THE ENDOWED FELLOWSHIPS
Philip Alston Fellows Megan Nicole Unger ’13 Lawrence William White ’13 Eugene Black Fellows Eilidh Geddes ’15 Addison Von Wright ’13 Carlyle Fraser Fellows Patrick Joseph Fitzmaurice, Jr. ’12 Ryan Patrick McLynn ’13 Avery Elizabeth Wiens ’15 Vera Milner Fellow Megan Elizabeth Ernst ’15 Winship Nunnally Fellows Morgann Ashley Lyles ’12 Bethany Cotten McCain ’13 Martha Nunnally Fellow Reuben Arthur Reynolds ’13 William Morris Fellow Savannah Elyse Colbert ’15 John White Ramsey Fellow Brittany Anne Young ’13 Charlotte & Claude Williams Fellow Sara De La Torre Beron ’13 Penelope W. and E. Roe Stamps IV Foundation Fellows Joshua Andrew Chang ’15 Michael Tyler Land ’15 Gautam Rajhar Narula ’15 Megan Frances White ’15 Bernard Ramsey Endowed Fellows Victoria Suzanne Akin ’12 Juliet Elizabeth Allan ’12 Jaime Elizabeth Ayers ’12 Sara Thomas Black ’14 Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12 Jesse Yuen-Fu Chan ’14 Savannah Elise Colbert ’15
Sara De La Torre Berón ’13 Parker Timothy Evans ’15 JoyEllen Ashley Freeman ’13 Smitha Ganeshan ’14 Joseph Elliott Gerber ’14 Sophia Helene Giberga ’15 Philip Joseph Grayeski ’14 Camille Parker Gregory ’13 Anisha Ramchandra Hegde ’14 Dana Lynn Higgins ’12 Hillary Dolores Kingsley ’12 Paul Alexander Kirschenbauer ’14 Logan Hunter Krusac ’12 Ronald Jackson Kurtz ’15 David Richman Millard ’14 Kameel Mir ’15 Sarah Aneese Mirza ’15 Tatum Danielle Mortimer ’12 Luke Hensley Mosley ’12 Saptarsi Mukhopadhyay ’12 Bryn Elise Murphy ’12 Clara Marina Nibbelink ’14 Davis Reynolds Parker ’15 Todd Warren Pierson ’13 Derek Anthony Ponticelli ’13 Jacob Hunter Rooney ’12 Matthew Wyatt Saltz ’13 Henry Louis Schwartz ’12 Matthew Richard Sellers ’12 Rachel Claire Sellers ’14 Blake Elizabeth Shessel ’14 Anuj Atul Shukla ’12 Grace Maastricht Siemietkowski ’15 William Harry Stephenson ’12 Jeremiah Hudson Stevens ’14 John Henry Tab Thompson ’15 Waring Trible III ’13 Jacqueline Van De Velde ’14 Kishore Pavan Vedala ’14 Hemali Prakash Vin ’12 Thomas Matthew Ward ’12 David Michael Zweig ’12
FOUNDATION FELLOWS TRUSTEE COMMITTEE MEMBERS Mary Lou Swift, Chair Columbus, GA Kathryn L. Ash, Advisory Charlotte, NC David E. Boyd Atlanta, GA Otis A. Brumby, Jr. Marietta, GA Robert G. Edge Atlanta, GA Joseph C. Frierson, Jr. Athens, GA Michael H. Godwin Valdosta, GA Sarah Corn Irby Atlanta, GA James L. LaBoon, Jr. Athens, GA Thomas W. Lawhorne, Jr. Columbus, GA William N. Searcy Savannah, GA Stanley W. Shelton Wayland, MA Stephen W. Smith Atlanta, GA Steven W. Smith Atlanta, GA John P. Spalding Atlanta, GA
PROGRAM STAFF David S. Williams Director Jessica B. Hunt Scholarships Coordinator Carolyn Crist Program Administrator Rebecca S. Cheney Graduate Assistant
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Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Foundation Fellowship . . . . . . .
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Benefits and Requirements . . . . . . . . 8
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National Recognition . . . . . . . . . . 12 Faculty Mentors . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Academic Enrichment . . . . . . . . . 20
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Fellows Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Foundation Fellows Alumni . . . . . . . 78 Ramsey Honors Scholarship . . . . . . 88 Travel-Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Academic Enrichment . . . . . . . . 94 Research and Conferences . . . . . . 96
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Spring Service Trip . . . . . . . . 98 Civic Engagement . . . . . . . . 102 Internships . . . . . . . . . . 104 The Skipperdees . . . . . . .
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Ramsey Classes . . . . . . . 108 Ramsey Alumni . . . . . .
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One of the great privileges of being president of The University of Georgia is the opportunity to spend time with the Foundation Fellows. These are truly extraordinary young people who come to us with outstanding academic credentials, but much more than that alone. They are talented musicians, dancers, and performers; they have been successful athletes; they have sterling records of community service; and they have been leaders at their high schools. They also come here desiring to make a difference in the world, and the Foundation Fellows program helps them do just that. Michael F. Adams, President The University of Georgia
Foundation Fellows and Ramsey Scholars are very impressive, both individually and collectively. They are accomplished scholars and leaders, and each displays a unique set of talents. Perhaps what is most remarkable about them – and arguably their most important trait – is their sustained commitment to service and concern for others. Fellows and Ramseys are intent on improving the world around them, and we are all better for it. David S. Williams, Associate Provost and Director Honors and Foundation Fellows Programs The University of Georgia
The Foundation Fellows and Ramsey Honors Scholars continue to be top students on the UGA campus who grow beyond it to become leaders in local, national, and global communities. These students earn some of the most prestigious scholarships in the country, are admitted to top graduate programs, and find jobs with leading companies. The trustees of The University of Georgia Foundation are proud of these outstanding students and are convinced that the Foundation Fellowship is the best program of its kind in the country. Mary Lou Swift, Chairperson Foundation Fellows Committee The University of Georgia Foundation
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The Foundation Fellows Program seeks to foster a community of scholars and leaders by providing intellectual, cultural, and service opportunities in an environment conducive to learning and personal growth through shared knowledge and experience.
