Masters Thesis Students Showcase Their Research

Over four days in March, upper school thesis students deliver impressive presentations showcasing months of research and in-depth analysis. This year, 13 students, under the guidance of History and Religion Department Chair Matt Ives, explored a wide range of topics, from the philosophical implications of Cold War academia to the neuroscience of aesthetic experience to the marketing power of astrology. Click here to view the program. 

“I always remind them that they know more about their subjects than anyone else in the room,” Ives said. “For me, the true demonstration of mastery is when they are confronted with questions from the audience they’ve never thought about before — and can use what they’ve learned to come to new conclusions.”

Etienne Millet ’27 combined his study of business with his passion for cars in his thesis “Creative Destruction and the State: Government Intervention in the U.S. Automotive Industry.”

“This project originally started off as a question of whether electric vehicles were truly the future of automobiles; however, I distilled that idea down to make it more interesting and niche,” Millet said. “Thus, after some discussions, I settled upon governments, creative destruction and the automobile industry as my case studies.”

Ives said, “As always, I’ve got a great group of students who support and learn from each other. This year’s group continues a trend I saw last year of deep interest in philosophy. But I’ve also got a number of students who are doing very technical and scientific topics, ranging from Gabi Li ’27 on lab-grown meat to Ethan Meline ’27 on challenges faced by fusion energy to senior Thomas Marrison’s attempt to use the resources in the IEC to design and build a glove for people with Parkinson’s Disease.”

Millet enjoyed seeing his work come to fruition: “The one idea that I hope people will take away from my thesis is that the real debate is not just government versus markets, but what type of intervention encourages innovation without protecting inefficient firms.”

Thesis presentations, which conclude tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Sharon Room in the Fonseca Center, are open to the school community.