Welcome to the College’s Research Roundup—a new quarterly news feature to celebrate the success of our students.
Paris on the Prairie
Fourth-year Caroline Hugh led a Welcome Week urban hike based on her thesis research, which was inspired after noticing the many coincidences between Chicago and Paris when she studied abroad there during her second year. Her thesis focuses on the concept of Chicago being a "Paris on the Prairie," and the ways urban planning has been used to push out certain populations in the name of beauty, coherence or sanitation. The tour, which Hugh also gave to members of the French Heritage Society in October, started on the Midway Plaisance (to talk about the boulevard system) and ended at the Cultural Center, with many stops in between.
College Students Co-author Scholarly Article on Climate Change Attitudes
In the third and final quarter of a yearlong Social Science Inquiry sequence, Political Science Prof. Andrew Eggers provided students with the opportunity to work together on a study about climate change. The project led to a published article in Research & Politics, where the students were named as authors. Congratulations to Olivia Chiancone, Tara Chugh, Brayant De Leon-Duarte, Benjamin Fica, Ishaan Goel, Stacia Konow, Annika Lundsgaard, Julia Margie, Zane Miller, Manuela Pinheiro, Panteleymon Semka, John Stokes, Leena Tantawy, Panthita Triamkitsawat and Gus Waldspurger.
RSO Wins Gold at iGEM Competition
Members of the RSO GeneHackers—fourth-years Henry Bloom and Symonne Liu, and second-years Sofia Cadoret-Manier, Nicole Liu and Zane Ebel—achieved a gold medal at the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition, a globally recognized event in synthetic biology in Paris this October. Their project, VIPR: Virus-particle inspired particle vaccine for schistosomiasis, aimed to create a modular vaccine platform for a blood-dwelling parasite affecting 700 million people worldwide.
Bridging the Gap Between Scientists and the Community
In the Department of Computer Science’s Amyoli Internet Research (AIR) lab,fourth-year Kanchan Naik and second-year Madison Vanderbilt contributed to a study examining microclimates and flooding in urban areas like Chatham, led by Ph.D. student Kelly Wagman. Grounded by communications with scientists and two roundtable discussions with local residents organized through the Greater Chatham Initiative, they designed a climate app that will enable the community and the scientists to communicate more effectively with each other.
Rhodes Scholar
Francesco Rahe
Fourth-year Francesco Rahe was selected as a 2025 Rhodes Scholar, and will pursue a master’s degree in classical Indian religions at Oxford University this fall. He is particularly interested in translating Sanskrit texts, and his graduate studies will build on Rahe’s extensive record of faculty-mentored research and creative practice, facilitated by UChicago’s College Summer Institute in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Quad Undergraduate Research Scholars Program. As a Quad Scholar, Rahe has spent two academic years translating the songs of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam with UChicago scholar Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi.
If you know of a UChicago College student whose research should be recognized, email details to kyoshimoto@uchicago.edu with “Research Roundup” in the subject line.
