Student Honors and Laurels 2012
National
Vivek Bhattacharya was named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar in Science, Mathematics and Engineering in 2011 for his undergraduate research in physics and economics. The national award provides up to $7,500 toward annual tuition and expenses.
Bhattacharya is an A.B. Duke Scholar double-majoring in physics and economics. With physicist Steffen Bass, he has been using his computer skills to model the extremely hot, dense soup of sub-atomic particles that existed a few millionths of a second after the Big Bang that created the universe.
Two other Duke members of the Class of 2012, Daphne Ezer and Farzan Beroz, were among the award's honorable mentions.
Daphne Ezer, a Duke senior who has already developed into a full-fledged computational biologist, won a Marshall Scholarship to complete two years of graduate study in genetics at the University of Cambridge.
A double major in biology and computer science, Ezer will work under the supervision of Cambridge researcher Boris Adryan to develop predictive models of how genes are turned on and off. She said she hopes to use artificial intelligence technologies to "predict the biological impact of a genetic mutation that we have never observed before."
Megan Keiko Morikawa, a member of Duke's class of 2012, received in 2011 the Udall Scholarship, which recognizes students who have demonstrated a commitment to careers in the environment, health care or Native American tribal public policy or health care.
Morikawa is Duke's first Udall scholar since 1999. Each scholarship provides up to $5,000 during the scholar's junior or senior year. She is a Robertson Scholar at Duke who is pursuing a degree in environmental sciences with a focus on conservation biology and genetics.
University
Faculty Scholars
Two Duke undergraduates who have compiled an exception record of undergraduate research and scholarship have received the Faculty Scholar's award, the highest award given to students by the faculty.
The winners and their nominating department are: Vivek Bhattacharya (Economics/Physics) and Daphne Ezer (Computer Science/Biology); honorable mentions went to Veronica Ciocanel (Mathematics/French Studies) and David Womble (English).
African and African-American Studies
Daniel Forti won the John Hope Franklin Award for Academic Excellence
Brian Alexander Alston and Danielle Loretta Black received the Karla F. C. Holloway Award for University Service
Daniel Forti and Julius Langston Jones earned the Mary McLeod Bethune Writing Award
Air Force
Paramjit Kaur Bhullar was the Distinguished Military Graduate
Art, Art History and Visual Studies
Katherine Elaine Noel and Johnny M. Williams won the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Arts Award
Andrew Clayton Huff and Jessica P. G. Newman received the Nancy Kaneb Art History Award
Jessica P. G. Newman received the Duke Art, Law and Markets Initiative Award
Carmen Hernandez won the Sue and Lee Noel Prize in the Visual Arts Award
Aubrey Frazzitta received the Visual Studies Initiative Award
Arts of the Moving Image
Alex Junho Kim received the Outstanding Undergraduate Filmmaker Award
Athletics
Matthew Lamar Daniels and Rebecca Claire Ward earned the ACC Plaque for Excellence, Scholarship and Athletics
Biology
Kiki Armstrong Contreras received the James B. Rast Memorial Award in Comparative Organismal Biology
Jason Chesler Klein earned the Edward C. Horn Memorial Prize for Excellence in Biology
Jamie Lee Peeler won the Excellence in Plant Science Prize
Alixandra Julieanna Jacobson earned the Maggie Schneider Award in Marine Biology
Tay Rong En won the The Biology Faculty Award
Business
Joseph Price Mancini won the Asa T. Spaulding, Sr. Award for Leadership
Christina Ildiko Rausch received the Breeden Award in Finance
Alexander Emmett Ambroz and Wei Jie Chen received the Distinguished Service Award
Dean's Recognition Awards went to Bradley Alan Besel, Monica Andrea Burbano de Lara, Joseph Patrick Campion, Megan Falcon Forlines, Katherine Zagorski Freund, Alicia O. Hummel
Allison Marie Kidder, Ivan Georgiev Kotzev, Kelly Ann Munroe ,Matthew Douglas Portner, Nikeeta Sharma, Caroline Wilder Stone, Sarah Anna Varki and Sara Andrus Walcott
Dean's Leadership Awards went to Philwon Kim, Andrew Douglas Kole, Elizabeth Anne Oldenburg, Juliana Adwoa Adoma Taylor and Shuyu Zhang
Mark Russell Stern received the Keohane Leadership Award
John Patrick Higgins won the Alan D. Schwartz Award for Mentorship
Chemistry
Hai-Tsang Huang received the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry
Anne Bragg Rohlfing won the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award in Inorganic Chemistry
Merck Index Awards went to Max Bolun Liu, Anne Bragg Rohlfing, Nicholas James Shelburne and Amy Zheng Xu
Stephanie Clare Patterson won the Department of Chemistry Award
Tim Zhang received the Hypercube Scholar Award
Classical Studies
Caroline Lucia Fox earned the David Taggart Clark Prize in Classical Studies and the award for Outstanding Achievement in Classical Studies Award from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South
Computer ScienceDaphne Ezer and Scott Brothers earned the Alex Vasilos Memorial Award
Cultural Anthropology
Andrea Patino received the Judith E. McDade Prize in Cultural Anthropology
Allison Hall Kibbe earned the Paul Farmer Award for Justice and Social Responsibility
Dance
Danika Shay Monso-Brown received the Julia Wray Dance Award
Alison Hall Kibbe won the Dance Writing Award
Betsy Boxberger won the Clay Taliaferro Dance Award
Divinity
Brendan Winfield-Sult Case and Joseph Francis Longarino won the Award for Excellence in Bible Studies.
