Madeleine Dowd, Lucas Hustick, and Pauliina Rumm awarded 2025 Hoopes Prize for Senior Theses

Philosophy concentrators Madeleine Dowd, Lucas Hustick, and Pauliina Rumm have been awarded the Hoopes Prize for their senior theses. 

The Hoopes Prize — awarded to 71 Harvard undergraduates this year — is annually conferred in recognition of outstanding scholarly research from undergraduate students. The prize is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes, Class of 1919, for the purpose of “promoting, improving, and enhancing the quality of education.”

Student winners are awarded $5,000, and the faculty advisers of winning projects are awarded $2,000 for supporting students. Each winning thesis is bound and available in Lamont Library for two years before being shipped to the student.

Madeleine Dowd was awarded for her submission entitled “Imagining Other Minds: A Smithian Empathy for Animal Ethics”—supervised and nominated by Professor Samantha Matherne.

Lucas Hustick was awarded for his submission entitled “Lying to Oneself”—supervised and nominated by Professor Richard Moran.

Anna Pauliina Rumm for her submission entitled “Anti-Essence and Negative Meta-Grounding”—supervised and nominated by Professor Selim Berker.

Read more here. Congratulations to Madeleine, Lucas, and Pauliina!