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

• Jonathan Baker; “The Impact of Including Water Constraints on Food Production within a CGE Framework;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (John Reilly)
• Christopher Benson; “Technological Development and Innovation; Selected Policy Implications;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Christopher Magee)
• Keith Berkoben; “Extending Broadband Past the Urban Fringe with Wireless Mesh: A Strategic Analysis with Policy Implications for Kenya's Universal Service Fund;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Peter Szolovits)
• Robert Brasington; “Integration and Operation of Post-Combustion Capture System on Coal-Fired Power Generation: Load Following and Peak Power;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Howard Herzog)
• Cuicui Chen; “Working towards a Future on Alternative Fuels: The Role of the Automotive Industry;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Sergey Paltsev)
• Yiseul Cho; “Strategic Philanthropy for Cyber Security: An Extended Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework to Study Cybersecurity;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Stuart E Madnick)
• Katharine Chu; “Taiwanese Political Call-In Talk Shows: Control and "Credible Participation" Hidden behind the Spectacle;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Ian Condry, Linn W Hobbs)
• Ross Collins; “Forest Fire Management in Portugal: Developing System Insights through Models of Social and Physical Dynamics;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Richard De Neufville)
• Christopher Copeland; “Monitoring under the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement: The Prospects of Antineutrino Detection as an IAEA Verification Metric for the Disposition of Weapons-Grade Plutonium in the United States;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Paolo Cappellaro)
• Amanda Cuellar; “Plant Power: The Cost of Using Biomass for Power Generation and Potential for Decreased Greenhouse Gas Emissions;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Howard Herzog)
• Shreya Dave; “Comprehensive Performance Metrics for Complex Fenestration Systems Using a Relative Approach;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012)
• Pamela DeAmicis; “Seasonal and Diurnal Variability of Wind and Hydro Energy Sources on the Azores, Portugal and the Effectiveness of Utilizing Energy Storage to Achieve Maximum Penetration;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Stephen Connors)
• Anna Delgado; “Water Footprint of Electric Power Generation: Modeling Its Use and Analyzing Options for a Water-Scarce Future;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Howard Herzog)
• Sarah Fletcher; “Risk Assessment of Groundwater Contamination from Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Spills in Pennsylvania;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Ernest J Moniz)
• Mauricio Gomez Diaz; “Unintended Effects of Changes in NIH Appropriations: Challenges for Biomedical Research Workforce Development;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Richard C Larson)
• Ece Gulsen; “Operational and Policy Implications of Managing Uncertainty in Quality and Emissions of Multi-Feedstock Biodiesel Systems;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Joel P Clark)
• Arjun Gupta; “Governance Mechanisms for Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships: Focus on India;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Richard De Neufville)
• John Hagerty; “The Role of Hydroelectric Generation in Electric Power Systems with Large Scale Wind Generation;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Ernest J Moniz)
• John Hess; “Deployment Related Mental Health Care Seeking Behaviors in the U.S. Military and the Use of Telehealth to Mitigate Their Impacts on Access to Care;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Debbie Nightingale)
• Alexandre Jacquillat; “A Queuing Model of Airport Congestion and Policy Implications at JFK and EWR;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Amedeo R Odoni)
• Anjuli Jain Figueroa; “Using a Water Balance Model to Analyze the Implications of Potential Irrigation Development in the Upper Blue Nile Basin;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Dennis Mc Laughlin)
• Cody Kamin; “Integration and the Performance of Large-scale Health Enterprises: Field Studies of Psychological Health Delivery Systems in the U.S. Military;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Debbie Nightingale)
• Christina Karapataki; “Techno-Economic Analysis of Water Management Options for Unconventional Natural Gas Developments in the Marcellus Shale;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Francis M O'Sullivan)
• Tommy Leung; “A Chronological Probabilistic Production Cost Model to Evaluate the Reliability Contribution of Limited Energy Plants;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Jose Ignacio Perez- Arriaga)
• William Li; “Understanding User State and Preferences for Robust Spoken Dialog Systems and Location-Aware Assistive Technology;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Nicholas Roy, Seth Teller, James R. Glass)
• Benyue Liu; “Confucianism in Firms: A Comparative Study of South Korea, China and Japan;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Joel Moses)
• Caroline Lowenthal; “Evaluation of Sleepiness in Space Robotics Task Performance and Discussing Sleep with High School Students in a Museum;” SM, 2012 (02/01/2012) (Charles Oman)
• Tanvir Madan; “End-Use Electrification in the Residential Sector: A General Equilibrium Analysis of Technology Advancements;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (John Reilly)
• Takuji Matsumoto; “Risk Management and Governance for PFI Project: Technology Policy Lessons from the Case of Japan;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Richard De Neufville)
• Dominic McConnachie; “Climate Policy and The Airline Industry: Emissions Trading and Renewable Jet Fuel;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Ian A Waitz)
• Sreeja Nag; “Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software and STEM Education Using SPHERES Zero Robotics;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Olivier de Weck, Jeffrey Hoffman)
• Samantha O'Keefe; “A Field-Based Study of Alternative Microbial Indicator Tests for Drinking Water Quality in Northern Ghana;” SM, 2012 (02/01/2012) (Susan Murcott)
• Masahiro Ono; “Energy-efficient Control of a Smart Grid with Sustainable Homes Based on Distributing Risk;” SM, 2012 (02/01/2012) (Brian C Williams)
• Rachna Pande; “Globalization of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Richard K Lester)
• Matias Raby; “Architecting the Future Enterprise: A Framework for Supporting Decision Making in the Selection of Future States;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Patrick Hale, Patrick Hale, Debbie Nightingale)
• Garth Sheldon-Coulson; “Production of Levulinic Acid in Urban Biorefineries;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011)
• Melissa Spencer; “Engineering Financial Safety: A System-Theoretic Case Study from the Financial Crisis;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Nancy G Leveson)
• Antonio Tugores-Garcia; “Analysis of Global Airline Alliances as a Strategy for International Network Development;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Peter Belobaba, Peter Belobaba)
• Judy Wang; “The Impact of Individual-, Unit-, and Enterprise-Level Factors on Psychological Health Outcomes: A System Dynamics Study of the U.S. Military;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Debbie Nightingale)
• Caleb Waugh; “An Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution Abatement Opportunities in a Computable General Equilibrium Framework;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Anne White, John Reilly)
• Andrew Whitaker; “Reliability Implications of Price Responsive Demand: A Study of New England’s Power System;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (John G Kassakian)
• Philip Wolfe; “Aviation Environmental Policy Effects on National- and Regional-scale Air Quality, Noise, and Climate Impacts;” SM, 2012 (02/01/2012)
• Josephine Wolff; “Unraveling Internet Identities: Embedding Accountability at the Application Layer;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (David Clark)
• Stephen Woodrow; “Tragedy of the Routing Table: An Analysis of Collective Action amongst Internet Network Operators;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Karen Sollins)
• Xiang Ling Yap; “A Model-Based Approach to Regulating Electricity Distribution under New Operating Conditions;” SM, 2012 (06/01/2012) (Jose Ignacio Perez- Arriaga)
• Keith Yost; “Decision Analysis for Geothermal Energy;” SM, 2012 (02/01/2012)
• Melissa Zgola; “A Triage Approach to Streamline Environmental Footprinting: A Case Study for Liquid Crystal Displays;” SM, 2012 (09/01/2011) (Randolph Kirchain)