Winners from the Class of 2021
Jack Buck, “The Decline of the Isle Royale Wolf: An Analysis of the Implications of Reintroduction”
Buck discusses the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project, a sixty-year scientific study that reintroduced wolves into the ecosystem of the national park in order to control the growing moose population. Buck argues for the need for “human intervention in wild spaces” since such intervention would sustain the “the longest predator-prey study” for the purpose of scientific exploration, and preserve the ecosystem of Isle Royale National Park.
Han Hong (Jessica) Cao, “Restructuring the America Education System: Milton Friedman and Herbert Gintis on School Choice”
Focusing on the work of economists Milton Friedman and Herbert Gintis, Cao tackles the issue of school choice, particularly the school voucher system. Cao argues that while Friedman and Gintis saw the value of “injecting competition into the school system,” they “disagreed about the role of government and the extent of state intervention in facilitating school choice.” She teases out the impracticalities of each model to show how “a combination of the two” could address the problems of an American school system that serves a diverse citizenry.