Theses

TPP student research spans many domains, but shares methodologies and goals. Examples of award-winning theses and noteworthy research projects are shared here. We also maintain a public database of all TPP thesis titles, with links to web publications where available.

Award-Winning Theses and Student Research Stories

2024 Thesis Prize Winners

• Michael Giovanniello; “Modeling and Implementation of the U.S. Hydrogen Production Credit” (2024). Advisor(s): Dharik Mallapragada; Ruaridh Macdonald.
• Kailin Graham; “Doing the Dirty Work: Employment vulnerability to the energy transition implications for climate policy and politics” (2024). Advisor(s): Christopher R. Knittel.

2023 Thesis Prize Winner

• Maja Svanberg; “The Economic Advantage of Computer Vision Over Human Labor, and Its Market Implications” (2023). Advisor(s): Neil Thompson.

2022 Thesis Prize Winners

• Farri T. Gaba; “Solutions to the Generalized UAV Delivery Routing Problem for Last-Mile Delivery with Societal Constraints” (2022). Advisor(s): Matthias Winkenbach
• Jonathan Garrett Novak; “Policy and Design Courses of Action to Improve Resilience of Proliferated Low Earth Orbit Constellations Against Adverse Solar Weather” (2022). Advisor(s): Daniel E Hastings.
• Aaron Matthew Schwartz; “The Role of Natural Gas in Future Low-Carbon Energy Systems” (2022). Advisor(s): Dharik S Mallapragada.

2021 Thesis Prize Winner

Karan Bhuwalka, recent TPP alum who won best thesis in 2021, reflects on TPP’s interdisciplinary approach and bringing data science, manufacturing, and social issues together in his research on the materials that make up electric vehicles.

• Assessing the Socio-Economic Risks in Electric Vehicle Supply Chains (Thesis)
• Characterizing the Changes in Material Use due to Vehicle Electrification (Environmental Science & Technology, Jul 2021)

Do native ads shape our perception of the news?: Manon Revel

Often masquerading as legitimate news, so-called “native” ads, pushed by content recommendation networks, have brought badly needed revenue to the struggling U.S. news industry. But at what cost? TPP alum Manon Revel is now a PhD student in the IDSS Social and Engineering Systems PhD program. Her TPP thesis advisor was Prof. Ali Jadbabaie.

• Combining AI with passions (MIT News, March 2019)

Health Savings of Renewable Energy: Emil Dimanchev

Research from TPP alum Emil Dimanchev, who won TPP’s best thesis award in 2019, found that health savings from cleaner air would more than pay for the cost of implementing renewable energy policies. His thesis was advised by TPP director Noelle Selin.

• Shift to renewable electricity a win-win at statewide level (MIT News, Aug 2019)

Thesis Database

Thesis Titles, 1977 to 2015

• Zehra Ali; “Enabling energy efficiency for low-income housing in Developing countries using MIT Design Advisor;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Craig Blackburn; “Metrics for Enterprise Transformation;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Norma Campos; “Encouraging Technology Transition through Value Creation, Capture and Delivery Strategies: The Case of Data Link in the North Atlantic Airspace;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Andrea Castillo; “Assessing computational methods and science policy in systems biology;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Stephane Chong; “The future of primary care : an engineering system approach to fix the U.S. health care system;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Katherine Clopeck; “Monitoring and evaluation of household water treatment and safe storage technologies : the sustained use of the KOSIM ceramic water filter in northern region Ghana;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Alexander Cosmas; “The evolution of network competition in transatlantic aviation and the effects of regulatory liberalization;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Guillermo Cruz; “The Drivers of Foreign Direct Investment in Telecommunications among Developing Countries: The Role of Government;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Guillaume de Roo; “Economics of Fuel Cycles: Some Real Options and Neutronics Aspects of Recycling;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Stephan Feilhauer; “Impact of European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) on carbon emissions and investment decisions in the power sector;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Devin Fensterheim; “Knowledge production at the global frontier : the case of China;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Laurent Guerin; “Impact of Alternatives Nuclear Fuel Cycle Options on Industrial and Fuel Requirements, Actinide and Waste Inventories, and Economics;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Masafumi Hashimoto; “Public-private partnerships in space projects : an analysis of stakeholder dynamics;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Timothy Heidel; “Tradeoffs Between Revenue Enhancements and Emissions Reductions with Energy Storage-Couples Photovoltaics;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Ashleigh Hildebrand; “Strategies for Demonstration and Early Deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage: A Technical and Economic Assessment of Capture Percentage;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Michael Leybovich; “A Technoregulatory Analysis of Government Regulation and Oversight in the United States for the Protection of Passenger Safety in Commercial Human Spaceflight;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Andrew Lukmann; “Unintended Effects of Federal Transportation Policy: A Look at the Lifecycle Costs of the Interstate System;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Judith Maro; “Development of a Public Health Information Infrastructure for Postmarket Evidence;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Benjamin Maupetit; “Redefining Organizational Boundaries: Building an Aware and Agile Organization by Enabling New Social Interactions;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Jeffrey McAulay; “Assessing Deployment Strategies for Ethanol and Flex Fuel Vehicles in the U.S. Light-Duty Vehicle Fleet;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Jennifer Faye Morris; “Combining a Renewable Portfolio Standard with a Cap-and-Trade Policy: A General Equilibrium Analysis;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Marie-Claude Nadeau; “Evaluating Manufacturing Flexibility Driven by Learning;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Anna Nicholson; “Methods for Managing Uncertainty in Material Selection Decisions: Robustness of Early Stage Life Cycle Assessment;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Brian Omwenga; “A Technology Strategy Analysis for the Deployment of Broadband Connectivity for Economic Development in Emerging Economies: Studying the Case of Kenya Using the CLIOS Process;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Julio Pertuze; “Best Practices for Industry-University Research Collaborations;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Kyriakos Pierrakakis; “The Sustainable Growth Paradigm: Implications for Technology and Policy;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Paulina Ponce de Leon Barido; “Making Sustainability Sustainable: Environmental Management at IBM;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Thomas Rand-Nash; “Characterizing Capital and Operational Cost Tradeoffs Resulting from Fiber-to-the-Home Optical Network Architecture Choice;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Yamama Raza; “Uncertainty Analysis for Capacity Estimates and Leakage Potential for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Saline Aquifers;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• John Decker Ringo; “The Influence of Higher Education on the National Innovation System in Portugal;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Maria (Monica) Rush; “Creativity in Engineering Education: Lessons from the Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;” SM, 2009 (2/1/2009)
• Ramya Sankar; “Power of Networks: A Study of Health Franchises in Resource Limited Settings;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Katsunobo Sasanuma; “Policies for Parking Pricing Derived from a Queueing Perspective;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Ioannis Simaiakis; “Modeling and Control of Airport Departure Processes for Emissions Reduction;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)
• Lin Sun; “A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Alternative Ozone Control Strategies: Flexible Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Abatement from Power Plants in the Eastern United States;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Zoe Szajnfarber; “What Drives Spacecraft Innovation? A Quantitative Analysis of Communication Satellite History;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Junjay Tan; “Advancing Clinical Gait Analysis through Technology and Policy;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Kwan Chong Tan; “Stimulating Carbon Efficient Supply Chains: Carbon Labels and Voluntary Public Private Partnerships;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Rebecca Weiss; “Optimally Aggregating Elicited Expertise: A Proposed Application of the Bayesian Truth Serum for Policy Analysis;” SM, 2009 (6/1/2009)
• Neelima Yeddanapudi; “Strategies for Designing, Testing, and Demonstrating Safety in Synthetic Biology;” SM, 2009 (9/1/2009)