Anna Kozloski, Class of 2025

Jess Brier, Curator of Photography

This summer, I conducted full-time research for Curator of Photography, Jess Brier, in the Loeb. My findings will guide a future exhibition with the working title, Photo-Design: Making the World New, which highlights the ways in which communities have used photography and design to imagine alternative futures in the wake of profound loss and devastation.

For the first four weeks of my Ford experience, I explored promising case studies for Photo-Design. My research ranged anywhere from climate activism in Antarctica to the AIDS epidemic and queer activism in America. Jess encouraged me to pursue any historical moment that we could relate to unorthodox applications of photography and design. Although the initial breadth of the project was daunting, taking the time to explore every possible direction we could take the exhibition helped clarify what “photo-design” might look like and what specific historical moment I might want to focus on. The annotated bibliography I created during this period will guide future research on this exhibition.

For the second four weeks, I narrowed down my research topic to postwar, avant-garde architectural design in the 1960s and ‘70s. My findings paid specific attention to the ways in which architects used photomontage, collage, and combination printing to articulate an evolving relationship between humans, nature, technology, and consumerism amidst global rebuilding projects. For example, I considered the rise of Metabolist architecture in Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Italian architects’ experimentation with “architecture-less architecture” as a reaction against the hyperrationality of pre-WWII, Modernist designs, and English architectural designs for the Golden Lane Estate rebuilding project of 1953. In addition to Japan, Italy, and England, my research also explored architectural design in America, Austria, and Venezuela in the postwar period. I identified over 60 artworks (both at the Loeb and other museums collections or archives) that might be included in the final exhibition.

This project culminated in a research report that amassed my extensive research into one cohesive document. My essay, notes, artwork proposals, and annotated bibliography will serve as vital references for Jess and future interns when work on Photo-Design resumes. Thank you, Jess, for your mentorship and this wonderful opportunity to explore my historical and creative interests in a museum setting.

Abigail McLaughlin ’26

This summer I worked with Professor Esteban Argudo in the economics department to explore the effect of business cycles on the income and employment nativity for immigrant and native populations in the United States. The ultimate goal was to formally quantify the differential effects of business cycles on labor market outcomes for native and immigrant populations.

I began by collecting data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) through IPUMS to complement the analysis done using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data. Since the time series dimension of the data analysis requires the harmonization of variables, IPUMS was the best option for data collection, despite the fact that it required new code.

I replicated figures from existing literature (Albert 2021) to ensure the IPUMS data (right) was the same as the raw CPS data (left).

Job Finding Rate Gap to Natives

There is a slight discrepancy between the figures, attributed to a difference in the number of observations. Since the Census Bureau releases the basic and supplement files as separate files and IPUMS integrates and releases the supplement files as a part of the data, IPUMS has slightly more observations.

The CPS data (right) was then used to complement the findings from the SIPP data (left). It indicated that the unemployment rate for immigrants was consistently higher than natives up until 2008. A similar story is true for wages, the average wage of immigrants becomes higher between 2010 and 2015. Further regression analysis and data visualization will help to explain why.

SIPP & CPS Data Skilled Workers Unemployment Rate

SIPP & CPS Data Skilled Workers Wages

My experience with this project reinforced the importance of data in forming a qualitative argument. Data provides numbers that tell a story, however, it is further analysis that explains what that story is.

Julian Funaro 25′

This Summer, I have assisted Professor Ge in his ongoing undergraduate level textbook project entitled Industrial Organization: Theory and Practice, 6th Edition. My work consisted of three key concepts to industrial organization.

First, I wrote an outline for a section on two-sided markets. Two-sided markets consist of one or more intermediaries, called platforms, that allow for transactions between two groups. For example, eBay is a platform that allows for transactions between buyers and sellers. Much of the required mathematics to model two-sided markets is not suitable for undergraduate economic students. Hence, my task was to select a basic model and derive the necessary math needed to find profit-maximizing prices for two-sided markets that can be understood by students who have taken an introductory class in microeconomics. Then, I used the model to explain the pricing strategies of Yellow Pages. 

Next, I expanded the content on network economics. The network effect occurs when the value of a good or service increases as more people use it. For example, a larger number of agents on a social media platform increases the number of possible connections, thus increasing the potential benefit agents gain from joining the platform. We can describe a network with a graph consisting of a series of nodes connected by links. I used my knowledge in graph theory to help students’ further understanding of network economics.

Finally, I wrote an outline for a section on status quo bias. In standard theory, agents are assumed to be rational. However, their bounded rationality limits their ability to make rational decisions all of the time. One shortcut agents use is a bias towards the status quo, resulting in many economic consequences. 

I will be continuing my research with Professor Ge in the Fall 2024 semester.