Student Laurels and Honors
Departments list 2006 student awards
NATIONAL AWARDS
Rhodes Scholars
Three Duke University seniors were among the 32 recipients selected for prestigious Rhodes Scholarships.
The Duke recipients -- Adam D. Chandler of Burlington, N.C.; William L. Hwang and Rahul Satija, both of Potomac, Md. -- were chosen from among 903 applicants at 333 colleges and universities throughout the country. Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England.
A Goldwater and Byrd Scholar, Chandler is managing editor of the "Journal of Young Investigators." He is also a cellist and president of the Duke Symphony Orchestra, and volunteered in an orphanage in Tanzania. He was one of three members of a Duke team to win a Mathematical Association of America prize for best solution to a problem posed in the 2005 Mathematical Contest in Modeling.
Hwang is a triple major in biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and physics. He is also part of a research team developing electrical chips to quickly perform chemical analyses of small amounts of a substance. In 2003, he co-founded a non-profit organization, United InnoWorks Academy Inc., that develops creative science and engineering programs for young people from underprivileged backgrounds.
Satija is a senior majoring in biology and music with a minor in math. He has been carrying out research in bioinformatics, currently focused on the sea urchin genome and smallpox virus. Awarded a Goldwater Scholarship for his scientific work, he is also concertmaster for the Duke Symphony Orchestra, first violinist of a student string quartet and holds Duke's only music performance scholarship.
Goldwater Awards
Four Duke University students have been selected for Goldwater Scholarships for the 2006-07 academic year.
This year's winners from Duke are Joseph Babcock, Brandon Levin and Felicia Walton, all juniors, and Jonathan Russell, a sophomore. Sixty-two Duke students have received Goldwater Scholarships since the program was initiated in 1988.
Babcock, a junior from North Haven, Conn., is majoring in biology and chemistry. His current research in the biochemistry department with Arno Greenleaf focuses on the regulation of gene expression in simple organisms. Babcock plans to pursue a career as a biochemist studying how biochemical pathways regulate the development of parasites responsible for tropical diseases such as malaria.
Levin, a junior majoring in mathematics from Toledo, Ohio, plans to pursue a career in research in pure mathematics and is especially interested in number theory. "While chemists or physicists look at a molecule or an electron and try to determine its fundamental structure, number theorists want to understand the structure of the integers," said Levin, who was a 2005 Fellow in the mathematics department with Les Saper, Ph.D.
Russell, a sophomore from Iowa City, Iowa, is majoring in biology and chemistry. Following graduation from Duke, he plans to earn a dual M.D./Ph.D. degree followed by a career as a molecular geneticist in an academic medical center. In the laboratory of Alejandro Abally, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Russell is studying the mechanism of action and synthesis of antimicrobial peptides in simple animal systems.
Walton, a junior from Asheville, N.C., has been engaged in research since her first year at Duke. Majoring in biology and chemistry, she has been exploring the genetics of pathogenic fungi, the subject of two published papers she recently co-authored with her mentors, Joseph Heitman, M.D./Ph.D., and Alexander Idnurm, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
Fulbright Awards
The following is a partial list of Duke students who have received Fulbright Awards to study abroad. More awards will be announced later this month:
Jesse Beardsworth, a Fuqua School student from Boulder, Colo., will study in Mexico.
Nazaneen Homifar, a senior from Greensboro, will study in Morocco.
David Moffitt, a Divinity School student from Durham, will study in Germany.
Danielle Reifsnyder, a senior from New Canaan, Conn., will study in Russia.
Adam Yoffie, a senior from Westfield, N.J., will study in Israel.
Julia Hueckel, a senior from Chapel Hill, will study in Poland.
Deipanjan Nandi, a graduate student from Fort Worth, Texas, will study in the United Kingdom.
Emily Mugler, a Pratt School senior from San Jose, Calif, will study in Germany.
Goldman Sachs Award
Andrew Cunningham, a sophomore from Rutland, Vt., was recently selected as one of only 16 undergraduates from the United States to be honored as a Goldman Sachs Global Leader.
