2019 Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Institute for Public Administration's (IPA) undergraduate public policy fellows had the opportunity to showcase their summer research projects at the University of Delaware's 2019 Undergraduate Research and Service Scholar Celebratory Symposium.

The symposium highlighted the university's Summer Scholars initiative, a 10-week program that allows for undergraduates to collaborate with faculty and staff mentors to learn how original research takes place. National studies of undergraduate research and experimental learning have shown time and again that these experiences can be the most powerful part of a student's education and in turn shaping his or her life and career for decades to come.

In total, IPA had six undergraduate public policy fellows present on their research this summer:

Kohei Akiba

Topic: Coastal Federal Consistency Policy: A Gap Analysis

Faculty/staff mentor: Philip Barnes

In his role as a summer public policy fellow, Kohei worked with Phil Barnes to analyze consistencies and gaps between Delaware's Coastal Zone Act and endangered species policies and federal policies in a report for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Michaela Dougherty

Topic: How DelDOT Engages Followers on Social Media

Faculty/staff mentors: William DeCoursey and Sarah Pragg

Michaela's summer research project focused on analyzing trends in government social media campaigns to ultimately provide DelDOT's Transportation Management Center with a series of best practices to reach Delawareans.

Esther Larios

Topic: Social Media Plan for College Application Month

Faculty/staff mentors: Kelly Sherretz and Lisa Moreland Allred

In an effort to create an engaging online marketing campaign for the Delaware Department of Education's College Application Month, Esther analyzed online marketing trends to provide an overview of best practices for a 2019 social media strategy.

Madison Matera

Topic: Racial Disparities Within School Discipline and the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Delaware

Faculty/staff mentor: Leann Moore

Madison's research project focused on how school discipline techniques impact what is known as the "school-to-prison" pipeline in Delaware by analyzing juvenile recidivism rates across the state.

Sarah Mazzarella

Topic: Mobility in Motion

Faculty/staff mentors: Julia O'Hanlon and Marcia Scott

As a summer public policy fellow, Sarah had the opportunity to contribute to a new coordinated mobility plan for DART First State's Mobility in Motion initiative following changes to federal standards. She was tasked with both compiling a comprehensive list of nonprofit, public, and private organizations that currently provide transportation across the state and working with the Delaware Transit Corporation's Technical Advisory Committee to engage stakeholder groups statewide to gauge needed transportation improvements to include in the plan.

Allison Michalowski

Topic: Complete Communities Toolbox: Developing Multimedia Online Tools to Help Local Governments with Policy Making

Faculty/staff mentors: Marcia Scott and Sarah Pragg

This summer, Allison researched, adopted, and tailored policy practices to create a suite of multimedia tools within the Delaware Complete Communities Toolbox to aid Delaware local governments in developing policies. As part of her role, Allison researched, wrote, designed, and marketed the report, Access to Healthy Food: A Guide for Delaware Local Governments.

About the Institute for Public Administration

The University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA) addresses the policy, planning, and management needs of its partners through the integration of applied research, professional development and the education of tomorrow's leaders.