OSCAR Student Isabel Guide Analyzes Hydroelectric Microturbine Deployment for Energy and Water Resilience in Haiti

As a URSP student this summer, my project analyzed hydroelectric microturbine deployment for energy and water resilience in Haiti. This project was first introduced to me by my mentor, Dr. Jennifer Sklarew, when I asked her if she was conducting any research over the Summer that would need a student assistant. She informed me that this project will build on a current PGF-funded micro-turbine pilot on Mason’s Fairfax campus.

This project sparked my interest through my passion for energy policy and the factors that contribute to the deployment of energy systems in a nation. I believe that developing countries should be well-aided by their allies that have a secure energy system in how to develop frameworks for energy policy. As someone who wants to study energy law after my undergraduate degree is complete, I believe that this research will give me the institutional knowledge necessary to fully comprehend the legalities of energy policy within a country. As for my goals for where I wish to see the world in my lifetime, I hope for this research to assist developing countries in fulfilling their energy needs so that all of their citizens can have access to affordable electricity.

Throughout this summer, much of my research has been analyzing current literature on the state in which Haiti’s energy system and framework is already in. Also, most developing nations look to multilateral development banks and international banks to assist them with the investments necessary to construct energy plants, so a lot of my time has been put into further understanding those developments as well. Also, I am looking forward to interviewing professionals in the field of international development that have worked in Haiti. From this research, I have discovered that a secure energy system may be useless and will fail in the long-term if it is not secured by an institution with a proper decision-making authority.

URSP Student Connor Reid Studies and Evaluates American History Narratives Regarding the Plymouth Colony

My name is Connor Reid. I’m a sophomore here at GMU majoring in Government and International Politics and minoring in Religious Studies. Since I was young, I have always had an interest in history, and through OSCAR I have been given an excellent opportunity to explore this interest. This semester I am studying American historical narratives regarding the Plymouth Colony and evaluating those narratives by utilizing under-studied comprehensive town records of Plymouth Colony settlements. 

My project involves reading and identifying important passages to contribute to a larger narrative of the Plymouth Colony. To achieve this, I have been going a book of records ever two or so weeks, and regulary meeting with my mentor for questions or clarification. So far, my greatest discovery has been learning first-hand just how much life changed in the Plymouth Colony over time – outside changes were rapid and the Pigrims were forced to increasingly adapt to the new world around them. 

This project has allowed me to expand possibilities after GMU and gives me valuable analytical, research, and writing skills that would be useful in almost any career or graduate program post-graduation, and I am very thankful to OSCAR for this opportunity.

URSP Student Jordan Shimer Studies Economic and Political Predictors of Revolution

Together with Jamie Wheeler, I am studying economic and political predictors of revolution.  I am taking various measures of well-being and applying them within the framework of a model of revolution I developed during a previous semester. My hope is to better predict instability in developing countries, which would have applications in fields from diplomacy to finance.

I became interested in this project while studying at Trinity College in Oxford, during a tutorial in comparative politics. I studied both revolution and regime failure, and noticed that many theories were more explanatory than predictive.  These studies often were based on case studies, and I believe a large-n study (even with a large error coefficient) can help guide future studies.

I am planning on pursuing a PhD in Political Science.  Obviously, there is no better way to prepare for graduate school than bolstering my resume with successful research, and hopefully conference presentations or a paper publication. After grad school, I hope to either teach at a university, work in a think-tank, or work as a policy advisor.  Any of these career paths would also be aided by having published works and research experience.

I spend most my research time poring over databases and looking for data that most closely resembles the variables within the theoretical model.  I hold weekly meetings with my mentor, where we cover what I have learned or want to focus on for the next week.  We often spend large portions of this time debating the scope and structure of the project.  Coming from different academic fields, we often look to apply vastly different tools to solve the problems in front of us. These differences can lively discussions, but also allow us to take a unique approach to a large, oft-studied issue in political science. 

This week, I discovered several statistical methods to deal with the real-world challenges of measuring well-being in states that are, by definition, politically unstable. While data is often incomplete or must be estimated in many cases, careful selection of sources can provide results that are precise, but inaccurate.  However, the direction of these inaccuracies is often similar, allowing this variability to become baked into the error term of the model.  While this reduces the predictive power of the model, it allows the model to hopefully apply to a larger number of cases.

URSP Sarah Evans Researches How the United States can Adjust it's al-Qaeda-centric Counterterrorism Policies to Contain ISIS

My research question for this semester is, “How can the United States adjust its al-Qaeda-centric counterterrorism policies to contain ISIS?” I initially became interested in terrorism research through taking a number of interesting classes, such as “Theory and Politics of Terrorism” and “Foreign Intelligence and Civil Liberties,” through my intelligence analysis minor. I first got involved in OSCAR research in the spring semester of 2016. My research topic at that time was about terrorism in weak and failed states.