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T H E F O U N DAT I O N F E L LO W S H I P UGA’s Premier Undergraduate Scholarship Program
In addition to the obvious scholastic benefits, the Foundation Fellows Program emphasizes fellowship, sharing of resources and ideas, and lifelong friendships. Peer mentoring, dinner seminars, cultural events, annual retreats, the Fellows Library in
“
Looking back, I’d say the two most important aspects of the
Moore College, and group travel promote a sense of community among the Fellows.
ounded in 1972 by The University of Georgia Foundation’s trustees, the Foundation Fellowship is the University’s foremost undergraduate scholarship, placing students in a community of similarly dedicated scholars, offering a stipend that approximates the cost of attendance, a post-first-year Maymester study abroad program at Oxford University, individual travel-study grants, spring group travel-study, research and academic conference grants, dinner seminars with some of the University’s best minds, and a mentoring plan that matches Fellows with professors who share their interests. Beyond the obvious scholastic benefits, the Fellows program emphasizes fellowship, sharing of resources and ideas, and lifelong friendships. Peer mentoring (Big and Little Fellows), dinner seminars and book discussions, cultural events, group travel, the Fellows Library in Moore College, and twice-a-year off-campus retreats promote a sense of community among the Fellows. They quickly find themselves at home on campus within a close-knit group of scholars, and through extensive travel, they extend that experience to include global communities. In the 2011-2012 academic year, 17 first-year students and 3 third-year Mid-Term Fellows joined the program, bringing the total number in the program to 66. New Foundation Fellows for 2012 had an average SAT score of 1550 (math and verbal only) and an average ACT score of 35. Their high school grade point average was 4.2 on a 4.0 scale, which indicates extra points for Advanced Placement courses.
Foundation Fellowship (and UGA!) that helped me become who I
am now were probably time and opportunity. As for time, I needed
the chance to think, to learn in and outside the classroom, and be certain of the path I was going to take. Time is hard to come by, and the support, mentorship, and resources (plus truly great friends and great community) could not have been better to make that time as valuable as it was. As for opportunity, what a chance it was to actually go survey the world and bring back a perspective that is now helping me understand how to serve other people and what my next steps should be as a doctor.” —John Marshall, FF Alumnus ’11 —Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Class of 2015
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On Campus – Honors, Research, Civic Engagement, Career Development Complementing the Foundation Fellows Program is UGA’s Honors Program, one of the oldest and most respected programs in the country. The program provides some 2,300 students with the resources to make the most of their higher education experience – including 300 Honors classes a year with an average class size of 17 students, expert advice from Honors and faculty advisors, independent research opportunities, mentoring, internships, lunchbox lectures and book discussions with faculty, and the Myers Hall residential community. Honors students may participate in graduate courses and pursue a curriculum leading to combined bachelor’s/master’s degrees in only four years. Through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO), students work with faculty on projects that allow them to reach beyond classroom learning and give them important research-related experience to demonstrate their passion to admissions staff at graduate or professional schools. Undergraduate research opportunities abound across the curriculum, from laboratory and social sciences to humanities and fine arts. The Honors Program affords numerous opportunities for local, national, and global civic engagement and career development – including internship placements in Washington, New York, and Savannah; the Roosevelt Institution, a student-run think tank that helps address poverty problems in Athens; the Corsair Society, which mentors undergraduates pursuing banking and finance careers; MATHCOUNTS Outreach at UGA; PromoteAfrica; Association of Women in Science; Mock Trial; and the Student Selection Committee of the Delta Prize for Global Understanding, whose past recipients have included Mohamed ElBaradei, Sadako Ogata, and Nelson Mandela. Among the on-campus benefits provided to Fellows is access to Honors staff members, including the Major Scholarships Coordinator, who provides important counsel for a variety of pursuits – including drafting personal statements, resumes, and cover letters for job, scholarship, and postgraduate study applications.
