Biography
Caroline Kness is an undergraduate student in her senior year at UIUC, pursuing a double major in history and economics. She grew interested in REEEC after taking History of Russia in 2022. Her academic interests lie in the historical study of Russia, particularly within the last 200 years. While at REEEC, she has researched historical accounts of 20th century Russian intellectuals. She also is currently assisting on a digital humanities initiative this year, with the goal of making digitization accessible to a wide audience.
In addition to her work on the digital humanities project, Caroline works as a research assistant for the economics department at UIUC. She also interned for a Chicago-area healthcare lawyer this past summer. She hopes to combine her interests in history, economics, and law in her future studies.
Research Interests
Intellectual History
19th and 20th century Russia
Digital humanities
Economics of labor markets and the healthcare sector
Research Description
Caroline assisted with research on Russian writer and thinker Alexander Herzen. She focused on scholarly works written both by Herzen and Russian expert Dr Martin Malia, as well as researching influential works within the field of intellectual biographies.
Outside of REEEC, she worked on an economic research team investigating the impact of the 2014 U.S. Medicaid expansion over the summer. She hopes to continue research both in economics and Russian history this academic year.
Education
B.A. double major in Economics and History, anticipated graduation date May 2024.