Reflections from CSPC Fellows 2025
The following reflections have been written by PCJ students that participated in the 2024-2025 Centre for the Study of the President & Congress Fellows program upon their return from Washington, D.C.
In March 2025, we had the privilege of going to Washington D.C. to represent Canada as International Presidential Fellows for the Center of the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC). As International Presidential Fellows, we joined a group of 50 top collegiate students from Spain, Japan, Mexico, and the U.S. to present our independent research papers on a U.S. policy-related issue to policymakers and public sector leaders. In the week-long conference, we had several meetings with several prominent figures in the public sector, such as Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky, as well as Counselor to the Chief Justice at the Supreme Court Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr..
Eesha's Reflection
I was honoured with the David M. Abshire Award for Most Outstanding Paper by an International Fellow for her research project titled “Assessing the Impact of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Large Corporations: A Post MOVEit Cyberattack Analysis in the Healthcare Sector.” Mentored by Robert Henderson, I explored how cybersecurity legislation impacts organizations of different sizes, with a particular focus on the healthcare sector following the MOVEit cyberattack. My paper examines the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which was designed to strengthen national cybersecurity through enhanced collaboration between the public and private sectors. Using the 2023 MOVEit cyberattack as a case study, I analyzed the experiences of a large corporation, Nuance Communications, and a small- to medium-sized enterprise, Arietis Health, both within the healthcare sector. The findings revealed that while Nuance successfully leveraged its substantial resources to mitigate the breach and protect sensitive data, Arietis struggled due to limited capacity, delayed responses, and reduced access to information-sharing networks. I recommended reforms including mandatory participation for critical sectors, targeted financial and technical support for SMEs, and stronger oversight to ensure more equitable cybersecurity protections across organizational sizes.
Liam's Reflection
In my research paper entitled “The Undocumented Migrant and Crime Debate in the United States,” I explored the relationship between unauthorized immigrants and crime through a correlation analysis. Under the supervision of Dr. Gary Donato, professor at Bentley University, I engaged multiple sources to ensure a non-partisan evaluation of the relationship. My findings revealed that while some unauthorized immigrants do engage in criminal activities, they are not more likely to commit violent crimes than their U.S. native-born counterparts. Based on the findings, I provided three feasible policy recommendations that can mitigate the misunderstanding surrounding immigration and crime. These three recommendations include placing more administrative judges near borders to ensure more efficient and equitable court hearings of apprehended individuals, disaggregating the type of crime and providing immigrants a right to a fair trial based on their offence, and establishing a non-partisan committee to track the immigration status of criminal offenders across all 50 states.
The CSPC program was an invaluable experience for both of us. We not only learned so much about the intricacies of U.S. domestic and foreign policymaking, but we were able to make so many new friends and mentors. We are so excited to apply the valuable things we learned from the conference in our respective futures.