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The Benefits of Being a Fellow stipend ($10,500 plus the HOPE/ Zell Scholarship for in-state students; $17,200 plus an out-of-state tuition waiver for out-of-state students)
n Annual
fully funded spring travel-study programs (first through third years)
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fully funded summer study abroad program to Oxford, England immediately following the first year
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travel-study grants up to a cumulative total of $7,500 (closely related to students’ academic and professional goals, can be combined with semester stipends for study overseas for a full semester or academic year)
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and academic conference grants up to a cumulative total of $1,750
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seminars and book discussions with UGA and visiting professors
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n Twice-a-year,
all-Fellows retreats
in a community of young scholars who stimulate each other’s intellectual and personal development through the exchange of ideas and experiences
n Participation
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One of UGA’s most obvious characteristics is its size. From the time you step on campus (remember around, not under, the Arch), you’re swept up in a sea of students and activity from Broad Street to East Campus Road. Some people thrive on the palpable energy of 30,000 students while others approach the situation with a bit more trepidation. I think a great benefit of UGA is that it has something for everyone. From the vast range of opportunities and energy that comes from a large university to the small, more intimate community of the Honors Program and Foundation Fellowship, you’re free to spend time in whatever type of environment helps you thrive. “I feel incredibly lucky to have built strong relationships with faculty and administrator mentors during my undergraduate years. Precisely because there were so many options, I could explore several different interests and opportunities. At UGA, professors keep their doors open to their students and are more than happy to help. I learned so much from my mentors, ranging from anthropology to public health to veterinary medicine, and continue to stay in contact with these professors. “The wonderful people at Honors always prioritized my personal interests, helping me to explore my own path to pursue the opportunities that were relevant to my goals. Whether meeting with Dr. Williams to talk about interviewing for the Rhodes Scholarship or editing twenty drafts of my essays for the Truman Scholarship with Jessica Hunt, UGA Honors was an integral source of support and guidance. “In my room at Oxford, I have covered one wall with photos taken during my time at UGA. As I look over the photos on my wall I’m strongly reminded of the impact of UGA on my life. There are photos from spring break trips to Jordan and Costa Rica, snapshots of summers interning in New York City, and countless pictures of the people I am lucky to call my closest friends.” —Tracy Yang, FF Alumna ’11 Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University, MPhil in Medical Anthropology; Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Class of 2017
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N AT I O N A L R E C O G N I T I O N In 2011-2012,
Matthew Sellers – 2012 Marshall Scholar
Fellow Matt Sellers ’12 recalls his first time at Oxford University, where he encountered a demanding Georgia was one of academic environment as a freshman. “It’s one of the most intellectually stimulating places I’ve ever only four institutions been,” he says. “It fosters not just critical thinking but independence that you don’t get in a classroom in the nation with elsewhere. It made me a better researcher and the maximum of four writer and motivated me in new ways.” Now Matt will return as a 2012 Marshall Goldwater Scholars, one Scholar to pursue graduate studies at Oxford. of only two universities He is the fifth UGA student to earn the award in the past decade. After graduating from UGA in May with a bachelor’s degree in English and with three Udall Scholars, a minor in history, Matt will pursue a master of studies program in modern literature followed by a doctor of philosophy program in and one of only four English language and literature. universities with at least five At Oxford, he will unite the two sides of himself – the one that enjoys literary analysis and the other that digs into applied policy. Boren Scholars. UGA students Envisioning a future as a professor, he hopes to take scholarly pursuit and make it accessible to others, sharing literature with his also garnered a prestigious community in a way that helps members identify with themselves. Marshall Scholarship and “I’ve attended a public land-grant university, where the work I’m doing should inform the constituents of UGA and Georgia as a numerous Fulbright Scholarship whole. This motto ‘to serve’ is a mindset that I’m carrying with me to Oxford,” Matt notes. “The work I’m doing is not solely theoretical or offers, placing the University esoteric amongst the academy. It just as much needs to be a dialogue among the top tier of academic about literature, art, and culture that takes place on all levels, from the kitchen table to the seminar table, because the works I’m reading institutions with regard to are important for everyone to dig into and understand.” Matt’s grasp on policy is apparent through his various national awards. Many internships with National Association of Counties in Washington, current Foundation Fellows DC through the Honors in Washington program; Organizing for America in Athens, GA; U.S. Department of Education and Office of and Ramsey Scholars were Safe and Drug-Free Schools in Washington, DC; University of Georgia among the list of winners, Press; and Carl Vinson Institute of Government in Athens, GA. Matt has served in several leadership roles with UGA’s chapter of the and alumni Fellows made Roosevelt Institute, a national student-run think tank, and with UGA’s Journal for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, an online publication a splash as well, with the encompassing all disciplines. announcement of the “Fusing the study of English literature with policy, politics, and curriculum development, I’ve integrated my passion for words with various Fellowship’s second academic and professional areas of study,” Matt says. “Whoever said English isn’t a relevant course of study apparently didn’t understand the achievement gap MacArthur “Genius” – a gap which I hope to close by developing culturally relevant curricula.”
The University of
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Matt knew that he wanted to study literature after completing a research project as a 2009 summer fellow with the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. He focused on the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren. Matt plans to build on this research at Oxford, “interrogating how literature explores the changing experience of individuality in a globalized world while asserting the importance of selfhood – a celebration of difference rather than of divisiveness.”
