On May 8-9, 2026, members of the third year cohort— Tathagat Bhatia, Ambar Reyes, Linda Ridzuan, Odinaka Kingsley Eze, and Danhue Kim (pictured l-r)— presented their dissertation proposals to the HASTS community.
Each of the soon-to-be PhD candidates delivered short remarks about their intended ethnographic and historical research projects (individual titles listed below) and received constructive feedback from fellow students and faculty alike. During the 2026/27 academic year, the cohort will disperse to field sites and historical archives across the globe, gathering data to refine, and ultimately answer, their research questions.
As always, the third years’ projects showcase the vibrant and interdisciplinary work that HASTS students do. The wider community commends the cohort for their hard work and wishes them success as they embark on the next phase of their degree.
Presentation titles and authors are listed below in the order of their delivery:
Cultures of Repair: Microbial Decomposition across Difference on Jeju Island
Selling a Plutonium-Powered Future: How Nuclear Reprocessing was Made, Unmade, and Made Again
Planetary Paperwork: Data Practices and the Making of Third World Earth Science
From Hustle to Infrastructure: The Making of a Transnational Resale Economy
Biafra: A Story of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Africa
