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Student Honors and Laurels, 2013

Departmental, university and national awards for the past year

Jacob Tobia (left) and Patrick Oathout won Truman Scholarships in 2013
Jacob Tobia (left) and Patrick Oathout won Truman Scholarships in 2013

National Awards

Goldwater Awards

Duke juniors Kushal Seetharam and Yaohua Xue are among 271 students awarded Goldwater Scholarships for the 2013-14 academic year. The one- and two-year scholarships will cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Xue, a chemistry and economics double major from Apex, plans to pursue a M.D./Ph.D. in pharmacology and cancer biology. She is interested in conducting research on cell-signaling pathways implicated in cancer and designing drug therapies that target those pathways.

Seetharam, an Angier B. Duke Scholar from Great Falls, Va., is a physics and electrical and computer engineering double major. He intends to earn a Ph.D. in applied physics, and wants to conduct research in applications of electromagnetics and photonics.

In 2012, current seniors Kenneth Hoehn and Clara Starkweather received the Goldwater Scholarship.

Marshall Scholarship

Duke senior Kenneth (Ken) Hoehn of Canton, Ga., has won the prestigious Marshall Scholarship.

Hoehn, an Angier B. Duke Scholar who is studying evolutionary and computational biology, will go on to complete at least two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom. Hoehn plans to use his award to pursue a doctoral degree in evolutionary genomics at the University of Oxford.

Truman Scholarship

Patrick Oathout and Jacob Tobia, juniors at Duke University, are among 62 students selected this year as Truman Scholars.

A double major in public policy studies and philosophy, Oathout plans to pursue a joint graduate degree in law and foreign service. His focus will be international relations, security and refugee and humanitarian emergencies.

Tobia, a Benjamin N. Duke Scholar and Point Foundation Scholar, is a native of Raleigh. He is pursuing an undergraduate degree in human rights advocacy. He intends to use the Truman scholarship to pursue a joint graduate degree in law and public administration, with a concentration in international human rights law and international relations.

In 2012, current senior Kristen Lee, who has been involved in women's health and gender equality issues, was selected a Truman Scholar.

Fulbright Scholarships

Fifteen recent Duke graduates are studying, conducting research and teaching English abroad during the 2012-2013 academic year, as Fulbright scholars, and administrators in The Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows hope the success of these Duke students will encourage others to apply for the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program.    

Duke's 2012-2013 Fulbright recipients, their countries and work include:

Tosin Agbabiaka -- Belgium and Greece -- federalism and asylums

Hannah Chartoff -- Egypt -- language and literature

Kaveh Danesh -- China -- public health

Lisa Deng -- Malaysia -- public health

Christopher Grigsby -- Singapore -- biomedical engineering

Tyler Hayes -- Switzerland -- medical sciences

Lauren Hendricks -- Mongolia -- English as a second language

Jessica Kim -- South Korea -- anthropology

Shining Li -- Bulgaria -- English as a second language

Christina Mobley -- France -- history and culture

Kate Newman -- South Korea -- English as a second language

Mikael Owunna -- Taiwan -- English as a second language

Will Passo -- Taiwan -- English as a second language

Ashley Thomson -- Vietnam -- engineering

Megan Weinand -- Mexico -- English as a second language

 

fac scholars
Faculty scholars for 2013: Caitlin Finn, Daniel Stern, Katherine Zhang and Madeline McKelway

University

Faculty Scholars

Two Duke juniors 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: Daniel Stern (Mathematics) and Katherine Zhang (English/Economics); honorable mentions went to Madeline McKelway and Caitlin Finn.

African and African-American Studies

Jennifer Denike won the John Hope Franklin Award for Academic Excellence

Camille Anderson received the Karla F. C. Holloway Award for University Service

Laura Maule received the Walter C. Buford Award for Community Service

Mantegafta Getanesh Yilma earned the Mary McLeod Bethune Writing Award

 

Air Force

Kendrick Kwasi Fitzgerald, Thomas Jun Hong, Matthew Luke Neelon and Christopher Way Puckett were named Distinguished Military Graduates.

Art of the Moving Image

Kal Chapman won the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Filmmaker of the Year award.