2012 Goldwater Scholars The spring was something of a scholarship bonanza for UGA students. In addition to four Goldwater awardees, kudos were due to UGA’s three Udall Scholars, Honors students Heather Hatzenbuhler, Malavika Rajeev, and Theresa Stratmann. Along with Honors student Theresa Stratmann (a double awardee this year), three Fellows and Ramseys were awarded 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, which recognize exceptional sophomores and juniors in engineering, mathematics, and the natural sciences. Victoria DeLeo, Ramsey Scholar ’14 Victoria DeLeo is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biotechnology and genetics. A Ramsey Scholar, she has been conducting cereal crop genomic analysis research under the guidance of crop and social sciences professor Katrien Devos. She presented her work at the undergraduate research symposiums of UGA’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences last spring. Last summer, Victoria was a research intern at Kansas State University through a grant supported by the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Program. This summer she traveled to China on an NSFsponsored program to study the genetics of invasive species. Her future plans include pursuing a Ph.D. in plant genetics and working in research and development for a biotechnology company. Marianne Ligon, Ramsey Scholar and Mid-Term Foundation Fellow ’14 Marianne Ligon is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in cellular biology and has participated in RNA immunology research in Rebecca and Michael Terns’ biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory at UGA as a CURO Honors Scholar and CURO summer fellow. She completed a 2011 public health service learning trip to Nicaragua and a similar internship in
India in 2012 through Child Family Health International. Marianne’s community service involvement has included leading alternative spring break trips to New Orleans and Charleston through UGA’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity and serving as a mentor and teacher for local middle school children through the MATHCOUNTS program. She would like to become a physician scientist in immunology and infectious diseases. Buck Trible, Mid-Term Foundation Fellow ’13 Waring “Buck” Trible III, who is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in ecology and entomology, has been preparing for a career in academia focused on population genetics and biology through his UGA research activities. He has been studying the behavior of invasive South American fire ants found in Georgia with entomology professor Kenneth Ross. He also spent seven months in Costa Rica, carrying out his own selfdesigned project on the interactions between fire ants and coffee farms. Trible has been involved with conservation education and campus outreach organizations such as the Ecology Club, Students for Environmental Action and Game Day Recycling.
Todd Pierson – National Geographic Young Explorer Fellow Todd Pierson ’13 was awarded a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant, which funded a trip to China in summer 2012 to investigate a specific species of salamander. An ecology major from Indiana, Todd used the grant to explore an obscure specimen found on a Tibetan plateau. “The type that I am studying is one of the most interesting and largest amphibians in the world, growing to two meters in length,” Todd says. “They are threatened by habitat loss and are popular to eat in China, so they are heavily farmed and intermixed during breeding.” A 2011 Udall Scholar, Todd has been conducting amphibian ecology research since he started at UGA and has worked in the laboratory of John Maerz in UGA’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and also with Dr. John Pickering in the Odum School of Ecology. He has studied salamanders throughout the U.S. and with herpetologists in Guatemala, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. The Young Explorers Grant supports new generations of archaeologists, ecologists, geologists, and scientists who approach the natural world in a new way. The funds cover field costs related to research, conservation, and exploration-related projects for individuals ages 18 to 25.
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2012 Fulbright Scholars Fellows and Ramseys were among a record-breaking 17 UGA graduate and undergraduate students this year who were offered the Fulbright Scholarship for international research and English teaching abroad. Fellow Morgann Lyles ’12 received a Fulbright to teach English in France, Fellow David Zweig ’12 received a Fulbright to conduct research in New Zealand, and Ramsey Tiffany Hu ’12 received a Fulbright to teach English in Indonesia. During her undergraduate studies, Morgann Lyles’ interests in education, French culture, and immigration to France were all building and coalescing. She decided to apply for the Fulbright program because she “wanted to spend more time immersed in francophone culture,” while also working on her conversational French. “I went to France in high school for one month, and I was really intrigued that there were people of color there speaking French,” Morgann says. “Then I visited West Africa to learn more about the former French colonies today. After learning more, I knew I really wanted to go back to France.” David Zweig, an environmental chemistry major, “couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to spend a full year in New Zealand doing research on a Fulbright Scholarship.” He is looking forward to the cultural immersion experience that he has only gotten tastes of during previous, and shorter, trips abroad. “The amount of time I will have to devote to my environmental engineering research project means I can explore an interesting topic in depth without yet committing to a graduate study program.” Tiffany Hu has decided to forego the Fulbright experience in favor of accepting a spot at Mayo Medical School. Even so, she says, “Receiving the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Indonesia was an incredible honor. I had the unwavering support and faith of my mentors and peers. Although due to my medical school plans I will not be able to accept the assistantship, I look forward to including Indonesia in my future international health aspirations.”
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A.E. Stallings – 2011 MacArthur Fellow Foundation Fellow Alumna A.E. (Alicia) Stallings ’90 was selected as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Fellowship is given annually to talented individuals throughout the world who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self direction. Recipients represent a variety of fields and are selected based on three criteria, which include exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishments, and a potential for their fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. The fellowship is often referred to as the “genius award” and comes with an unrestricted stipend of $500,000 to the recipient. Alicia was recognized for her work as a poet and translator. Originally from Decatur, Georgia, but now residing in Athens, Greece, Alicia majored in Latin while a student in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. She was in the Honors Program and came to UGA on a Foundation Fellowship. Alicia later earned her master’s at Oxford University in England. Currently, she is the poetry program director of
the Athens Centre and is married to John Psaropoulos, who is the editor of the Athens News. A.E. Stallings’ debut poetry collection, Archaic Smile, received the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award and was a finalist for both the Yale Younger Poets Series and the Walt Whitman Award. Her second collection, Hapax (2006), was awarded the 2008 Poets’ Prize. In 2007 she published a verse translation of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things). Her poems have appeared in The Best American Poetry anthologies of 1994 and 2000. She has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Eunice Tietjens Prize, the 2004 Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award, and the James Dickey Prize. In 2010, she was awarded the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize, and earlier this year, she won a Guggenheim Fellowship. Alicia is the second Foundation Fellow alumna to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. Beth Shapiro, who earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in ecology from UGA in 1999, received the recognition in 2009.
