Faculty Scholars, from left: Connor Hann, Rachel Hennein, Stephen Ghazikhanian and Jay Ruckelshaus.
One sign that an undergraduate student has a potential to become a great scholar: Faculty start debating your ideas after you leave the room.
That's what happened when junior Stephen Ghazikhanian left his interview with the committee who were selecting the Faculty Scholars award. The highest honor faculty bestow on undergraduates, the award goes to students who go beyond high grades and show a record of independent research and the potential for innovative scholarship.
A neuroscience major, Ghazikhanian is conducting research on the connection between macular degeneration -- a painful eye disease – and how people speak. The two don't seem connected, but evidence is mounting that victims of macular degeneration are prone to speaking disorders.
"As soon as he left, the committee starting arguing about what he had to say," said Cynthia Kuhn, professor of pharmacology and a committee member. "And suddenly we looked at each other convinced that Stephen is one intellectually engaged young man. He left us very fascinated with his work."
Ghazikhanian was one of four students honored this year by the committee. The top award went to Connor Hann, a physics and mathematics double major; and Jay Ruckelshaus, a political science and philosophy double major.
Honorable mention went to Ghazikhanian and Rachel Hennein, a psychology and global health double major. All students are juniors.
This year, recipients of the Faculty Scholar Award and Honorable Mention will receive $5,000 and $2,500, respectively.
Hann was cited for his study of growth mechanisms for metallic alloys in which atoms are arranged in patterns exhibiting icosahedral symmetry. These materials are known as quasicrystals; the atoms form a highly ordered pattern, but not a regularly repeating one as in conventional crystals.
Quasicrystals have been produced in the lab since the 1980’s, and the Nobel Prize in 2011 was awarded for research in this area. More recently, it has been discovered that an icosahedral formed naturally on a meteor that crashed to earth millions of years ago. Hann worked with Professor Joshua Socolar to develop an algorithm that shows how a structure of this type could form naturally.
Earlier this month, Ruckelshaus, an Angier B. Duke Scholar, received the Truman Scholarship supporting graduate study preparing him for public service. He has conducted research on political philosophy, the philosophy of disability and political party linkage mechanisms.
He has published several political theory research papers, worked as a research assistant for Herbert Kitschelt, the George V. Allen Professor of International Relations in political science, and serves as co-editor-in-chief of Eruditio, Duke’s undergraduate humanities academic journal.
One of his papers, "The Danger of Political Labels," won a national award for its examination of how such labels, "in trying to collect and unify the various components of a single political ideology, instead very often confuse them." A second paper, "Identity, Autonomy, and the Essentiality of Disability," offers a philosophical critique of the social paradigms of disability studies.
Ruckelshaus, who was left paralyzed in both arms and legs after a diving accident the summer before his freshman year, is also founder and president of the education and disability nonprofit Ramp Less Traveled. The organization is dedicated to promoting opportunities in higher education for individuals with spinal cord injuries.
Ghazikhanian received the honorable mention award for his record of scholarship in both linguistics and psychiatry. He's conducted several projects on pain management, including the study of the connection between speech impairment and macular degeneration.
Hennein started research with global health faculty almost immediately after arriving at Duke. With the guidance of Professor Eve Puffer, Hennein has combined research and service focusing on mental health issues in Africa.
"She told the committee about working for a non-profit in Capetown and writing applications for grants for AIDS work, figuring out how to deal with local officials, and scavenging money from a variety of sources," Kuhn said. "It impressed us that she was working on the ground, applying what she had learned."
Faculty Scholars Committee member Carlos Rojas said: "Working on this committee, meeting these students, is one of the most pleasurable university panels I've served on. It's deeply humbling to see what all the student nominees have accomplished and to see their potential. I'm not just pleased with the candidates that we've selected, but I'm impressed as how the set of candidates embody the range of intellectual activity at Duke. The top students are coming from every corner of the university."