Distinguished Thesis Award Winners

Distinguished Thesis Award
Wen Nin (Shania) Khoo (2022) 
  • Even if the Institution Forgets, We Remember: How Activist Memory Drives Duke Asian/American Student Organizing. Research Advisor: Calvin Cheung Miaw (History)
Stefanie Pousoulides (2021)
  • The Politics of Memory: The Meaning of Home to Armenian Genocide Survivors (1919-1991). Research Adviser: James Chappel (History)
Valeria Yin (2021)
  • Boundless Skies: Exploring How Asian Latin Americans Negotiate Belonging Across Borders.” Research Advisor: Susan Thananoparvan (Thompson Writing Program)
Ivan Robles (2020)
  • Disaster Futures: Puerto Rico’s Encounter with Hurricane Maria. Research Adviser: Richard Rosa (Romance Studies)
Daniela Flamini (2019)
  • Fact-Checking in Buenos Aires and the Modern Journalistic Struggle Over Knowledge. Research Advisor: Philip Napoli (Public Policy)
Phoebe O'Hara (2019)
  • Exercising Agency: Women, Space and Place in Saudi Arabia. Research Advisor: Erdag Gökner (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies)
Parmida Mostafavi (2018)
  • Shukhi-ye Zesht o Tekrari: Performing Blackness in Iranian Entertainment. Faculty Supervisor: Negar Mottahedeh (Program in Literature)
Chloe Ricks (2018)
  • "Last Stop Destination:" Poverty, Antiblackness, and University Education in the Mississippi Delta and Baixada Fluminense. Faculty Supervisor: John French (History and African and African American Studies)
Diana Dai (2017)
  • Working on the Inside, Living on the Outside: Migrant Domestic Workers in Jordan. Faculty Supervisor: Frances Hasso (Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies)
Iris Kim (2016)
  • The Intimacies between Tibet and Korea: Imagination, Religion, Politics. Faculty Supervisor: Hwansoo Kim (Religious Studies)
Alexandra Lynn Schwartz (2015)
  • Furnishing a Globalized World: Local Distinctiveness in the International Furniture Industry. Faculty Supervisor: Gary Gereffi (Sociology)
Ieshia Smith (2014)
  • The Plastic Face: Nation-Branding and Personal Branding in 21st Century South Korea. Faculty Supervisor: Cheehyung Kim (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, History)
Hannah Sieber (2013)
  • Chinese “Sea Turtles” and Importing a Culture of Innovation: Trends in Chinese Human Capital Migration in the 21st Century. Faculty supervisor: Timothy Lenoir (University Professor and Kimberly Jenkins Chair for New Technology and Society)
Katherine Soltis (2012)
  • "Biting the Bullet" and Banning Guns: The Brazilian National Referendum of 2005 and Its Defeat at the Polls. Faculty supervisor: John French (Professor, History Department)