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FA C U LT Y M E N T O R S Foundation Fellows benefit from the guidance of top faculty members who share their academic and broader interests. Faculty mentors are a source of inspiration and support for Fellows throughout their undergraduate years.
Mentoring from premier
JoyEllen Freeman ’13 “Dr. Barbara McCaskill in the English department has been my research mentor since the fall of 2009. We work together on the Civil Rights Digital Library. During the summer and fall of 2011, Dr. McCaskill guided me as I completed my undergraduate Honors thesis. My relationship with Dr. McCaskill has made my college career what it is today. Her incredible advisement, research instincts, and passions for teaching and learning have inspired and challenged me as a burgeoning scholar. Under her guidance, I am constantly becoming a better researcher, writer, and learner.”
faculty members is a hallmark of the Foundation Fellowship. From the moment they arrive on campus, Fellows build meaningful relationships with professors across disciplines, contributing to their development as scholars, researchers, and global citizens.
Buck Trible ’13 “Mentoring from Dr. Ken Ross in the fire ant lab has been critical in cementing my aspiration for a career in science. The many hours of one-on-one instruction I have received gave me vital perspective into the nature of an academic life, the scientific thought process, and most importantly, lots of knowledge about ants!” Jacqueline Van De Velde ’14 “Working with such an accomplished poet was an honor. As I taught Intro to Creative Writing alongside Lily Brown, she introduced me to the art of teaching – balancing encouragement and critiques, lectures and discussions, into a perfect dialogue between teacher and student – a conversation which she has mastered and which I have just begun. “When I began my research through the Roosevelt Scholars class, education was a field completely foreign to me. Dr. Paula Schwanenflugel served as a wealth of information and an excellent mentor as I began to delve into the science of literacy and the organizations within AthensClarke County that promote it. “Dr. Esra Santesso has gone above and beyond any rational expectation of a professor, giving generously of her own time to truly and deeply engage me in research. Even while I’ve been interning in Washington, DC, Dr. Santesso met with me each Monday over Skype for hours of one-on-one discussion over our research and my thoughts.”
Todd Pierson ’13 “I’ve worked with Dr. John Maerz of the Warnell School of Forestry (Urspelerpes research), Dr. Travis Glenn of Environmental Health Science (population genetics of Eurycea salamanders), and John Wares in genetics (phylogeography studies). It’s really important to understand what professionals in my field do, and by interacting with various faculty, I can get a feel for what career options I have.”
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Of all the things that I do as a faculty member at UGA, my work as a mentor to
undergraduates has consistently been the most satisfying. When new students arrive at UGA, they rarely have a full appreciation of all the potential that lies within them, not just for academic success, but for success in all realms of life. Being a mentor presents me with an enormous challenge – to help students discover that potential, and then to turn that potential into reality. That challenge might mean helping a mentee figure out how to take full advantage of this rare opportunity for broad intellectual exploration that college offers, or how to start a new student organization that could help change the lives of others, or what books to read for inspiration, or what the best thing is that they could do over the summer break. Mentors might provide a spark for students, but it is so rewarding to see how often they turn that spark into a flame, achieving far more than we had hoped for.” —Daniel Promislow, Professor of Genetics
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Sara Black ’14 “Dr. Pete Brosius in anthropology has allowed me to see his incredibly important and incredibly difficult-to-read original data from his dissertation research in Borneo in the mid-1980s. I’ll never forget the stories he has shared with me about his Penan friends and family, whose struggle seems both distant and strikingly familiar to the one I’ve worked more intimately with in West Virginia. It’s been valuable to watch the intersection of academia and social science with service and activism.” Bryn Murphy ’12 “Beyond the unfailing academic and professional support Dr. Pete Brosius has given me over the past four years – guiding me through three years of research, challenging me in my first graduate-level course, and connecting me with colleagues across the world for internships and research – he has taught me even more about the value of being a conscientious colleague, researcher, and citizen.” Sarah Mirza ’15 “I enrolled in a cultural geography class with doctoral student Michael Husebo after a recommendation that it would be fun and engaging, but I didn’t realize that human geography would so easily become a lens through which I could see – and ultimately unite – my other academic interests. Although my mentoring relationship with Michael is barely underway, each of our discussions leaves me eager to apply the geographical perspective to labor, migration, and healthcare, and from there to present this research at various conferences under his guidance.”
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Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12 “My mentors – Dr. Pamela Voekel in history, Dr. García-Peña in romance languages, and Dr. Judith Ortiz Cofer in English – have demonstrated to me that theory without practice is worthless and that, in turn, practicing solidarity with people pushed to the margins of society by different policies and attitudes is how you build a better world.” Hank Schwartz ’12 “I have been working on water conservation policies in Georgia with Dr. Laurie Fowler and am currently getting class credit for this research. Although my project began with the Roosevelt Institute, a policy on modifying water use in Georgia quickly exceeded my expertise, resulting in a need for a mentor. As a result, I have been in contact with a number of experts in the field and gained the valuable skills needed to turn an ideal goal into a practical proposal.” Marianne Ligon ’14 “All of my mentors have been incredibly supportive in my scholarship and internship applications. They’ve believed in my ability and guided me in pursuing my goals. Whether it’s what classes to take, where to study abroad, how to go about researching my interests, or where I want to go with my career, all of my mentors have provided options, guidance, and encouragement along the way, making sure I’m not alone in the decisions I’ve made while at UGA.” John Henry Thompson ’15 “Dr. Rob McDowell from the Carl Vinson Institute was an insightful mentor and superb source of information on our Roosevelt policy topic. He guided us toward a more tightly constructed policy and thoughtful analysis.”