Erin Galgay Walsh earned the inaugural Richard P. Heitzenrater Award for Excellence in History
Stephanie Sarah Gehring and Sarah Stockton Howell received the Fellowship Seminarian Award
Tyler Kent Williams won the Hoyt Hickman Award for Excellence in Liturgics
Gloria Elsa Thomas earned the Jameson Jones Preaching Award
McMurry Richey Awards went to Clifford W. Wall for Outstanding Student Pastor; Sweeney Jamison Doehring IV and Miriam Ann Smith for Outstanding Students in Field Education; and Bradley Charles Erickson for Outstanding Student in Missions.
Documentary Studies
Logan Edward Hasson earned the Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies
Duke University Union
Billy Baumgartner and Alex Lark received the Hal Kammerer Memorial Prize For Film And Video Production
Earth and Ocean Sciences
Corinne Joyce Walden won the Thomas V. Laska Award
Education
Gulnaar Kaur received the Holton Prize for Educational Research. Honorable Mention went to Max Bolun Liu and Kate Marie Newman.
Engineering
Elizabeth Rachel Cobb and Jessica Anne Lehigh won the American Society of Civil Engineers Prize
Tianlun Tony Jiang and Vivek Govind Patel won the Helmholtz Award
Katrina Michelle Wisdom received the Otto Meier Jr., Tau Beta Pi Award
Amy Melissa Allen, Christopher Ransom Bayliss and William Greer Mackebee received the Aubrey E. Palmer Award
Steven Latta Schlaseman received the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Award
Amy Melissa Allen, Maria Megan Gibbs, Phyllis Damalesi Mbewe and Lauren Elisabeth Shwisberg earned the Eric I. Pas Award
Linda Bolin Ye earned the Theo Pilkington Award
William Greer Mackebee received the William Brewster Snow Environmental Engineering Award
David Keith Piech won the Student Service Award
Leigh Elizabeth Wiegert earned the David Randall Fuller Prize
Adam David Kurzrok and Andrew Garrett Mang received the Pi Tau Sigma Scholarship Award
Albert Kyungtaik Oh received the Charles Seager Memorial Award. He also won the Charles Rowe Vail Memorial Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award
Benjamin Maimon won the da Vinci Award
Benjamin Maimon and Steven Latta Schlaseman earnd the Walter J. Seeley Scholastic Award
Hazel Yuksel earned the George Sherrerd III Memorial Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering
English
Abram Wilson Smith received the William M. Blackburn Scholarship
David Avari Patrick Womble won the Barbara Herrnstein Smith Award for Literary Criticism and Theory
Shining Li, Rebecca Anne Scheuer and Connor Wroe Southard won the Anne Flexner Award for Fiction. Second Place went to David Benjamin Rothschild
Amanda Egan received the Anne Flexner Award in Poetry. Second Place went to Malia Laina Lehrer
Ellie Beam earned the Welby Tyler Award in poetry
Amanda Sarah Auerbach also received the Most Original English Department Honors Thesis
Gareth Robert Livesay earned the Francis Pemberton Scholarship for Creative Writing
Shining Li received the Schutte Senior Creative Writing Award
Stefanie Engert was awarded the Stanley E. Fish Award for Outstanding Work in British Literature
Casey A. Williams received the Barbara Herrnstein Smith Award for Outstanding Work in Literary Criticism or Theory
Shreyan Sen received the Louis Budd American Literature Award
Ellie Beam received the Critical Essay Award
Environment
Oliver William Francis Wilson won the Sara LaBoskey Award
Global Health
Sarah Lombardo won the Master of Science in Global Health Best Thesis Award
Katherine Budolfson, Daniella Choi, Maab Ibrahim, Sonya Kothadia and Katyayani Papatla earned the Global Health Certificate Best Capstone Project Award for their project "The Extent of Sex Trafficking in NC: Framework for Better Data Collection"
History
Brianna Lane Nofil received the William T. Laprade Prize in History
Mathematics
Vivek Bhattacharya and Veronica Ciocanel won the Julia Dale Prize in Mathematics. Bhattacharya also for the third time received the Karl Menger Award for his exception performance in the William Lowell Putnam math competitions.