 

Art, Art History and Visual Studies

Rebecca Ann Kuzemchak and Yuan (Ingrid) Zhuang won the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Arts Award

Mary Rose Medearis Superfine won the Nancy Kaneb Art History Award

Felix Johan Wibergh won the Sue and Lee Noel Prize in Visual Arts

Amanda Grey Jordan and Amanda Jean Ukleja won the Visual Studies Initiative Award

Elysia Pan won the Visual & Media Studies Distinction Award

 

Biology

Miriam Tien Hui Fox won the James B. Rast Memorial Award in Comparative Organismal Biology

Eli Payson Wilber received the Edward C. Horn Memorial Prize for Excellence in Biology

Anne Kathleen Johnson received the Excellence in Plant Science Prize

Stephani Kristin Zakutansky earned the Maggie Schneider Award in Marine Biology

Kenneth Bradley Hoehn won the Biology Faculty Award

 

Business

Monica Maria VanBuskirk won the Asa T. Spaulding, Sr. Award for Leadership

Andrew Stalnecker received the Breeden Award in Finance

Joshua Daniel Connor and Benjamin Neal van der Horst received the Distinguished Service Award

Dean's Recognition Awards went to Carrie Catherine Bloch, Elana Rebecca Boehm, Candace Alexandria Buford, Ryan John Clark, Jonathan Patrick Crimins, Stephanie Marianna Gorski, Stephen Robert Grygar, Kirsten Anne Hagfors

Jacqueline Ann Harris, Carla Michelle Hickman, Piarget Gyles Johnson, Abigail Kate Lundy, Ryan Richard Morrissey, María Angélica Rodríguez Retamoso, Jonathan Tyler Segal, Karen Elizabeth Vancina and Wenjia Wu

Dean's Leadership Awards went to Charles An, Marc-Antoine Andreoli, Annika Buettner and Gayathri Parthasarathy

Deborah Ann Kosta and Colin Joyner received the Keohane Leadership Award

Michael Bruno Jr. won the Alan D. Schwartz Award for Mentorship

 

Chemistry

Taylor Elizabeth Gill received the American Chemical Society Undergraduate Award in Analytical Chemistry

Jeong Hoon Ko won the American Chemical Society Outstanding Senior Organic Chemistry Student

Merck Index Awards went to Julie Jean Gonzalez and Eduardo Jose Pascual

Taylor Elizabeth Gill won the Department of Chemistry Award

Jonathan Rhines Thielman received the Hypercube Scholar Award

 

Classical Studies

Darius Rudnyckj Brown 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

 

Cultural Anthropology

Alexandra Suzanne Middleton won the Judith McDade Prize

Jessica Leigh Narloch won the Paul Farmer Award for Justice and Social Responsibility

 

Dance

Betsy Boxberger and Sarah McCaffery received the Julia Wray Dance Award        

Rebecca Holmes won the Clay Taliaferro Dance Award

 

Divinity

Julie Nicole Newberry and Adam Lawrence Cieszkiewicz won the Award for Excellence in Bible Studies.

Matthew Ford Price earned the Richard P. Heitzenrater Award for Excellence in History

James Bryant Manning and Angelo Emmanuel Sanchez received the Fellowship Seminarian Award

James Bryant Manning won the Hoyt Hickman Award for Excellence in Liturgics 

Krystle Carlene Higgins and Lisa Marie Talbott earned the Jameson Jones Preaching Award

McMurry Richey Awards went to Eric Richard Schubert for Outstanding Student Pastor; Colleen Allison Bookter and Amanda Louise Haines for Outstanding Students in Field Education; and Jeanne Kay Cross for Outstanding Student in Missions.

 

Hannah Scott
Hannah Scott and her family, the subject of her award-winning documentary

Center for Documentary Studies

Jacob Tobia won the John Hope Franklin Award

Hannah Scott won the Julia Harper Day Award

 

Duke University Union

Kristian Angelica King, King Lu and Ashley Yu-Fen Tsai received the Hal Kammerer Memorial Prize for Film and Video Production

 

Earth and Ocean Sciences

Julia Eileen Hazel and Paul Andrew Schisa won the Thomas V. Laska Award

 

Education

Nicole Marie Schollmeyer received the Holton Prize for Educational Research.  Matthew Sumner Strumph won the honorable mention.