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ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT National Culture: Software of the Mind with Veterinary Medicine Professor Corrie Brown
Learning
Clara Nibbelink ’14 “This discussion at Dr. Brown’s house on intercultural interaction surpassed any expectations. Instead of ordering a caterer, she and her Brazilian co-hosts made us traditional food themselves. Then, this vet school hotshot who’s traveled the world on behalf of the United States and animal safety spoke to us for nearly an hour about cross-cultural communication and understanding. She was so compelling that I felt I had to speak with her some more. Luckily Dr. Brown’s graciousness extended past the seminar – to meeting with me, sending me research to my home address, and offering to help me find a place in Africa to work over the summer.”
extends beyond the classroom for Foundation Fellows. Faculty from departments across campus,
Poetry Reading from Archaic Smile, Hapax, and Olives: Poems with A.E. Stallings, Foundation Fellows Class of 1990
industry leaders, visiting scholars, and Fellows alumni lead activities for academic enrichment and networking throughout
Matt Sellers ’12 “Anyone reading A.E. Stallings’ poetry will come away with a sense of its startling, brilliant juxtaposition of the ancient myth and modern sensibility, its meticulously crafted rhyme, its crisp meter – but only listening to the poet herself sing her poems did I realize her piercing humor and formidable intellectual energy. I count it among the most incredible experiences of my undergraduate years to have heard Stallings, one of the most accomplished poets of our day, read her work.”
the year. Fellows are also provided with funding to attend enrichment events sponsored by other organizations. Some activities take place on campus, while others may take place in professors’ homes, restaurants, or theaters.
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International Security Issues with Dr. Bill Keller, Director of the Center for International Trade and Security Joe Gerber ’14 “The juxtaposition of a delicious catered meal against sober discussions of international nuclear proliferation, terrorism, cloak-and-dagger operations, and the possibility of U.S. and/or Israeli conflict with Iran or Pakistan was a singularly weighty experience that gave me a fresh respect for the dangers of nuclear arms.”
Think Like a Medieval: Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy with English Professor Kalpen Trivedi, Director of UGA@Oxford Phil Grayeski ’14 “Going to the Boethius book discussion felt no different from going to meet a friend at Jittery Joe’s for some humorous, yet thoughtful conversation, but unlike most conversations with friends, Kalpen opened our minds and encouraged us to develop our own opinions on questions such as ‘What is the afterlife?’ ‘What is good in life?’ ‘What makes us truly happy?’ while keeping the discussion grounded, entertaining, and engaging.”
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Project Horseshoe Farm with Director and Physician John Dorsey Luke Mosley ’12 “John Dorsey was awesome. In all the muck and mire that is modern healthcare, it is so easy to be crazy frustrated with everything. And there really is a lot to be frustrated with. There are real, living, breathing people who aren’t getting care. Reimbursements are getting slashed, leaving a lot of doctors feeling they are getting the shaft for a broken system. Costs are spiraling out of control. And there just isn’t a great way to remedy everything. So many doctors I speak with are discouraging their children from pursuing medicine, so many are burnt out. It is so so so refreshing to see someone like John who not only cares deeply about what he does, but also really does believe he can (and is) making a difference.”
The King James Bible: a Look into the History and Transmission of the English Bible and into the Bible as Literature with English Professor Sujata Iyengar Parker Evans ’15 “I enjoyed digging into the long, complicated history of the Bible with Dr. Sujata Iyengar. After giving us an intriguing explanation of how the King James Bible came to be, Dr. Iyengar guided us through an analysis of the poetic Song of Solomon. Her personal research on the topic is extensive, and the fact that she was so clearly passionate about the subject made the discussion particularly enjoyable for me.” Savannah Colbert ’15 “From linguistics to the sacrifices made in translations, true love and faith, root words, and the nature of the color black, it was a captivating talk.”
Race to Nowhere with Jay Chugh, Foundation Fellows Class of 1998 Clara Nibbelink ’14 “Race to Nowhere highlighted the pressure put in the K-12 school system on kids to excel across all areas – academics, athletics, and extracurriculars. Chugh was an engaging presenter, who showed us the movie (in which he speaks on his experience with teaching AP classes and students’ stress) and then guided an active questioning period afterward, during which we – those who had managed to beat the school system, so far – speculated on the pros and cons of putting pressure on kids to do well in school, and of imagining other alternatives.”
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies with Visiting Professor Subha Dasgupta Matt Sellers ’12 “Readers of diverse national origins and backgrounds found a shared space in Lahiri’s work to consider the immigrant experience and the problematic relationship to countries of origin – a discussion made all the richer for Dr. Dasgupta’s unique perspective on Lahiri’s representation of modern India.”
Michael Johnston’s In the Deep Heart’s Core with Betsy Allen, Foundation Fellows Class of 2010 Joe Gerber ’14 “I am grateful that Betsy took the time to expose us, some of the most privileged university students in the U.S., to the difficult realities of many Americans close to our age. I appreciated the honest conversation we had about education, human worth and dignity, and social responsibility. Betsy’s insights (from her experience with Teach for America) on educational policy, bureaucracy, and other institutional challenges were also very informative and revealing.”
