Bringing together the insights gleaned through the course of one's studies, the completion of a thesis in a student's major discipline on a Latin American or Caribbean topic is one of the capstone experiences of the undergraduate certificate program. Below, you can get a sense of the impressive and broad-ranging scholarship produced each year.
Class of 2025
Students may write a senior thesis, an independent research paper (*), or take an additional LAS course to fulfill the final requirement for the certificate.
Beatriz Alcala-Ascencion, Anthropology
LA TIERRA TAMBIÉN ES DE LAS MUJERES: Birth, Nation-Building, and the Commodification of Indigenous Epistemologies
Adriana Alvarado, Sociology
LAS 302/ HIS 305 The Long 1960s in Latin America: Utopian Dreams and Harsh Realities
Gustavo Andre Blanco-Quiroga, Sociology
Why Bolivia is Late to The Lithium Race
Gabriela Cejas, Economics
Confronting the Kingpins’ Court: The Impact of OFAC Sanctions on Communities around Cartels and Organized Crime Groups in Mexico
Thomas Coulouras, Sociology
Patching Family Together: The Reinvention of Community in Mexico City Call Centers by Those Forcibly Removed from the United States
Elizabeth De Leon, Sociology
Building Community: The Influence of Informal Networks in Guatemalan American Enclaves
Samantha Ann Engst-Mansilla, School of Public and International Affairs
Governance, Authoritarianism, Democracy, and a Shift Toward China in El Salvador under Nayib Bukele
Helena Frudit, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
A high-resolution bioenergy sector optimization model for Brazil
Rodrigo Galindo, Anthropology
Between Wealth, Nations, and Want: International Migration and its Impact on Kinship Expression, a Case Study (Mexico-United States)
Kristy Mariann Gonzalez, School of Public and International Affairs
LAS 394 Social Policy and Social Change in 21st Century Latin America
Sejal Shri Goud, School of Public and International Affairs
Keeping Autonomy Afloat: Understanding Community-Driven Climate Mobility Through a Political Subjects Frame in Gunayala, Panama
Alliyah Gregory, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
HIS 489/ ENV 488/ LAS 489 Environmental History of Latin America
Alan Roberto Gutierrez, School of Public and International Affairs
Corruption in 21st Century Honduras: The Convergence of the Criminal, the Economic Elite, and the Politician
Jorge Efren Hernandez, Physics
MUS 244/ LAS 234 Roots: Rhythms, Music and Dance of the Americas
Mariana Icaza Diaz, Economics
Raíces que Pesan: Intergenerational Wealth and the Geography of Opportunity in Mexico
Carlisle Davis Imperial, Economics
The Effect of Religion on Support for Government Spending in Eight Key Areas: Religion and Variation Across Ten Latin American Countries
Gil Sander Joseph, Sociology
BREZIL SE LAKAY MWEN: Challenging the Mobility Bias in the Study of Onward Migration
Emma Rose Limor, Operations Research and Financial Engineering
Sovereignty over the Canal: Perspectives Amid US–China Confrontation*
Rosangela Lopez, Sociology
Punitive Rehabilitation?: Addiction, Incarceration, and Recovery
Jaylyn Murillo, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
LAS 369/ SPA 360 On Mobility: Passports, Borders, and World Citizenship
Ashley Carolina Olenkiewicz, School of Public and International Affairs
Understanding Mexican Identity Through a National and Transnational Lens*
Paola Padilla, School of Public and International Affairs
A Path to Prosperity: Mexican Education Reform Using Singaporean, Korean, and Chinese Education Policy Insights
Odette Anahi Perrusquia, Politics
The Politics of Passage: Understanding Migrant Caravans Through Mexico's Shifting Immigration Environment
Niccolo Giovanni Grant Platt, School of Public and International Affairs
Building Democracy Across Borders: How Transnational Non-State Actors Became Forces for Global Democratization in Argentina’s Pursuit of Justice
Alan Cyrus Soltani Plotz, School of Public and International Affairs
LAS 328 Undocumented: Migrants, Refugees, and Rights in Latin American Literature and Culture
Emilia Antonia Santianni, Spanish and Portuguese
Paradise Privatized: Foreign Land Control and the Making of Underdevelopment in Vieques, Puerto Rico
Oscar Eduardo Serra, School of Public and International Affairs
From Barrios to Bureaucracies: Online Outcry and Offline Economics in U.S.-Cuba Relations
Nely Abigail Serrano Rivas, Politics
ANT 438/ LAS 438/ SPI 438 Anthropology of Borders
Nora Shefferman, Molecular Biology
COM 336/ LAS 316/ POL 456 Art, Memory, and Human Rights in Latin America
Bryce Springfield, Politics
Herds, Hives, and Hierarchies: Investigating the Success of Contentious Activity
Naisha K. Sylvestre, Molecular Biology
LAS 384 Carceral Politics in Central America
John Venegas Juarez, History
Houston's Forgotten Barrio: Mexican-American Placemaking in 20th Century Pasadena, Texas
José Andrés Virgen Ortiz, Anthropology
THE ORAL HISTORIES WE CARRY BUT DON’T DARE TO SPEAK: Colorism, Race, Silence, and Memory in the Contemporary ‘‘Mestiza’’ Experience in Los Altos de Jalisco, México
Declan Monsalve Waters, School of Public and International Affairs
Laying the Groundwork: Infrastructure Strategy and Development Planning in Peru and Brazil
Lucia Moran Wetherill, School of Public and International Affairs
Reality of Reform: Assessing El Salvador’s 2009 Health Reforms and the Future of Health Under Bukele