Over the summer, I had the honor of being a research fellow at the Mobilization and Political Economy Program at the University of Pittsburgh which aims to train students to become the next generation of researchers. My research project was titled “Monetary Sovereignty and Industrialization: Comparison between Canada and Argentina” and focused on  how monetary sovereignty, when a country issues its own currency with its taxes and bonds denominated in said currency, leads to industrialization. With the help of my mentors, Dr. Mariely Lopez-Santana and Dr. Jude Hays, and the teaching assistants, I was able to combine academic literature about state capacity and state-led development to my own interest in monetary systems. 

As an Adelphi Honors College Summer Research Fellow this work helped me to develop my theoretical framework for my research for my senior honors thesis. 

Besides my research project, I was exposed to STATA, a statistical programming language, and how it can be used for statistical modelling. Other methodologies we were exposed to were text-to-data, comparative ethnography, fieldwork and survey design. 

Text-to-data was one of my favorite seminars. It’s basically a computational method by which texts (they can be white papers or newspapers) are converted into numerical data. Another favorite was critical political economy which emphasizes how politics and economics cannot be separated in understanding power dynamics within society. It gave us tools to understand how socio-cultural variables and ideology intertwined with political-economic power structures in different societies. 

The author, back row center, was particularly grateful for the friendships made during the research experience. He said, “Even though our homes are spread across the country, I’ve developed friendships that will last a lifetime.

The program also provided workshops on applying for graduate school, writing a statement of purpose, creating research proposals and attending academic conferences. The Mobilization and Political Economy program was an academically intensive journey that pushed me in ways that I didn’t expect, and for which I am grateful. However, I really appreciate the sense of family it provided. The teaching assistants, program coordinators, mentors and  friends I met made this program enjoyable and rewarding. Whether we visited the Carnegie Art and Natural History museum, attended Picklesburgh or enjoyed our late night watch parties, the participants made every minute meaningful. I’m left with hope that a better world is possible because of the passion, insight, industry, courage and empathy the participants and instructors exhibited. I only hope I can translate my experience from my summer into my last year at Adelphi.