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Book Discussions and Seminars 2011-2012 Elizabeth Allan, Dana Higgins, Bryn Murphy, Chad Peltier
AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War (Kahaner)
Betsy Allen*
In the Deep Heart’s Core (Johnston)
Rima Apple
Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America (Apple)
Payton Bradford*
The Music Business
Corrie Brown
National Culture: Software of the Mind
Jay Chugh*
Race to Nowhere: Film Night and Discussion
Subha Dasgupta
Interpreter of Maladies (Lahiri)
John Dorsey
Community Development & Healthcare: Project Horseshoe Farm
JoyEllen Freeman
2011 Student Freedom Ride
John Gittleman
The Selfish Gene (Dawkins)
Shannon Hiller*
SALT Academy: Development through Sport in Cambodia
Jessica Hunt*
LAMB: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal (Moore)
Jessica Hunt*, Carolyn Crist
A Visit from the Good Squad (Egan)
Sujata Iyengar
On the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible – a Look into the History and Transmission of the English Bible and into the Bible as Literature
Doug Jackson*
Artificial Molecular Machines: Applications in Electronics, Drug Delivery, and Responsive Materials
Mark Johnson**
Entrepreneurship Lessons with the Cirion Group
Bill Keller
International Security Issues
Matthias Klum
Photography across the World
Lee Lynd
Biofuels and Sustainable Fuels
Loris Magnani
Space, Time, the Ether, Einstein’s Space-time: Figments of Our Imagination or Undecipherable Reality?
Anant Mandawat*
Evaluating Medical School Applications
Chandra Mohan
Bollywood/Indian Cinema
Richard Morrison
Art & Science in Cortona, Italy
Corinne Novell*
To Know or Not to Know: Why and When Do People Avoid Information about Themselves?
Clela Reed
New and Collected Poems, including Dancing on the Rim
Martin Rogers
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho: Film Night and Discussion
Amy Ross
Questioning Kony2012: A Panel Discussion on Northern Uganda, the LRA, and Humanitarianism
Amy Ross
How to Get a Great Letter of Recommendation
Bo Rutledge
An Insider’s View of the Supreme Court
Helen Smith*
Poor Economics (Bannerjee & Duflo)
A.E. Stallings*
Poetry Reading from Archaic Smile, Hapax, and Olives: Poems
Lori Surmay
Contemporary Legal Issues in Sexuality and Reproduction
Adam Thomas*
Law School: An Insider’s View
Kalpen Trivedi
Think Like a Medieval: Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy
David Williams
Dubliners (Joyce)
*Foundation Fellow Alumni Host **Ramsey Scholar Alumni Host
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In addition to the seminars and discussions listed on page 23, the Fellowship sponsored attendance at a wide range of cultural and social events throughout the year. Film, Theatre – Eco Film Festival, In the Heights, Les Miserables, Memphis, Pirates of Penzance, Psycho, Race to Nowhere, Take Shelter, Romeo & Juliet, Spamalot, Town & Gown Theatre, Unchained Tour, UGA Theatre Art, Music, Dance – Acapellanonymous, Artini’s, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ballroom Magic, Canopy Studio Aerial Dance Performance, Civil Rights Photographs at the High Museum, CORE Dance Ensemble, Dali Exhibit at the High Museum of Art, DanceFX, EcoTones Performance, The Futurebirds, Glenn Miller Orchestra, Good Dirt Pottery, Picasso to Warhol Exhibit at the High Museum, Prelude Dance Ensemble, The Skipperdees, UGA Concert Choir, UGA Idol, UGA Percussion Ensemble, UGA Symphony Orchestra, UGA Theatre, UGA Wind Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma. Cultural Events, Campus Conferences, Lectures – Broad River Kayaking, “Confessions of a Data Junkie: Exploration and Evolution of the Apicomplexan Genome” with Jessica Kissinger, Dairy Fun Night with
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the Dairy Science Club, Electric Car Exhibit, Georgia Law Review Symposium: Civil Rights or Civil Wants?, Global Health Symposium, India Night, Oconee County Corn Maze, Ramsey Center Rock Climbing, Roosevelt@ UGA Conference, UGA Cooperative Energy Forum, UGA Observatory Night, UGA-Oxford Union Debate, UGArden,Vinson Institute’s Discussions Additional Group Events for the year include preparation meetings for spring travel-study, Big/Little Fellow Mentoring Program, class breakfast meetings, the Delta Prize Committee for Global Understanding, the fall reception with Provost Jere Morehead, fall and winter retreats, the first-year reception with Dr. David Williams, Foundation Fellows Student Advisory Council meetings, the senior graduation banquet, the holiday party drop-in, the FF Interview Weekend student social, and the annual parent reception.
