Research Interns

Faisal Ahmed (Mentor: Rosella Cappella Zielinski, CAS Political Science) is a junior in the BA/MA program in Economics and is also pursuing a minor in Applied Human Development. As a research intern at CISS, he works to measure the financial implications of extreme weather events on air force bases in the continental United States. The project hopes to better understand the potential cost incurred on military bases by climate change. Outside of the CISS, Faisal keeps himself busy in various clubs, playing basketball, or exploring Boston.

Avery Bolden (Mentor: Spencer Piston, CAS Political Science) is currently a Senior studying political science and is in the BA/MA program. Through the CISS Research Internship, she’ll be working on a research project focusing on Massachusetts’s incarceration.  Avery’s research for her MA will focus on the modern-day educational outcomes due to the racial housing covenants that existed through the 20th century. Avery’s passionate about community service and participating in research that provides actionable policy recommendations.

Shumita Littlefield (Mentor: Deborah Kelemen, Psychological & Brain Sciences) is a junior at Boston University (CAS 2024), majoring in Psychology (CAS), focusing on developmental and child psychology, and minoring in Visual Arts (CFA). She is an undergraduate research assistant at BU’s Child Cognition Lab, working on the Evolving Minds project. Shumita is interested in children’s learning process and how they are shaped by play and toys, and is excited for the opportunity to work with the Child Cognition Lab.

Valjean Pulido Pardo (Mentor: Makarand Mody, SHA Hospitality Marketing) is a junior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Biology. Through the CISS Research Internship, he will work on the project “Prostitution as a means of Flourishing for Cubans,” examining: can/how Cubans flourish from prostitution? Valjean is passionate about community service, learning about cancer, and how to end world hunger.

Diana Reno (Mentor: Rachel Brulé) is a junior at the Pardee School of Global Studies majoring in International Relations, focusing on Africa and the Middle East and Business and Economics. Through the CISS Research Internship, she is working to establish a research-based foundation for the new Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience. The Alliance will seek to promote Afghan women’s access to employment, entrepreneurship, and quality education globally. Diana is passionate about studying the intersections between gender, policy, and economics, especially in the context of forced migration. 

Claire Williams (Mentor: Rosella Cappella Zielinski, CAS Political Science) is a junior double majoring in International Relations and Economics. Through the CISS Research Internship, she is working on a project focused on measuring the monetary costs extreme weather events create for United States military installations through damages. At the conclusion of her research, this project will show not only the financial consequences climate change has on individual installations, but on US national security as a whole. As a student and research intern, Claire is passionate about studying global nuclear security, international trade, and foreign politics and affairs.

For more information on previous intern cohorts, see their bios here.

In 2021, CISS awarded two faculty pilot grants: The Future of Sino-Western Relations is in their Past (Daryl Ireland (STH  Mission) and Eugenio Menegon (CAS History)) and Moving from Precarity Towards Prosperity: An Abductive Analysis of Precarity Management in Service Sector Employment (Makarand Mody (SHA Hospitality Marketing)).

Project: The Future of Sino-Western Relations is in their Past. Faculty investigators Daryl Ireland (STH  and CGCM)  and Eugenio Menegon (History/CAS). The grant will support the expansion of the China Historical Christian Database (CHCD), a platform that provides users tools to discover where every Christian church, school, hospital, lab, museum, orphanage, publishing house, and other important locations were situated in China.

Dan Liu is a graduate student at BU School of Theology. He is a native of Northern China. He is interested in Chinese Christianity and Chinese Church History, with a special interest in China’s modern encounter with Christianity. By participating in the project of CISS, Dan will use his background and skills to work in Boston-area archives to locate and record more data on Christian missions. In his free time, Dan loves to watch movies and Taiwan TV shows.

Aixin Yi is a PhD student at the Department of History working under Dr. Eugenio Menegon, focusing on Protestant missionary movements in late imperial and modern China. Her research interests also concern the development of Christianity in East Asia and the global history of science and technology. Yi holds a BA in sociology from Beijing Tsinghua University and an MA in East Asian Studies from Duke University. For her master’s project, which focused on the religious experience of rural-to-urban migrant workers in contemporary China, Yi conducted fieldwork in churches and Christian migrant communities in southeast China. Prior to joining Boston University, Yi worked as a food journalist in Shanghai. This work has allowed her to develop a strong interest in food and ethics.

