Hi! My name is Tara McLaughlin and I am a rising junior at the College of William & Mary originally from Northern Virginia. I am studying Economics and Math with a focus on international relations and applied research methods. Since arriving at the College, I have worked on a few research projects within the Global Research Institute. Primarily, my research has been with NukeLab studying the applications of Distributed Ledger Technology to the disarmament and verification space. I have also worked with the geoBoundaries project collecting country borders and administrative divisions to make the world’s largest free and open-sourced database of political administrative boundaries. Currently, I am also working on a project exploring conspiracy theory belief in Egypt and Tunisia. For the 2020-2021 school year, I lived in Richmond, Virginia about 45 minutes from William & Mary and worked with local community organizations and local political campaigns. I am passionate about decolonization, mutual aid projects, justice for incarcerated individuals, international human rights, and labor organizing.