2025 UCI Summer Program Projects

This summer, our students once again impressed us with their creativity, dedication, and courage. At the conclusion of the UCI Ethics Center Summer Internship Program, they presented projects that explored pressing questions of justice, identity, and community. What makes these projects extraordinary is not only the intellectual rigor of the work, but the personal courage of our students. They asked hard questions about culture, identity, political resilience, social justice, and pressing issues such as genocide, wealth inequality, populism, education, and peacebuilding, and then connected those questions back to their own lives, families, and communities. Their presentations reflected both scholarship and heart, striking a balance between careful research and creative expression.

We are deeply proud of the growth we witnessed over these weeks. The program is demanding: lectures, discussions, group projects, and mentoring sessions. Yet the final presentations reveal the extraordinary result of that journey. We are proud not only of the research produced but of the resilience, empathy, and leadership that emerged along the way. Students gained confidence in their voices, resilience in their research, and collaboration in their teamwork. Many stepped into leadership roles, mentoring one another, engaging in dialogue across differences, and carrying forward the spirit of ethical inquiry that is at the core of the program.

The closing presentations are always a highlight of the year, a reminder that the future of ethics and public life is in capable, thoughtful, and compassionate hands. We invite you to watch this year’s presentations and celebrate with us the passion, talent, and moral courage of our 2025 summer interns. Their voices give us hope, and we are honored to share a glimpse of their work here.

2024 Summer Mentoring Program

Student Papers

Peace in the Middle East - Exploring the Nature of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from its Beginning to Today

Mexican Immigrants and U.S. Immigration Policy - A Comparative Analysis of Obama and Trump Administrations

Analyzing Immigration Policy: The DREAM Act and its National Impacts

2022 Summer Mentoring Program

Student Papers

The war in Ukraine - research and opinions

Human Rights and Young People

The Pseudo-Science of Race and Ethnicity

Unpacking race and racism – lessons we learned

2021 Summer Mentoring Program

Past 2019 and 2020 summer interns

Lauren Yu is a student at Stanford University currently interested in the intersection of art and technology. She previously attended Brea Olinda High School and interned at the UCI Ethics Center in 2019 and 2020. Lauren has also founded a software as a service startup working with restaurants across Orange County and wrote and illustrated "Super STEM", a comic book promoting diversity in the STEM field. In college, she plans to further research social issues while continuing her involvement in the business and computer science space.

While at the Ethics Center, Lauren was first mentored by Ben Hoyt (summer 2019). Lauren writes: “Ben first showed me the intersection of data and the humanities. Researching the impact of political science courses on civic efficacy taught me data entry and analysis as well as how they could be applied to moral issues.”

In 2020, Lauren interned with Prince Heto. “Prince showed interns the nuances of international relations and provided my first-ever opportunity to create and format a research paper. In all, I truly appreciate the internship program for shaping my interest in studying ethical dilemmas! The program allowed for so many gripping discussions and led me to so many opportunities and passions I would never have had otherwise.”

Lauren and intern Ali Ansari are also at Stanford. Ali worked for two summers with Professor Monroe on work on COVID and scientific standards.