The first-place winner of the competition is Luke Venezia, a senior at the University of Denver who is pursuing a BA in International Studies with minors in Business Administration and Computer Science. Luke wrote his essay submission about a more effective way for the United States to promote sustainable international infrastructure development, avoiding the traps of funding going to corrupt bureaucracies and doomed projects. You can read the essay in full at Inkstick Media.
Venezia’s professional experience includes a two-year tenure at the Pardee Institute of International Futures, where he began as a Research Aide before advancing to the role of Team Lead. He is now a Risk Management Intern at the University of Denver. After graduation, Luke aspires to work in the field of Political Risk Consulting, specializing in Global Business Security in Northern Africa.
Venezia’s proposal for improving U.S. infrastructure development was inspired by his experience with international education and a course at the University of Denver. “I was studying abroad in Italy back in the Fall and at that time the country had recently withdrawn its membership in the Belt and Road Initiative, in part because of worsening US and China relations,” he said. “The need to curtail Huawei was evident but the means to do so was limited at best from the European side. A recent class in political risk pointed me in the direction of realizing benefits from risk, not just mitigation. This led to a more business driven perspective to foreign policy issues, hence utilizing the private sector.”
The competition received applications from students around the world, with entries covering a wide range of policy issues. The first runner-up in this year’s competition was Caroline Nee, who studies political science at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Her essay put forth ways that the United States could utilize the metaverse to advance its public diplomacy. The second runner-up was Haley Hawkins of the College of Charleston. Hawkins proposed changes to U.S. counterterrorism policy that shifted away from the use of force and instead prioritized economic development and social cohesion.
