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2015 Summer Fellows explore migration, micro loans, mining, and cyber bullying

Each summer, the Kenan Institute for Ethics supports selected undergraduate projects that explore—in a variety of ways—the answers to the question: What does it mean to live an ethical life? The students work with a faculty advisor to shape a project based on their personal passions and often their field of study. This year, four Kenan Summer Fellows have been selected.

Throughout the summer, read their weekly reflections as their projects take shape, and engage with their personal journeys around these very different topics.

[suffusion-multic][suffusion-column width=’1/4′]Gautham-150[/suffusion-column][suffusion-column width=’3/4′]Gautam Chebrolu is a rising Junior from Columbus, GA majoring in Biomedical and Electrical and Computer Engineering with a certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. As part of the certificate program he is constantly encouraged to think about pursuing social entrepreneurship, which led to the foundation of this project. Gautam will spend the summer trying to get a better grasp on what social entrepreneurship by focusing on the scalability of microfinance. After investing in a borrower through the online microfinance facilitator Kiva, he will travel to the Kiva offices in San Francisco, and then to Nairobi, Kenya to see where the money has gone.[/suffusion-column][/suffusion-multic]

[suffusion-multic][suffusion-column width=’1/4′]Jeff Headshot-150[/suffusion-column][suffusion-column width=’3/4′]Jeff Feng is a rising junior from Virginia majoring in Environmental Sciences & Policy and minoring in Economics. He is interested in the intersections of environmental justice and sustainability, particularly in the realm of energy. In his free time, he frequents local farmer’s markets, reads books that were once trendy, and watches docufiction films. Jeff will be researching the impacts of surface mining and the ethics of necessity. He will be interviewing miners, activists, and other community members in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and the Hunter Valley of Australia and focus on their experiences with surface mining. He will address the ethical questions that miners and activists encounter in their respective jobs and those of neutral parties caught in the middle of divisive environmental conflicts.[/suffusion-column][/suffusion-multic]

[suffusion-multic][suffusion-column width=’1/4′]Snehan Sharma-150[/suffusion-column][suffusion-column width=’3/4′]Snehan Sharma is a rising sophomore from Grayson, Georgia studying History and Public Policy. He is particularly interested in refugee policy and the experiences of recently resettled refugees. In his free time he likes to discover new music and explore Durham. This summer, Snehan will be spending much of his time in Clarkston, GA, near where he grew up. Over the last few decades, Clarkston has been identified as a key location for refugee resettlement in the United States. On his mission to learn more about this diverse city and the ethical challenges faced by local refugee youth as they integrate, Snehan will be interviewing a variety of individuals who play different roles in this community.[/suffusion-column][/suffusion-multic]

[suffusion-multic][suffusion-column width=’1/4′]Alex 150[/suffusion-column][suffusion-column width=’3/4′]Alex Zrenner is a rising junior from St. Louis, Missouri majoring in Economics with a minor in Mathematics. She interested in the ethics of the online society and economy. Alex will be working with a cyber harassment victim advocacy organization, and interviewing targets of cyber harassment throughout the summer and also at VidCon, a conference for online video enthusiasts. She will explore how cyber harassment violates free speech, and how targets can respond to harassment while protecting free speech. Alex plans to create a collection of different techniques that victims of cyber harassment can use to respond.[/suffusion-column][/suffusion-multic]