What’s Next?

Over the Summer I had the privilege of exploring the evolution of human rights as a concept through two completely different experiences. For the first eight weeks of my summer, I worked diligently on my FSU IDEA Grant-funded multidisciplinary research project which amalgamates empirical evidence from the investigations of the data-intelligence policing program in Pasco County, Florida with research drawn from the fields of criminology, data ethics, sociology, law, and the humanities to analyze the efficacy, empirical impact, and human/civil rights implications of predictive and data-driven policing practices. For the following five, I traveled to Prague, Czechia to study human rights mitigation and 20th-century genocide with a cohort of FSU students experientially learning through conversations with NGO leaders and visits to sites of historic atrocity. Through these experiences, my interest was to bridge connections between human rights issues of the past and present by exploring the implications of industrialization, technology, and globalization.

Now that I have reached the end of summer, I am confident that I will be able to bridge the lessons I learned through these amazing experiences in meaningful ways to create a well-focused capstone project. My experiences also deeply shaped my plans for my time at FSU and beyond as I find myself continually inspired by all I have learned. I plan to continue using research to advocate for my community by continuing my project through the Honors in the Major Program where I will continue exploring predictive policing and law enforcement surveillance as a human rights issue. I will also be presenting my IDEA Grant research at the President’s Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence on October 10th. Similarly, witnessing how NGOs can have such a profound impact on the lives of the people they work with has inspired me to think about how I can continue to advocate for human rights in my future career. After graduate school, I hope to dedicate my professional career to education, public service, and human rights advocacy. This has been my goal for a long time, but after this summer, I have been feeling more clarity about how I can make this happen. Overall, my experiences this summer have been life-changing and I can’t wait to continue this research and experiential learning journey.