Each Global Leader receives a $3,000 grant for educational expenses. In addition, eight of the 16 Global Leaders will be selected to participate in the annual Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Institute in New York City in July.
Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest Tracy Ke, a senior from Mercer Island, Wash., won first prize in The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest in 2006. Her winning essay, "Memory, Loss, and Revitalizing Democracy: The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" is about the tragedy of the "disappeared" in Argentina and the resistance of these mothers. Ke will be awarded $5,000. Her essay submission was sponsored by associate political science professor Romand Coles.
UNIVERSITY AWARDS
Art History
Paige Sparkman and Susan Weidemeyer received the Nancy Kaneb Art History Award.
Jessica Johnson won the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Arts Award.
Annie Shinn received the Sue & Lee Noel Prize in the Visual Arts.
Erin McCue won the Vernon G. Pratt Award.
Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
The Sirena WuDunn Memorial Scholarships have been awarded to Laura Bai of Coatesville, Pa.; Ai Chien of Myanmar; Lisa Lam of Charlotte; Ming Lin of Valdosta, Ga.; Anna Wu of Cincinnati; Jin Yan of Chapel Hill; and Mingzhe Yi of Shandong, China. These scholarships are given each year in memory of Sirena WuDunn, a Duke student who was killed when Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down in l983 by Soviet fighters. The awards are given to the students who best embody the ideals and interests that Sirena held; these include a demonstrated interest in East-West culture, and academic excellence.
The Janet B. Chiang Memorial Grants have been awarded to Laura Bai of Coatesville, Pa., and Marguerite Hoyler of Warren, R.I., for participation at the Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford University; Joshua Kazdin of Hewlett, N.Y. for participation in the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations conference; Ankur Manvar of Duluth, Ga., for a project on Sexual Health Education in Surat, India; and Anna Wu of Cincinnati for a documentary film project. Priority in awarding these grants is given to projects that further Asian/American understanding and encourage student leadership.
Benenson Awards
Benenson Awards ranging were awarded to 18 students who have shown promise in all fields of the arts and literature.
Bridget R. Bailey will re-stage her original one-woman play Child of Hungry Times -- created for her Senior Honors Project -- in Seattle, Wash., for two weeks this summer. Bailey undertook all of the research, translated sections of Soviet playwright Lyudmila Petrushevskaya's works, wrote the script, and will be the solo performer in this production.
Kirsten Bostrom will complete a photographic project inspired by the work of Joel Meyerowitz in his book "St. Louis and the Arch," by using her camera to take photographs of Duke Chapel from nontraditional perspectives and in contexts that reveal its many-faceted presence in the life of the university. She hopes to compile a book of photographs with accompanying text.
Maggie Chambers will enroll in a nine-week intensive program at Act One Studio, a professional theater in Chicago, to continue her progress toward a goal as a professional actor.
Finn M. Cohen will work on the creation of a musical composition for multiple human voices that explores Russian culture, history and linguistics. Cohen will use his time on the Duke in St. Petersburg program this summer to record material for this work.
Mary (Molly) Fulweiler will conduct an exploration of the voice as a mode of musical and theatrical expression at a two-week vocal performance workshop program, "Borders and Bordels," at the Pantheatre in Maleargues, France.
Matt Hooks will continue his study of non-Western forms of theater by attending the Traditional Theatre Training program in Kyoto, Japan, which provides foreigners with training in the three main forms of Japanese theatre: Noh, Nihonbuyo and Kyogen.
Seema Kakad will work on a collaborative mixed-media arts project in Chochol¡, Mexico, a Mayan village in the Yucatan. Kakad will create, teach and learn art during a six-month residency with a nonprofit organization, Yoochel Kaaj.
Jacqueline Langheim intends to pursue a career in musical theater and will use her Benenson Award to study at the Broadway Dance Center School of Dance in New York City for two months this summer.
Pulsar Li will work on a professional recording and production of a full-length CD of the pulsar triyo, a modern jazz trio formed by Li, Eric Bishop and Zachary Kilgore. The trio will hold a CD-Release party in September on the Duke campus and intends to mount a week-long performance tour of the northeastern United States in the late summer.