Given the international events that played out in early 2016, it seemed like a natural progression for me to shift my focus to a research project about ISIS. I felt that my question pointed to a unique and crucial dimension of terrorism from the standpoint of the U.S: Because ISIS is fundamentally different than al-Qaeda, it must be addressed in a manner than appreciates those differences. In the future, I am interested in working in counterterrorism or law. I expect that both the specific knowledge I have learned about terrorist groups and Middle Eastern countries as well as the general improvements to my researching and writing skills will be helpful in my future career path.  

For this project I largely use academic journal articles, government documents, and policy papers published by think tanks to gather information. Using these sources, my typical week involves researching, annotating articles, and writing. Given how close I am to Washington, I also decided to incorporate interviews with policy researchers in D.C. who focus on terrorism and ISIS. One important difference that I have noticed between ISIS and al-Qaeda is the differing levels of international involvement against the two groups. Due to the close involvement of actors including Iran and Russia in Iraq and Syria, the United States has different counterterrorism options than those that existed in addressing al-Qaeda after 9/11.

URSP Student Alzahraa Mirza Conducts an Analytical Study of the Modern Salafi Brotherhood’s Radical Movements in Saudi Arabia and its Terrorism Implications

Developing curiosity about specific topics and subjects can lead to the start of a journey. Asking a question that have not been answered or to start developing a more detailed question about something that have been already been answered but needs more clarification is a journey that the researcher learns a lot throughout it. My research questions evolve around the political system and radical Salafism in Saudi Arabia. The title of my project is “I was so surprised to know that I got the opportunity to work under the guidance of Dr. Eric Shiraev, a person who is very knowledgeable and professional at the field on comparative politics. He helped me to improve my analysis skills, which helped me a lot to develop an analytical argument to try supporting the ideas I had about the rise of terrorist groups in Saudi Arabia. I began questioning those topics when I was back home, in Saudi Arabia and I wanted to answer those questions academically so I can expose it to other Saudi nationals who might have the same questions by developing an argument and analyzing facts in order to prove a specific thesis that I have developed from those questions. This project so far was the most beneficial opportunity that I had during my college career. It gave me the chance to be exposed to a huge amount of for my research.

I am planning to continue studying about topics of comparative politics and international relations in order to go back and serve for my country, Saudi Arabia. This research gave me a different insight that would help me to understand the way the system is built on in my country, which eventually would help me when I am working there. On weekly bases, I try to spend an hour and a half to two hours to work on my research; I sometimes spend four when I get into very complicated arguments and discussions. I meet with my professor often the times, but I use online communications to update him on my work all the time. I found out this week that of the names that I am looking for in my research is translated from Arabic into a different name in English, which was interesting to discover how they translated it into English and which methods they used to do that.

URSP Student Chandra Sheppard Researches International Human Rights Violations Trials in Guatemala and Peru

“…In order to achieve justice, that’s why I’m here, where one can tell the whole truth.” This statement was made by Cirila Pulido, a survivor of the Accomarca Massacre, during the U.S. civil trial of Telmo Hurtado (2008).  During the 1980s, the Peruvian government attempted to eradicate a Maoist insurgency called Shining Path using violent tactics of eradication and abduction. Unfortunately many of the victims of the government and Shining Path’s war for power were large sections of indigenous civilians. In one specific instance, a small village called Accomarca was the scene for one of the largest instances of Peruvian state-sponsored violence. Over 69 men, women, children and the elderly were rounded up, beaten and placed into houses where soldiers under Hurtado’s command fired upon them and eventually destroyed the houses with grenades. When Hurtado fled to the U.S. to avoid prosecution for his crime in Peru, the Center for Justice and Accountability and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement completed an investigation that located and detained Hurtado and a few others accused of being involved in the same massacre. My research involves researching trail proceedings, researching news archives, interviewing those involved and learning about how the civil court system in the U.S. can be used as an avenue of justice for victims worldwide.

I became interested in this project when I first began studying civil violence in Central and South America in some of my George Mason classes, specifically those taught by my mentor Jo-Marie Burt. I believe this kind of research to be exceptionally important as victims of state sponsored violence may not be able to seek justice in their own countries, especially if the government responsible is still in power. Extra-territorial courts can help create an avenue for those victimized, and a court proceeding can give legitimacy and voice to the horrors that might otherwise be ignored or denied.  In the long term I would like to work for a non-profit organization, like the CJA, that works to provide justice for underrepresented and marginalized people, so this type of research has been incredible informative.  On a weekly basis, I do a lot of reading and comparing documents, since I work mostly with primary sources it takes many of them to paint a complete picture of what has happened and why. I also compare information, as most the research about the facts of the massacre comes from exhumed bodies, first-hand accounts and truth commission reports.  This week I learned that after the Peruvian military attempted to cover up the massacre by killing the survivors, they established an outpost in Accomarca, where they began to take the best grains and meat from the remaining villagers. Hopefully, these kinds of trials, and the increasing scope of international accountability can provide enough of a deterrent to prevent anything similar to the Accomarca Massacre from happening again.