developing her skills in financial-data collection, dataset construction, and econometric analysis. Carolina hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of energy, economics, and policy, and is excited to participate in the program to deepen her empirical research experience and better understand how investment decisions shape the energy transition. The project: Utilities’ Ability to execute Commitments on Financial Markets (Mentor: Robert Kaufmann, CAS/Earth & Environment).