Quinn Lipton will spend three months this summer studying popular dance and street forms and relating them to their African and Caribbean roots at the Edge Performing Arts Center, the Millennium Dance Center and the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles.
Ashley Elizabeth Loftin will use her skills developed at Duke in costume design and construction to create costumes for the Spelman College Children's Dance and Drama Program's six-week Summer Dance and Drama Institute this summer.
Eric Oberstein will, along with two other students, use the support from the Benenson Award to establish ArtsConnect, an organization that matches Duke student artists with Durham community centers in after-school arts engagement sessions to begin next fall.
Hiram Harmon Rogers will work on a summer photography project of people in Rogers' home -- Lee and Chambers counties in Alabama. He intends to produce large-format photographs, pair them with poems he has written, and exhibit them in the BryanCenter and on a website.
Shannon Rowbury will create a full-length documentary film about the 2005 Duke Women's Cross-Country season, supplemented by interviews with sports psychologists, dieticians and orthopedists. A 10-minute preview of the full piece has been shown on campus; this will be developed during the next year.
Sarah Weber will work this summer doing research in Hollywood, Calif., on the birth of the movie industry and its female celebrities, by studying primary sources that are found in The Museum of Television and Radio, Hollywood History Museum and Hollywood Heritage Museum.
Neil Williams will work on a summer project to produce a video documentary on the discussion of the underdevelopment of minority-owned businesses and their inability to provide economic opportunities for affected minority groups. Williams will work with members of Durham's Minority Business Development Center (MBDC) and will draw on the literary work of social intellectuals such as W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington and Robert Boyd.
Anna Wu will work on research and filming for her project to explore Taiwanese/American identity and Taiwan's post-World War II Martial Law period, toward her senior thesis project, which will comprise both a documentary film on the persecution of scholars and activists in the martial law period, and a written thesis.
Mimi Zhang will work on a summer project to compare contemporary Chinese scenic landmarks with their painted counterparts from the pre-tourism era that are prevalent in Chinese art. The project will include pencil and charcoal drawings and photographs, blended into a video/slideshow.
Chemistry
Andrew B. Golstone of New York, N.Y., and Anshu Verma of Greensboro won the Merck Index Award for an AB or BS candidate who has maintained a distinguished record and intends to pursue advanced study in medical school. The award consists of a copy of the Merck Index.
Scott M. Tabakman of Katonah, N.Y., won the Department of Chemistry Award for a BS candidate who has participated in independent study, maintained a truly distinguished record and intends to pursue advanced study in chemistry. The award consists of a one year student membership in the American Chemical Society (ACS) and a one year subscription to an appropriate ACS-published journal.
Danielle C. Reifsnyder of New Cannan, Conn., won the Hypercube Scholar Award for a BS chemistry major who has maintained an outstanding academic record and plans to pursue graduate study in an area of chemistry that exclusively uses molecular modeling. The award consists of a molecular modeling computer software package.
Robert C. Jones of Wilmington won the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award for a rising junior or senior to recognize students who display an aptitude for a career in analytical chemistry (awarded in 2004).
Computer science
Senior Georgiana Ivy of Durham won the Alex Vasilos Memorial Award, which recognizes students for their excellence in academic achievement and undergraduate program support.
Senior Jinui Lim of Singapore won the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award, presented to a graduating major in recognition of overall excellence and leadership.
Cook Society
This year's student winners of the Samuel DuBois Cook Awards for affirming of the presence of African Americans at Duke were graduate student Cord Whitaker in English and seniors Marcia Eisenstein and Ripal Shah.
Cultural Anthropology
Morel Halpin Jones and Nicholas Paul Shungu have been awarded the Judith McDade Prize in Cultural Anthropology, which is given to the graduating seniors majoring in cultural anthropology judged to have the most distinguished record in the major.
Rita Catherine Bergmann, Zachari J'Lease Curtis and Marina Kukso were awarded the Paul Farmer Award for Justice and Social Responsibility made possible by medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer, founding director of Partners in Health. The award is given annually to the graduating seniors majoring in cultural anthropology who have demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence and social justice.