Aliya Regina Pilchen received the D.T. Stallings Award

Haley Ellen Barrier received the Betsy Alden Outstanding Service-Learning Award

 

Jinchin Liu
Pratt student Jinchin Liu with a photo of his grandfather, from Taiwan.

Engineering

James Morgan Dolan and Andrew David Jones won the American Society of Civil Engineering Prize

Jinchin Liu and Manoj Venkat Maddali received the Helmholtz Award.

Jake Anthony Sganga received the Otto Meier Jr., Tau Beta Pi Award

Laura Gabriela Oteiza won the Aubrey E. Palmer Award

Kathryn Brunet Latham won the Eric I. Pas Award

Dazhong Xuan earned the Theo Pilkington Award

Likun Xi earned the Charles Seager Memorial Award

William Joseph Scheideler earned the George Sherrerd III Memorial Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grace Sea Anne Cambareri, Hunter Callum Douglas and Kala Valli Viswanathan earned the William Brewster Snow Environmental Engineering Award

Chen Zhao received the Charles Rowe Vail Memorial Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award

John Richard Jamieson III received the David Randall Fuller Prize

 

English

Harry James Liberman received the Barbara Herrnstein Smith Award for Outstanding Work in Literary Criticism or Theory.

Audrey Adu-Appiah won the Anne Flexner Fiction Award. Alyssa Danielle Wong took second place

Daniel Fishman won the Anne Flexner Poetry Award. Raasti Said won second place

Elizabeth Beam won the Terry Welby Tyler Jr., Award in Creative Writing

Danielle Replogle won the Academy of American Poets Award. Eleanor Callahan Bullard took second place

Jocelyn Lee Streid received the Award for Most Original Honors' Thesis

Elizabeth Beam and Daniel Fishman won the Schutte Senior Award for Outstanding Contributions in Creative Writing

Ebunoluwa Odolade Olaleye earned the Louis J. Budd Award for Outstanding Work in American Literature

Lindsey Osteen received the Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship

Nijai Blackwell won the William M. Blackburn Scholarship

 

Environment

Kevin Kun He and Nikhilesh Penmetsa Raju earned the Sara LaBoskey Award

 

History

John Kear and Julianne Kolb received the William T. Laprade Prize in History

 

International Comparative Studies

Samuel Jacob Davis and Genevieve Desloge Werner received the Capstone Research Prize

Hannah Kate Sieber won the ICS Distinguished Thesis Award

 

Marine Laboratory

Sharon Wing Ting Chan, Ruth Marie Kleischmann Griffith, Xuan Hong Lim, Theodore Hogeman Phillips and Nikhilesh Penmetsa Raju were named Rachel Carson Scholars

 

Mathematics

Bryan Jeffrey Jacobson and Kara Juliette Karpman received the Julia Dale Prize in Mathematics

Michael Christopher Banaszek won the Karl Menger Award for Superior Performance in the 71st William Lowell Putnam Competition

 

Military Science

Jessica Anne Tarsa earned the George C. Marshall Award

 

Music

Bryan Christian earned the William Klenz Prize in Composition

Matt Kambic, Jacqueline Sun and Ivy Zhou received the Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music

Hannah Rutherford won the Henry Schuman Music Prize

Cameron Thompkins received the Anne Marie Parsons Memorial Prize

Kelly Calabrese, Cinnamon Mittan and Jenny Walters earned the Paul R. Bryan Award for service to the Duke University Wind Symphony

 

Nasher Museum of Art

Julianne Barlett Kolb, Stephanie Ann Bohn Chao and Sarah Soltis received the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Summer Internship Award in Museum Studies

Cecile Diaz earned the Treat A. and Susan L. Carmichael Internship

 

Naval Science

Stephen Martin Clement and William Connor Lennard received the CNO Distinguished Graduate Award

Justin Tien Cheng Liu earned the Military Officers Association of America Award

Edward James McCarthy and Thomas Andrew Petrilak received the Sons of the American Revolution Award

Thomas Andrew Petrilak, Michael Oliver Dylan Pruitt and Devin Ryan Rojas earned the Colonel Frederick Knops Leadership Award

Jesse Allen Starr won the Military Order of the Purple Heart Award

Raven Nicole Stevenson earned the Daughters of the American Revolution

Award

 