Project: Moving from Precarity Towards Prosperity: An Abductive Analysis of Precarity Management in Service Sector Employment Faculty investigator Makarand Mody (SHA). The grant will support the investigation of strategies that workers in precarious service occupations in the hospitality and long-term care sectors develop and implement to combat the adverse outcomes of precarious employment (PE) for worker well-being and quality of life.

Kasandra Kue-Rojas (CAS ’23) is a junior majoring in Anthropology with a Specialization in Health & Medicine. She is interested in advocating for more person-centered approaches for cancer patients who deserve to be respected/heard, and addressing structural disparities that may contribute to a vicious cycle of clashing perspectives for doctors. Ultimately, she would like to serve as a middle ground for negotiating for better conditions for individuals who may be sidelined, undervalued, and facing difficult situations that stem from precarious employment. She is thrilled to be a part of the CISS as a summer research assistant, which allows her to prepare herself for UROP which will also involve interviewing cancer patients that face difficulties associated with health status discrimination & undergo a long journey toward recovery. In her free time, she likes to play the piano & go to the gym.

Emily Schwartz (CAS ’24) is a sophomore majoring in sociocultural anthropology and Spanish with a minor in Latin American studies. Emily is originally from Indianapolis, IN, but she loves all that Boston has to offer academically and socially. She is particularly excited to apply ethnographic fieldwork interview skills to the study and to gain experience conducting interviews in the field. Outside of the project, Emily works as a tutor teaching English to immigrants. In the future, she hopes to study abroad and conduct fieldwork research in Brazil. Emily is excited to be a part of such a meaningful and beneficial project through CISS.

Taelor Anderson (Mentor: Aarti Bodas, Psychological and Brain Sciences) is a junior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Statistical Methods in CAS. She has been working in BU’s Child Cognition Lab since the beginning of the Spring 2022 semester as an undergraduate research assistant and is super excited to be continuing her work there this summer. Instead of returning home to Boise, Idaho, Taelor will be assisting the Child Cognition Lab in interviewing participants at the Museum of Science to see how young children feel about kids with various health conditions and varying abilities. At BU, she is music director of the Off Broadway Choir and Director of Administration of Delta Delta Delta.

Avery Bolden (Mentor: Spencer Piston, Political Science) is a currently Senior at Boston University in the school of College of Arts and Science. She is studying political science and is in the BA/MA program. Through the CISS Research Internship, she’ll be working on a research project that focuses on incarceration in Massachusetts.  Avery’s research for her MA will focus on the modern day educational outcomes as a result of the racial housing covenants that existed through the 20th century. Avery’s passionate about community service and participating in research that lends to actionable policy recommendations.

Alex Eduarte (Mentor: Meghann Lucy, Sociology) is a rising sophomore from Honolulu, Hawaii, majoring in Behavior & Health and planning to minor in Sociology. Through the CISS internship program, she will be researching hoarding, the medicalization of these consumption and accumulation behaviors, and their relation to evictions in the city of Boston. Alex is passionate about the sociology of health, particularly disparities within the U.S. healthcare system and the treatment of mental health issues. In the future, she plans to continue her research in sociology and attend medical school to pursue psychiatry. In her free time, Alex enjoys playing the guitar, painting, and discovering new music to listen to.

Eliana Mugar (Mentor: Charles B. Chang, Linguistics). Eliana is a rising senior majoring in Linguistics and Computer Science and minoring in Film and Television. Through the CISS Research Internship, she will work on the project “Alcohol Intoxication Effects on Language,” examining the effects of alcohol intoxication, a common experience across cultures, on speech production by bilingual language users. Eliana’s interests include computational linguistics, multilingualism/language acquisition, phonetics/phonology, and sociolinguistics. She is passionate about being able to connect the world of digital technology with the humanities. In the future, she hopes to do further research within the fields of computational linguistics and social data analytics while continuing her passion for film.