Divinity School
Ellen Robison of Wilmington and Chris Brady of Philadelphia received the Jameson Jones Preaching Award. The award is named for a former dean of the school.
Barry Bennett of Frederick, Okla., won the Hoyt Hickman Award for Excellence in Liturgics as judged by divinity faculty.
Sarah Jobe of Memphis, Tenn., Travis Bott and Brian Edmonds of Baltimore were recipients of the Outstanding Students in Bible Awards.
Adrienne Denson of St. Louis received the McMurry S. Richey Outstanding Student in Field Education Award.
Lottie Sneed of Roxboro and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove of King won the McMurry S. Richey Outstanding Students in Mission Award.
Scott Dodson of Spring Hope received the McMurry S. Richey Outstanding Student Pastor Award.
Jessie Shuman Larkins of Chapel Hill and James E. McConnell II of York, Pa., received the John H. Ness Award for the Best Seminary Papers on Methodist History Broadly Conceived.
Sarah Jobe of Memphis, Tenn., won the Fellowship Seminarian Award.
Documentary Studies
Graduating senior Audra Eagle of Newberry, Fla.; rising senior Anna Wu of Cincinnati; and rising junior Matthew Guttentag of Greensboro have received John Hope Franklin Student Documentary Awards for fieldwork projects to be conducted this summer. This award of up to $2,000 is given to projects that explore some aspect of human experience and expand our understanding of people's lives.
Seema Kakad of Charlotte and Christy Scheller of Milton, Fla., have received the Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies. This award of $500 recognizes a graduating senior who has demonstrated excellence in documentary studies and made meaningful contributions in this field and/or has significantly contributed to CDS's programs.
English
Corey Sobel won the Anne Flexner Award for Fiction. Fielding Callaway won second place.
Nadia Hidayatallah won the Anne Flexner Award for Poetry. Jonathan Fisher won second place.
Nick Rimell won the Terry Welby Tyler Award for Poetry.
Adam Eaglin won first place in the non-fiction essay contest. Natalia Antonova won second place.
Katie Feiereisel, Maria Kuzentsova, Ann Morton, Daniel Riley and Sarah Weber were awarded the Margot Hill Writing Support Grants.
Denise Napoli won the Schutte Senior Writing Award.
Sarah Weber won the Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship.
Melanie Garcia won the Francis Pemberton Scholarship.
Jane Chen won the William H. Blackburn Scholarship.
Adam Eaglin won the Academy of American Poets Prize.
Matt Norton won the Award for Outstanding Work in American Literature.
Claire Casper won the Stanley E. Fish Award for Outstanding Work in British Literature.
Faculty Scholar Award
The Faculty Scholar Award is a highest award given by faculty to undergraduates. This year's winners are Elizabeth D. Kirby (psychology--Program in Neuroscience); Rahul Satija (biology and music); and Stephanie C. Weber (biology and chemistry). The award honors seniors with impressively high overall Grade Point Average and who show the potential for innovative scholarship.
