Human Security Lab Spring Student Researchers Design Projects on Nuclear and Climate Security
Human Security Lab’s Spring 2024 undergraduate student research group is hard at work helping develop two new research grants on public attitudes toward nuclear disarmament and climate change this semester.
The Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Human Security Lab enables students to participate meaningfully in research processes under the guidance of political science professor and Human Security Lab director, Dr. Charli Carpenter.
The Human Security Lab conducts interdisciplinary research on international security with a focus on the civilian experience. This term, the students are working with Dr. Carpenter and PhD student Geraldine Santoso on new projects related to attitudes toward nuclear use and legality and climate security.
This semester’s UREP team consists of six accomplished students - Ryan Richards, Ben Brown, Sarah Lee, Lily Lavier, Sari Kamiyama, and Gabi Boyd. Ryan is a senior majoring Political Science and History major interested in international law and norms. Ben is a senior majoring in Political Science and Spanish, researching transitional justice as well as international relations and law. Sarah is a senior majoring in Political Science and Economics with research interests in public international law, structural inequality based on ascriptive characteristics, education and climate security. Lily is a junior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics and Gender Studies with interests in international relations, humanitarian intervention and gender-based discrimination. Sari is a senior on the exchange program from Japan, majoring in Sociology and Gender Studies, having worked on nuclear abolition through gender perspective and research and advocacy on masculinity. Gabi is a senior who majors in International Relations with a minor in Mandarin Chinese and Psychology with research interests in international security and law, more specifically cybersecurity and China-US relations.
The wide interdisciplinary background that these undergraduate researchers bring to the lab will contribute to posing novel questions and finding creative solutions to pressing human security issues. By participating in UREP, these students are excited to apply classroom knowledge in impactful, hands-on human security research. In addition to collaborative research opportunities with Dr. Carpenter and graduate researchers, students are also looking forward to learning from and connecting with field professionals such as Judge Fausto Pocar from the International Court of Justice who sat on Ukraine v. Russian Federation (2024).
Sari, who has been involved with and co-founded NGOs working in the field of nuclear disarmament, noted “I’m thrilled to design a study on U.S. military attitudes toward nuclear weapons, which I believe will provide a solid foundation for further peace efforts.” Gabi notes she is “excited to connect research, such as nuclear taboo projects with NGOs in the nuclear disarmament community.” The lab will also begin research on investigating the implications of framing on attitudes towards the climate and refugee policy led by doctoral researcher Geraldine Santoso. Richards notes his excitement to work on this developing project, “I am very excited to work under two outstanding scholars, learning the grant application process.”
Under the leadership of Dr. Carpenter, affiliated faculty and advanced UMass graduate students, the program cultivates the next generation of human security researchers, addressing complex global problems through an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach. UREP's applied, socially conscious research exemplifies UMass Amherst's mission of knowledge in service of humanity.