Hello! My name is Montse Zeron and I am a junior majoring in International Affairs with a minor in History.  I am a recipient of the Tyler Center for Global Studies Research Award and will be conducting research in the United States, Canada, and Europe this summer. 

_{Montse Zeron, Florida State University}

Simply put, I love space. I love learning about the latest discoveries, research, and deep space endeavors explored by different countries. I also love the field of diplomacy and the way that diplomatic mechanisms impact global affairs. My honors thesis is focused on the merge of my passion for space and the international affairs field. The current working title for my proposed IDEA Grant and my Honors in the Major thesis is The Role of Diplomacy on the Future International Order for Space Research and Exploration. This research project will explore space diplomacy through the lens of multi-national missions and how they are materialized. I will look at major players, including national space agencies, international organizations, and the private sector, to assess the rapidly changing international order involving outer space. I am particularly interested in humanity’s future deep-space endeavors, including orbiting telescopes, and what kind of cross-national collaborations are necessary to make them a reality. 

_{NASA's Webb Rings in the Holidays with the Ringed Planet Uranus via JWST (left) and Members of the JWST Project Team pictured at GSFC with the full scale model of Webb via NASA (right)}

My preliminary hypothesis questions if nations able to build large multinational collaborations tend to have more successful space programs. Are long-established diplomatic practices the primary mechanism by which outer space operations succeed? How have partnerships between government agencies, universities, and private companies increased success for those missions? To explore this, I will do a case study on a multinational project: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). 

_{"Pillars of Creation" via James Webb Space Telescope}

Through this case study, I will carefully examine how diplomatic channels and international collaborations drove the planning, development, and the current operation of Webb, connecting that to the overarching theme of space diplomacy and the continual development of international space relations. To research this, I will be diving into existing literatures and archives on the topic while also conducting oral history interviews with experts in the field of space diplomacy as well as individuals key to bringing the JWST to life and scientists utilizing this instrument. After contacting individuals and setting up interviews, I will be able to travel to multiple cities across the world. During these travels, I will conduct the preliminary research and data collection for the development of my thesis.

Once the interviews are conducted, they will become primary source documents (as oral history interviews are considered) and will serve as the backbone of my research project supported by available literature. It is my intention to deposit these interviews in the long-standing archival repository at the Center for History of Physics / Niels Bohr Library of the American Institute of Physics (AIP), where they will be made available to other scholars.

This opportunity means so much to me because this research has opened my eyes to a field that I am extremely excited about and can see a future career in. After graduation, it is my intention to continue my education in the space policy field by attending graduate school and later potentially attending law school. Professionally, I hope to work in the continual development of international space relations through diplomatic channels.