Honorable Mention went to William L. Hwang (biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering and physics) and Jacqueline Ou (mathematics and biology)
Griffith Service Award
The William J. Griffith Service Award is presented to students whose contributions to the Duke and larger communities have made a significant impact on university life. Those students whose efforts demonstrate an understanding of the responsibilities of effective university and civic citizenship are eligible for this award:
Diana Lynne Abernethy, Greensboro; Margaret Barnwell Andrews, Lynchburg, Va.; Gayle Joanna Argon, Wynnewood, Pa.; Brenda Michelle Bautsch, Centennial, Colo.; Emilie Sara Dahod, San Marcos, Calif.; Frank David D'Angelo, Rye Brook, N.Y.; Heather Lee Dean, Durham; Madeline Amelia Dewar, Jamestown, N.C.;
Luke Jay Dollar, Durham; Audra LeAnn Eagle, Newberry, Fla.; Jean Mosteller Foster, Port Huron, Mich.; Brandon Jonathan Goodwin, Deridder, La; Elisabeth Peyton Hahn, McLean, Va.; Beth Lane Harper, Pittsburgh; Alexandria Zoe Hiserman, Seattle; Brandon Julius Hudson, Durham; William Liang Hwang, Potomac, Md.; Farokh Rustom Irani, Longwood, Fla.;
Katie Ann Jandl, Mission Hills, Kansas; Christopher Ryan Kallmeyer, Houston; Jean Louise Koff, Wilmington; Jeff Symon Leibach, Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Logan Carter Leinster, Greensboro; Steven Yu-Ta Lin, West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Jesse William Longoria, Germantown, Tennessee; Geoff Miles Lorenz, Orinda, Calif.; Holly Anne Manning, Alexandria, Va.;
Liza Alexandra McClellan, New Bern; Kathryn Elizabeth Owen, Topeka, Kansas; Rebecca Ellen Parrish, Concord, Mass.; Erin Elizabeth Phillips, Lynchburg, Va; Hollen Nichole Reischer, Clifton, Va.; Amy Michelle Rosenthal, Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Hirsh Sandesara, Glenview, Ill.; Robert Samuel Saunders, Durham;
Ian Kazi Shakil, Coral Springs, Fla.; Sarah Anne Shapiro, Buffalo, N.Y.; Paige Butler Sparkman, Durham; Brandi Sansom Stewart, New York, N.Y.; Vivian C. Wang, Silver Spring, Md.; Venis Tiarra Wilder, Plantation, Fla.; Marron Cathleen Wong, El Macero, Calif.
Hart Leadership Program
The Hart Leadership Program has selected its 2006-2007 Hart fellows. The fellows are placed with organizations throughout the developing world to conduct research and fieldwork on pressing policy issues:
Yazan Kopty, a graduating senior from Waterloo, Belgium, will work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with Save Lives, which provides medical care, and social, economic and emotional support to women and children living with HIV/AIDS.
Nick Shungu, a graduating senior from Lawrenceville, N.J., will work in Battambang, Cambodia, with Homeland, which works to improve the standard of living and well-being of vulnerable children and families.
The following students received Hart Program 2006 Service Opportunities in Learning Summer Awards:
Priscilla Eunkyung Baek, a junior from Nashville, Tenn., will spend her summer at Jayoutuh Place and YeomyungSchool, Christian-based educational institutes for resettling North Korean refugees in Seoul, South Korea.
Trisha Bailey, a junior from Scottdale, Ariz., will be examining the community of women at Duke through interviews with Duke women employees and female undergraduates.
Jessica Ballou, a junior from Raleigh, will work with Vermont CARES, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life, create compassionate communities, and prevent the spread of HIV by working with people affected with HIV/AIDS to promote social and individual change.
Alissa Dolan, a junior from Raleigh, will examine the community of women at Duke through interviews with Duke women employees and female undergraduates.
Sarah Gordon, a sophomore from Iowa City, Iowa, will work with the Durham Crisis Response Center, a non-profit agency that supports survivors of sexual violence.
Kate Guthrie, a sophomore from Wilton, Conn., will work with the Children's Hope Foundation (CHF), a volunteer-driven organization that focuses on creating programs to accommodate the evolving needs of youth and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Kristin High, a sophomore from Houston, will work with the Southern African Education and Environment Project (SAEP), an organization created to help South Africa achieve environmentally sustainable development through improvement of living conditions, development of skills and use of South Africa's natural environment to create economic opportunities for the marginalized.
Hannah Kaye, a sophomore from Piedmont, Calif., will work in London for The Children's Society, studying the integration of refugee children into British public schools and British communities.
Glenn Love, a first-year student from Hilton Head, S.C., will work in rural Jackson County, North Carolina, where she will work with Community Health Link (a community health assessment organization), the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and several community groups to profile issues resulting from an increase of crystal methamphetamine abuse in the county.
Kelvin Low, a sophomore from Singapore, will work with the town board and the Petters Research Institute (PRI) in Dangriga, Belize, to create a service-learning program for the PRI's summer academy.
Oindri Mitra, a first-year student from Jamshedpur, India, will work with two non-governmental organizations based in Bangalore, India, this summer. The first, Sanghamithra, is a not-for-profit micro-finance institution seeking to help the poor gain access to financial services. The second, Janaagraha, works to ensure the implementation of government plans to provide micro-credit loans to the poor.