Military Science
Sarah W. Brubaker, Graham Taylor Custar, Louis Christopher Ortiz and Alexandra Ashraf Shams were named Distinguished Military Graduates
Louis Christopher Ortiz received the George C. Marshall Award
Music
Paul Steven Leary earned the William Klenz Prize in Composition
Scott Michael Myers and Mingjuan Lisa Zhang received the Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music
Martin Edward Connor won the Henry Schuman Music Prize
Greg Canal received the Anne Marie Parsons Memorial Prize
Nasher Museum of Art
Mary Rose Medearis Superfine and Nicole Y. Whang received the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Summer Internship Award in Museum Studies
Sarah Soltis and Anne Elizabeth Drescher received the Trent A. and Susan L. Carmichael Internship
Naval Science
Christopher Lee Gierl received the American Veterans Award
Andrea Ellen Frkovich earned the CNO Distinguished Midshipman Graduate Award
Mark Joseph Baden received the Fred Knops Leadership Award
Walter Woodman Bruno won the Naval Submarine League Outstanding Achievement Award
Nursing
Kaitlin Gallagher won the Annie Beery Bieber Award for Outstanding Leadership
Ginille Jasmin Lazaro and Allison Booth Stubberud received the Ruby L. Wilson Excellence in Clinical Practice Award
Ann Marie Poll received the Thelma Ingles Excellence in Clinical Expertise and Scholarly Activities Award
Political Science
Milen Valeriev Antov won the Alona E. Evans Prize in International Law. Honorable Mention went to Silvana Estefan Orozco and Margo Binder Werner.
Lyndsay Elaine Medlin won the Robert S. Rankin Award in American Government and Constitutional Law
Jonnah Gabrielle Hollander received the Robert S. Rankin Award in American, National, State, and Local Governments
Elizabeth Anne Reese earned the Robert S. Rankin American Government Award for Leadership and Academic Achievement
Kevin Plattenburg won the Elizabeth G. Verville Award
The Ole R. Holsti Award in American Foreign Policy and International Relations went to Rongjie Chen, Alexandra Dawn Comolli, Iris Danni Lin and William O’Hara Young
Psychology
The Karl E. Zener Award for Outstanding Performance of an Undergraduate Major in Psychology went to Emily Elizabeth Bray, Ashton Taylor-Misha Massey and Lindsay Jane Michalski
Public Policy Studies
Kate Arendt Ferguson won the award for Best Honors Thesis
Braveen Ragunanthan earned the Terry Sanford Leadership Award
Neel Nitin Mehta received the Joel Fleishman Distinguished Scholar Award.
Romance Studies
Jennifer Michelle Morgan won the Robert J. Niess/Alexander Hull Award in French
Tyler Francis Hayes received the Guido Mazzoni Award in Italian
Megan Rose Weinand earned the Richard L. Predmore Award in Spanish
Theater Studies
Nathaniel Wilbur Hill received the Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater
Kimberly Renee Solow won the John M. Clum Distinguished Drama Award
Ali Yalgin received the Dale B. J. Randall Award in Dramatic Literature and the Jody McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Directing
David Kenneth Schwartz earned the Reynolds Price Award
Jennifer Brianna Blocker and Evgenia Madorsky received the Outstanding Acting Student Award
Richard Spencer Paez won the Alex Cohen Award for Summer Initiatives in Theater
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Donald McCreary won the Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize. Honorable Mention went to David Avari Patrick Womble
Amir Chireh Mehr won the James Rolleston Prize for Best Honors Thesis written in a Foreign Language
Edward H. Benenson Awards in the Arts went to Ashley Jane Brasier, Jennifer Brianna Blocker, Martin Edward Connor, Nathaniel Wilbur Hill, Monica Kathleene Hogan, Wanda Bongkyung Jin, Alison Hall Kibbe, Nusaibah Suleiman Kofar-Naisa, Jonathan Edward Lee, Katherine Elaine Noel, Braxton Deonte Shelley, Connor Wroe Southard, Eddie Yewei Wu, Ali Yalgin and Cameron Tucker Habib Zohoori
Monica Kathleene Hogan and Ali Yalgin received the Louis B. Sudler Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts
Women's Studies
Sunhay You and Precious Graham received the Dora Ann Little Award
Student Leadership
William J. Griffith University Service Awards went to Monica Bhutiani, Nathan Alexander French, Roger Look, Derek Kinwai Mong, Braveen Ragunanthan, Lindsay Sarah Tomson, Dania Christine Toth and Oliver William Francis Wilson
Student Affairs Distinguished Leadership And Service Awards went to Felicia A. Arriaga, Justin Gregory Harris, Risa Faye Isard, Ebonie Vera Simpson and Lindsay Sarah Tomson