Student Spotlight: Juanjo Lucci '17

In June, Juanjo Lucci graduated with an M.A. in International Policy Studies (IPS) with a concentration in energy, environment and natural resources. Prior to Stanford, Juanjo worked at Argentina’s National Congress for the natural resources and international relations committees.

Two of his favorite classes at Stanford were Understanding Energy (CEE207) and Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (IPS 230) with Professor Francis Fukuyama. Juanjo was also a teaching assistant for Professor Beatriz Magaloni’s Poverty and Governance course (POLISCI 347G), which he says was one of the best experiences he had at Stanford.

Over the past two years, Juanjo traveled to four different continents through the IPS program. He attended two IPS study trips to India and Russia, as well as a quarter-long exchange program with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. In addition, he worked on climate change adaptation policies as an intern for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Hawaii, and as a case writer for Professor Fukuyama on the Sopladora hydroelectric project in Ecuador.

Juanjo was also part of a research team that evaluated the professionalization of the Mexican Federal Police. The project stemmed from a three-year effort led by Professors Alberto Diaz-Cayeros and Beatriz Magaloni, who were tapped by the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to evaluate ongoing efforts in Mexico to improve police training and accountability, reduce the influence of organized crime, and strengthen citizen trust in law enforcement.

The group found that even if the Mexican government has made progress in combatting police corruption, there are still many issues such as recruitment, social benefits to police officers and their families, training, and clear rules regarding career professionalization that diminish the effect of current reform policies.

One of the highlights of the capstone project, Juanjo says, was traveling to Mexico and interviewing high-level policy makers about this issue. The trip allowed the team to understand, in person, the main problems and challenges of police corruption. “We hope that this capstone project will be useful for policy makers and scholars working on the issue,” Juanjo says. Their research “not only highlights the current problems but also the challenges that are still unresolved.”

In the future, Juanjo would like to work with governments in Latin America to develop policies that facilitate the introduction of renewable energy and efficiency policies in order to tackle climate change and the consequences of air pollution.

Congratulations Juanjo and best of luck!

You can read the research team’s full report, “Evaluating the Professionalization of the Mexican Federal Police,” here.

Please join us in congratulating the class of 2017! As the academic year draws to a close, we are highlighting students graduating from across our 15 programs.