Sarah Schnee, a junior from New York City, will work with CATIE, the Center for Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education, in Turrialba, Costa Rica. She will be conducting research for CATIE's Center for Competitiveness of Eco-enterprises (CeCoEco), a non-profit organization committed to merging economic development and environmental conservation while strengthening the competitiveness of rural eco-enterprises in globalized markets for agricultural and forest products.
Michelle Sowemimo, a junior from Beijing, will work with the Petters Research Institute (PRI) in Dangriga, Belize, to promote a culture of academics, career, and excellence in pre-university students.
Kenan Institute for Ethics
Annick Charlot, a senior who is majoring in public policy; Chelsea Friauf-Evans, a senior majoring in public policy; and Sally Ong, a junior majoring in biology have been awarded Duke Civic Scholarships for participating in all three stages of Scholarship with a Civic Mission: Research Service-Learning at Duke, including at least one Gateway course, a Stage II Commnuity-Based Research Project, and a Capstone Project.
Mathematics
Sophomores Kshipra Bhawalkar of Puna, India, and Lindgren Zhang, of Shanghai; and junior Nikifor Bliznashki of Sofia, Bulgaria, received the Karl Menger award as top scorers in the prestigious William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition for students in Canada and the United States.
Bliznashki and Zhang were also members of third place Putnam team, along with first year undergraduate Jason Ferguson of Dallas.
Adam Chandler of Burlington and Yee Lok Wong of Hong Kong received the Julia Dale Prize for excellence in mathematics. This, the top departmental honor, is presented each year to the best senior or seniors majoring in mathematics.
Senior Matthew Fischer of Brownsburg, Ind., and juniors Nikifor Bliznashki of Sofia, Bulgaria, and Brandon Levin of Toledo, Ohio, received honors in the Mathematics Contest in Modeling.
Sophomores Qianwei (Wei) Li of Singapore; Arnav Mehta of Coral Springs, Fla.;a nd Aaron Wise of Tampa, Fla., received the INFORMS prize for being ranked as Outstanding in the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling.
Sophomore Charles E. Staats III of Charleston, S.C., and first-year undergraduatesTyler B. Huffman of Burlington and Barry E. Wright III of Bel Air, Md., were also rated as Outstanding in the Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling.
Music
Graduate student Carl Schimmel won the William Klenz Prize in Music Composition, for his work "Elemental Homunculi for Saxophone and Piano."
Ashley Price, a senior from Lincoln, Neb., is the recipient of the Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music, given annually to a graduating senior for achievement in musical performance. Price has been principal cellist of the Duke Symphony Orchestra and studies piano with Jane Hawkins. She was the winner of the 2005-06 Student Concerto Competition sponsored by the Duke Symphony Orchestra. Honorable mention went to pianist Michael Mueller.
Palmer Literary Prize
Emily LaDue, a TrinityCollege senior from New York City, has been awarded the 2006 Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize for the best senior honors thesis in literary studies.
This prize was established in honor of Judge Bascom Headen Palmer, who graduated from Trinity College in 1875 and won the Hesperian Literary Society's Medal of that year. The amount of the prize this year is $1,120.
The title of her thesis is "'We Are United by the Imagination, by Creativity, by Tomorrow....': The Zapatistas and the Weapon of Words."
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Seniors Melissa Rose Fiffer and Charla Nicole Wilson won the Sara LaBoskey Award, given to outstanding undergraduate environment majors.
Anne Jordan Zaino won the Estwing Award, given to Earth and Ocean Science major.
Maiana Natania Hanshaw won the Thomas V. Laska Award, also given to an Earth and Ocean Science major.
Philosophy
Matthew DeCamp won the Kenan Dissertation Fellowship in Ethics, which is awarded to graduate students writing dissertations with a substantial focus on ethics.
Grant Ramsey was selected for The Graduate School's Bass Advanced Instructorships Program in Arts and Sciences.
