2018-2019 Ricci Scholars

Michaela Marino, from Morris, Illinois, is a member of the University Honors Program, majoring in anthropology, with minors in peace studies and bioethics.  She is pursuing a comparative study of the concept of gender in China and Italy by examining how women in the two countries are portrayed in the media.  More specifically, Michaela will look at the impact of capitalism on advertisements with a particular focus on the ways images of women are used to promote consumerism in quite different political environments. 

Alaina Miller, another member of the Honors Program, from Chelsea, Michigan, is majoring in international studies, with a minor in international business and finance.  Inspired by the centrality of immigration as a topic of global conversation, Alaina’s project explores the impact of gentrification on the availability and affordability of housing for rural and foreign immigrants in Rome and Beijing. Her research will focus on specific neighborhoods in each city to find information on the types of housing these immigrant workers find and live in.

Rose Mohammadi, an honors student from Los Altos, California, is majoring in environmental science and economics. She has been awarded a Ricci Scholarship to explore the ideological and historical interplay between environmentalism and feminism in Italy and China. Rose’s project draws its inspiration from upon ecofeminism, a relatively new discipline within environmental philosophy that posits an alliance between women and nature.  Specifically, she plans to pursue a comparative study of the members and causes supported by environmental groups to test the applicability of ecofeminism in the two countries.

Olivia Muszynski, comes from Winter Park, Florida. She is also a member of the Honors Program majoring in finance. In line with her intellectual and career interests, Olivia wants to look at the impact of real estate taxes on urban development decisions and their economic and social consequences in Rome and Beijing. Her research will concentrate on commercial properties in similar neighborhoods in the two cities to shed light on the intended purposes of the real estate tax code and their unintended consequences. 

Matthew Walcutt is a member of the Honors Program from Strongville, Ohio, with a double major in history and Latin and minors in Greek and socio-legal studies. Matthew’s desire to pursue in a career in the legal profession fits well with his research project on the culture of law in contemporary Italy and China. He is especially interested in examining how current labor law has addressed and adapted to the two countries’ turbulent political and economic histories in the twentieth century.