Nursing

Yee-Ling Kwan won the Annie Beery Bieber Award for OutstandingLeadership

Mintoria Lynette Stockton earned the Ruby L. Wilson Excellence in ClinicalPractice Award

Emily Wade Lowery received the Thelma Ingles Excellence in Clinical Expertise and Scholarly Activities Award

Lauren Jeannette Beaudry won The Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award

 

Political Science

Harry Liberman, Samreen Khan, Nicole Pavia and Daniel Strunk won the Alona E. Evans Prize in International Law

Jacob Friedman and Samuel Prywes won the Robert S. Rankin Award in American Government and Constitutional Law

Jed Lavery received the Robert S. Rankin Award in American, National, State, and Local Governments

Alexandra Swain and Justin Zhao earned the Robert S. Rankin American Government Award for Leadership and Academic Achievement

Leah Yaffe won the Elizabeth G. Verville Award  

Ryan Boone received the Ole R. Holsti Award in American Foreign Policy and International Relations

 

Psychology

Cassidy Ruth Fox and Ashley Lizbeth Ruba earned the Karl Zener Award for Outstanding Performance of an Undergraduate Major in Psychology

 

Public Policy Studies

Julia Rose Quinn won the award for Best Honors Thesis

David Major Harding Jr. and Ian Michael Harwood earned the Terry Sanford Leadership Award

Jing Song Ng received the Joel Fleishman Distinguished Scholar Award

 

Romance Studies

Anna Oliver McDonough received the Robert J. Niess/Alexander Hull Award in French

Lauren Williams Niculescu earned the Guido Mazzoni Award in Italian

Nelly-Ange Tchouatang Kontchou won the Richard L. Predmore Award in Spanish

 

Theater Studies

Lindsay Samuel received the Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater

Ritza Calixte won the John M. Clum Distinguished Drama Award

Mao Hu and Hannah Sieber received the Dale B. J. Randall Award in Dramatic Literature

Steven Li won the Jody McAuliffe Award for Excellence in Directing.  He also received the Reynolds Price Award for Best Original Script for Stage, Screen or Television

Don Tucker earned the Kenneth J. Reardon Award for Theater Design, Management or Production

Molly Forlines received the Dana Marks Award for Outstanding Acting

Sam Kebede, Phil Watson and Kimberly Welch won the Alex Cohen Award for Summer Initiatives in Theater

 

Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

Sarah Frazier Van Name received the Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize. She also won the Louis B. Sudler Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts

Lauren Alicia Dixon and Evan Michael Leon received the James Rolleston Prize for Best Honors Thesis Written in a Foreign Language

Edward H. Benenson Award in the Arts went to Ritza Emmanuelle Calixte, Lauren DeLucia, Michaela Costello Dwyer, Molly Dunn Forlines, Conrad Nathaniel Haynes, Holly Marie Hilliard, Alana Simone Jackson, Kristian Angelica King, Rebecca Ahn Kuzemchak, Steven Li, Rebecca Pham, Alpha Gabriel Tessema, Philip Watson, Kimberly Chantel Welch, Genevieve Desloge Werner, Alyssa Danielle Wong, Ivy Zhou and Yuan Ingrid Zhuang

 

Women's Studies

Sharma Neha and Ashley Tsai received the Dora Ann Little Award

Carolyn Laubender won the Anne McDougall Memorial Award

 

Student Leadership and Service

William J. Griffith University Service Awards went to Sujatha Jagannathan, John McGinty, Kathleen Perry, Jocelyn Streid, Ashley Tsai and Ting-Ting Zhou

Student Affairs Distinguished Leadership And Service Awards went to Samantha Lachman, Kristen Lee, Wilma Metcalf, Julie Rivo and Ashley Tsai

James Flynn won the Lars Lyon Volunteer Service Award

Kathleen Perry received the Algernon Sidney Sullivan Award

Nelly-Ange Kontchou earned the Baldwin Scholars Unsung Heroine Award

Jay Sullivan earned the Julie Anne Levey Memorial Leadership Award.

Jesse Hu, Luke Maier, Gayle Powell, Carolyn Rath and Zalika Sankara received the Class of 2016 Leadership Award