Physics
Senior Peter Blair of Chicago won a $3,000 American Physical Society Scholarship for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors for the 2005-06 academic year, a Bell Graduate Research Labs Fellowship of $25,000 annually for four years beginning in the fall of 2006, and a Harvard Purcell Fellowship and Graduate Prize providing $28,000 for the first year of graduate school at Harvard University starting in the fall of 2006.
Senior William Hwang of Potomac, Md., received a National Institutes of Health/Oxford Biomedical Research Scholarship covering the cost of up to five years of graduate work plus fees and a stipend for medical school.
Senior Abhijit Mehta of Cincinnati received a University Scholars Program Fellowship at Duke providing full tuition and a stipend for the first year of graduate school.
First year undergraduate Aaron Pollack of Youngstown, Ohio, received another American Physical Society Scholarship for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors providing $2,000 for the 2005-06 academic year and $3,000 for the 2006-07 academic year.
Political Science
Gayle Joanna Argon of Wynnewood, Pa., Sana Nourani of Carborro, and Seema Gail Parkash of Singapore won the Alona E. Evans Prize in International Law given to students whose papers on international law reflect excellence in scholarship.
Thomas Michael Burnett of De Pere, Wis., won the Robert S. Rankin Award in American Government and Constitutional Law, given to the outstanding student in the field of American government and constitutional law.
Geoffrey Miles Lorenz of Orinda, Calif., won the Robert S. Rankin Award in American National, State, and Local Governments, given to the outstanding student in the field of American national, state and/or local governments.
Frank David D'Angelo of Rye Brook, N.Y., Thomas Russell Ferguson of Charlotte, and Adam Gabriel Yoffie of Westfield, N.J., received the Robert S. Rankin American Government Award for Leadership and Academic Achievement, given to students who have demonstrated excellence in the study of American government leadership in service to Duke and the larger community.
Matthew Andrew Runnalls of Ottawa, Ontario, and Diana-Lynn Tracey of Matthews, received the Elizabeth G. Verville Award, given to the undergraduate student who submits the best paper in the subject matter of political science.
Natasha Chantal Roetter of Boston, received the Ole Holsti Award in American Foreign Policy and International Relations, given to the best student written work in the area of American foreign policy and international relations.
Pratt School of Engineering
Ian Kazi Shakil, a biomedical engineering major from Coral Spring, Fla., received a Student Service Award.
Emily Song Wren, a civil engineering major from Arlington, Va., received the Otto Meier, Jr. Tau Beta Pi Award, which honors a top student in the Duke chapter of the engineering society.
Yupeng Qiu, a biomedical and electrical engineering double major from Kowloon, Hong Kong, received the Helmholtz Award, given to the graduating senior who presents the best research project.
Rahul Kak, a biomedical and electrical engineering double major from Rockville, Md., won the Theo Pilkington Award.
Jean Mosteller Foster, a civil engineering and Asian and African Languages and Literature double major from Port Huron, Mich., received the William Brewster Snow Environmental Engineering Award, given to seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence, interest and enthusiasm in the study of environmental engineering.
James Thomas Garnevicus, a civil engineering major from the Bronx, N.Y., and William Benjamin Senner, a civil engineering major, from Williamsburg, Va., won the American Society of Civil Engineers Prize, given to outstanding seniors
Robert Jon Tipton, a civil engineering and music double major from Veron, Wis., and Siu Chung Yau, a civil engineering and economics double major from Hong Kong, won the Aubrey E. Palmer Award, given to a civil engineering senior or recognition of outstanding academic achievement.
Siu Chung Yau also won the Eric I. Pas Award, given to the most outstanding independent study project by a graduate civil engineering senior.
Ashley Johnson Burns, an electrical and biomedical engineering double major from North Eastham, Mass., won the David Randall Fuller Prize, awarded to the graduating senior who has shown the most improvement in academic performance over the first three years.
Peter Ian Golden, an electrical and computer engineering and computer science double major from Bloomfield, N.J., and Kathryn Diane Ness, an electrical engineering major, from Worthington, Ohio, won the George Sherrerd III Memorial Award in Electrical Engineering, given annually to seniors in electrical engineering who have attained the highest level of scholastic achievement.
