The 29th Annual Celebration of Student Achievement will take place on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. The event features the research, scholarship and creative activity of TCNJ students from all disciplines. The event will include papers, posters, art exhibitions, video discussions and other products of student work.
The schedule for Political Science, International Studies, and Prelaw students is below. Join us and support your fellow students!
Celebration of Student Achievement Schedule
| SESSION ONE | |
| Case Studies in the Geopolitics of Energy and Environment Facilitator: Dr. Kate Foster 8:45-9:45 a.m. SSB 225 |
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| Coasting Towards the Shores: A Comparison between California’s and New Jersey's Coastal Environmental Regulations | Brigette Marie Yanru Wixted |
| From Peripheral Resource Regions to Strategic Territories: Lithium, Cobalt, and the Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition | Erica Solomon |
| Melting Ice, Rising Influence: How Climate Change is Reshaping Iceland’s Geopolitical Role in Arctic Governance | San-A Ruby Hong |
| Turning Green to Gold: How Greenland Leverages Climate Warming for Strategic Advantage | Hannah Faith Guzik |
| SESSION TWO | |
| Systems of Governance and the Politics of Fairness Facilitator: Dr. Zakiya Adair 10:00-11:00 a.m. SSB 225 |
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| Election Systems and the "Fairness" of Parliamentary Apportionment | David Whetton |
| Neither Prudential, Nor Pragmatic: The Insular Cases and Stare Decisis in the Case of Puerto Rico | Michael London |
| Place, Power, and Populism: Why the American System is Uniquely Vulnerable to Bureaucratic Dismantlement | Andrew Blackburn |
| The Political Geography of Micro-Sovereignty and Secession Facilitator: Dr. Tao Dumas 10:00-11:00 a.m. SSB 226 |
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| Assessing the Ideal Lifespan of Consociational Power-Sharing Agreements | Jaden Pearson |
| Measuring Militant Success: Examining How Geography Conditions Iranian Militant Client Entrenchment Across the Middle East | Dakota Kozuch |
| Mountains, Seas, and DMZs: The Influence of Physical Geography on the Success of Secession Movements | John Kalinowski |
| Sacred Governance: Religious Sites as Micro-Sovereign Authorities in Lebanon | Thomas Brattole |
| SESSION THREE | |
| Resources, Power, and Politics Facilitator: Dr. Sarah Chartock 2:30-3:30 a.m. SSB 225 |
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| A Comparative Analysis of the Efficacy of Tobacco Control Policies | Thomas S. O'Neal |
| Coffee and Power: Steadfast Elitism in El Salvador | Esmeralda Marina Regalado |
| Elite Driven Governance and Experimental Sovereignty: The Development of Charter Cities in Post-Coup Honduras | Leila Esther Garcia Barahona |
| SESSION FOUR | |
| Understanding Place and Partisanship in the U.S. Facilitator: Dr. Daniel Bowen 3:45-4:45 a.m. SSB 225 |
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| American Regions and Their Impact on Current Rural Voting Trends | Nicholas Velasco |
| Party, Place and Partisanship: Testing the Democratic Party Label in Local, State, and National Races | Ryan Robb |
| Politics, Place, and Fertility: How Partisan Governance Shapes Reproductive Policy Regimes in the United States | Ashley Martinelli |
| The Political Geography of Disaster: Investigating the Impact of Partisan Identity on Natural Disaster Aid Distribution | Chelsea Sera |
| Lawyers, Legal Careers, & Ambition Facilitator: Dr. Tao Dumas 3:45-4:45 a.m. SSB 223 |
Catherine Zheng, Vincent Chang, Andrea LaMorticella, Lacey Okamura, Esmeralda Regalado, Elizabeth Spillar, Brigette Wixted, Youssef Zabady |