Student Award Winners
Details
Ada Hogan, who studied French literature and Jeffrey Miller, a political science major, are traveling to Morocco and Germany. Both seniors were awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Considered the U.S. government's premier scholarship program, the "Fulbrights" were designed to enable American students to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world and to gain international competence in an increasingly interdependent world.
Hogan, who is interested in what remains of French culture in Morocco, particularly the language, is researching the Moroccan shift from the use of French to the native Arabic language. She is attending the American Language Institute in Fez, which has an intensive program in modern-standard and colloquial Arabic.
Jeffrey Miller is applying his Fulbright toward the study of Germany's welfare system while taking classes at Bonn University. Because of Germany's position as the largest state in the European union, Miller wants to learn about Germany's influence on the future of European politics. Eventually, he would like to work for the State Department.
One of Miller's classmates, Jim Kapsis, who also majored in political science and is interested in world politics, is focusing specifically in the area of conflict resolution. Kapsis, who was awarded a Watson Fellowship, is spending this summer in Cyprus, Israel and Northern Ireland. Kapsis is one of 60 seniors from 51 of the top liberal arts colleges throughout the U.S. to receive the fellowship on the basis of success in academic work and extra-curricular activities and the merit of their proposed projects.
Kapsis is using his fellowship to study the various approaches those countries have taken toward solving their regional conflicts and establishing peace.
Chemistry student, Matthew Stremlau was one of only 18 college seniors throughout the nation to be named a Luce Scholar. Created by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program provides stipends and internships for young Americans to live and work in Asia each year. Stremlau is postponing his graduate studies at Harvard University in order to accept an 11-month internship with the State Laboratory for Agricultural Biotechnology at the Beijing Agricultural University in China.
Stremlau is interested in the application of science to third-world countries. Crop yields have stagnated over the last five years, and countries like China were forced to devise new strategies for feeding their large populations. Agricultural biotechnology promises good methods for bolstering yields and improving the nutritional quality of specific foods. Stremlau wants to study Chinese methods for enhancing their agricultural production and hopes to gain the skills and experience necessary for applying cutting-edge science to problems faced by developing countries.
Eric Robinson is spending his summer in an internship program on community building at Columbia University, part of which includes teaching experience in Manhattan. This fall he will continue to teach but near London, England as a William Penn Fellow of the prestigious Chigwell School.
The Chigwell School is an independent school founded in 1629. Its best known alumnus is William Penn, who maintained a philosophy of tolerance, understanding, peace and equality. The fellowship, created in his name, promotes the sharing of intellectual and other cultural experiences in order to encourage a better understanding of relations between Britain and the United States.