Derek Robert Hower, an electrical and computer engineering and computer science double major from Sandusky, Ohio, and Anna Leigh Rack-Gomer, an electrical and biomedical engineering double major from Scottsdale, Ariz., won the Charles Seager Memorial Award, which recognizes achievement in the annual Student Prize Paper Contest of the Duke branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or significant contributions to electrical engineering
Jerry Zhiyi Wu, an electrical and computer engineering and economics double major from Zionsville, Ind. Won the Charles Rowe Vail Memorial Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Marc James Palmeri, a mechanical engineering major from Mahwah, N.J., won the Pi Tau Sigma Scholarship Award in Mechanical Engineering.
Roger Mitchell Diebold, an mechanical engineering major from Barrington, R.I., won the Raymond C. Gaugler Award.
Psychology
Kimberly Ann Burdette of Morristown, N.J., won the Karl E. Zener Award for a paper on "Women and the 'Hookup Culture': A Model of the Effects Objectification on Body Image and Disordered Eating."
Romance Studies
Brianne Lynn Ehrlich is the winner this year of The Richard L. Predmore Award in Spanish.
Kristen Heitzinger and Elizabeth Lane Harper won the Robert J. Niess/Alexander Hull Award in French.
Brenna Lynn Benson won the Italian Award for Excellence in the Major.
Sanford Institute
Three outstanding graduating public policy majors were selected for the 2006 Terry Sanford Leadership Award. They are Marcia Eisenstein, Nazaneen Homaifar and Hirsh Sandesara. Last spring, Eisenstein created College Connection with Emily Epstein through a Hart Leadership Program class taught by Tony Brown. College Connection pairs trained volunteers with high school seniors to walk them through the college application process.
Homaifar has worked on issues of human rights and health care while at Duke and was part of a student group that presented their research on the Ryan White Care Act to the U.S. Senate. Sandesara has worked on health care issues in New Mexico and India, and was the sole student on the Duke Global Health Initiative steering committee.
David Gastwirth was named the Joel Fleishman Distinguished Scholar award in recognition of his exemplary academic achievement. Gastwirth also introduced a series of community building events as co-president of the PPS Majors Union.
Yaolin Zhao was selected as the student speaker at the institute's undergraduate ceremony.
Master's of Public Policy students selected Erica Lee to speak on their behalf during the institute's ceremonies, while graduate students in the master's Program in International Development Policy selected Santhoshkumar Thiruthimana.
Sociology
Cristina Prelle and Pavel Zhelyazkov received the Ida Harper Simpson Award for Research Excellence.
Sudler Prize
As a member of Duke's musical community, Rahul Satija, has distinguished himself both on the concert stage, in the studio, and in the community. He as served as concertmaster of the Duke Symphony Orchestra since his sophomore year, and as first violinist in our finest student string quartet, the Dormeno Quartet. He has won both the Duke Symphony Orchestra and Durham Symphony Orchestra concerto competitions and gave professional-quality performances with both, Satija composed the Unenigmatic Variations for String Quartet, which was recorded by Duke's Ciompi Quartet, and has transcribed from aural recordings several unpublished pieces for various combinations of strings.
He also has been interested in community service; for three years he led a group of his fellow student volunteers in a program at the R.N. Harris elementary school, where Duke students taught the Suzuki method to young string players, coordinating weekly trips and seeking funding to allow the students to continue taking lessons after they leave the school.
Theater Studies
Lisa Kopitsky received the Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater.
Maggie Chambers won the John M. Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award.
Madeleine Lambert received the Alex Cohen Award for Summer Initiatives in Theater.
Martin Zimmerman received the Dasha Epstein Award in Playwriting.
Christopher Pappalardo won the Dale B.J. Randall Award in Dramatic Literature.
Vanessa Rodriguez won the Kenneth J. Reardon Award for Theater Design, Management or Production.
Matt Hooks won the Richard E. Cytowic Award for Outstanding Acting.
Colin Crowe received the Reynolds Price Award for Scriptwriting.
Marshall Botvinick won the Jody McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Directing.