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TR AV E L- S TUDY Fellows Highlight the Influence of Independent Travel-Study Experiences
Foundation Fellows use their funding for individual and group travelstudy to explore multiple countries during their degree programs at UGA. Learning to navigate
Bryn Murphy ’12 – Botswana, Costa Rica, England, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Peru “The Foundation Fellowship provided the financial and academic support to pursue my interest in international environmental law across five continents, from the Peruvian Amazon to Botswana’s wildlife refuges to the Indonesian island of Java. “As an intern in the Amazonian field office of the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law, I witnessed the ecological urgency and political intensity surrounding environmental law in a developing country. I spent my days crisscrossing the city by motorbike, interviewing local people for research on immigration and deforestation, and shadowing Peruvian coworkers as they counseled local landowners and indigenous groups. My Peruvian coworkers’ skill in leveraging legal tools to achieve people-sensitive environmental policies inspired me. Their vision for integrating traditional legal tools, innovative legal models, and alternative dispute resolution methods transformed my conception of the potential for lawyers to serve the public interest. “One summer, I spent a month camping and hiking in the remote bushveld of southeastern Botswana and studying wildlife conservation and ecology. Through UGA’s Center for Integrative Conservation Research, I spent five weeks in Yogyakarta, Indonesia living with a Javanese family and studying customary environmental law and community-based natural resource management under an NSFfunded researcher. This work further broadened my understanding of what law is and how it can improve environmental and human well-being.”
life abroad often leads Fellows to a deeper understanding of themselves and their home.
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Logan Krusac ’12 – China, England, Germany, Morocco, Spain “The travel opportunities provided through the Foundation Fellowship have significantly altered the course of my academic and professional journeys in ways I could never have imagined. Prior to college, I had never traveled outside the United States. Since the beginning of my freshman year, however, I have spent more than fifteen months abroad in eight countries on three continents. “The summer after my first year, I spent three months in Europe. After studying international conflict at Oxford University, I lived with a family in the small town of Segovia, Spain, where I studied Spanish history, culture, and language. These three short months abroad laid the foundation for my passion for international travel and people-to-people diplomacy. “Beginning the summer prior to my junior year, I traveled to China for twelve months on Critical Language and Boren Scholarships. Though I went to China for the purposes of studying Mandarin Chinese and conducting environmental research, I also learned a great deal about domestic politics, international affairs, and Chinese culture. I was particularly interested in China’s tea and classical music
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Grants for Individual Travel 2011-2012
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Sara Black
Hudson, NY
Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo
Cusco and Lima, Peru
Jesse Chan
London, England; Ibarra, Ecuador
Sara De La Torre Berรณn
Brazil; France; Italy
Patrick Fitzmaurice
Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Omaha, NE; New York City, NY; Salt Lake City, UT
Smitha Ganeshan
New York City, NY; Managua, Nicaragua
Joe Gerber
Paris, France
Phil Grayeski
Munich, Germany; Cusco and Lima, Peru
Camille Gregory
Battambang, Cambodia; India
Anisha Hegde
Ecuador; Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Logan Krusac
Stanford, CA; Columbus, OH; College Station, TX
Morgann Lyles
Macon, GA; Brooklyn Center, MN
Ryan McLynn
Boston, MA
David Millard
Frieburg, Germany
Gautam Narula
Palo Alto, CA
Clara Nibbelink
Costa Rica; Ecuador; Flagstaff, AZ
Todd Pierson
Izabal, Guatemala; Nicaragua
Ben Reynolds
Bradenton, FL
Matthew Saltz
Reykjavik, Iceland; Seville, Spain
Hank Schwartz
Argentina; Reykjavik, Iceland
Jeremiah Stevens
Ibarra, Ecuador; Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Buck Trible
San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica; Makekere Forest, Uganda
Matt Tyler
Chicago, IL; Washington, DC
Jacqueline Van De Velde
Bratislava, Slovakia
Kishore Vedala
Cortona, Italy; Hyderbad and Vizag, India
Thomas Ward
Brussels, Belgium
Lance White
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Megan White
Mari El Republic, Russia
Addison Wright
Beijing, China
Cameron Zahedi
San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica; Statesboro, GA; Dushanbe, Tajikistan
David Zweig
Reykjavik, Iceland
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cultures. I studied the cultivation and preparation of tea, a skill I have brought back to the U.S. to share with others. I learned to play the erhu, a violin-like two-stringed instrument. Playing in alleyways and parks throughout China, I attracted the attention of many passersby who shared rich stories of China’s history with me. “My year in China challenged my understanding of the world on a daily basis. China, government, freedom, society, justice, the United States, international responsibility, history – I was forced to reconsider all of these while taking into account the Chinese perspective. Whether observing the military raise the Chinese flag over Tiananmen, engaging in a debate over the merits of the Communist Party, hiking along the North Korean border, or living with Tibetans in a mountain village, my year in China was extremely rewarding. I will dedicate my professional career to improving China-U.S. relations and developing bilateral strategies to overcome our shared environmental crisis.” Elizabeth Allan ’12 – Australia, China, England, Germany, India, Peru, South Korea “With the support of the Foundation Fellowship, I have set foot on six continents, explored Machu Picchu, scuba-dived off of the Great Barrier Reef, and marveled at the timeless beauty of the Taj 30
Mahal. As unique as each of these experiences has been, one constant has been my tendency to engage local residents in political and philosophical discussions and fully immerse myself in their culture and lifestyle. Through conversations abroad, I’ve explored how history and cultural context shape the political and social conditions within nations today. “In Morocco I gained insights into the circumstances that prevented the revolutions of the Arab Spring from spreading to that country. I spoke with Moroccans who staunchly support Morocco’s monarchy and also with opposition members who long to follow the revolutionary paths of Egypt or Tunisia. In China, I grappled with a political system vastly different from that of the United States. I shared meals with high-level government bureaucrats in Beijing but also detected secret sentiments of discontent among those who are shut out of the current political and economic system. “My analytical understanding of the cultures that I have encountered is enhanced by the very real experience of having lived in these communities. My time abroad has involved navigating the Peruvian healthcare system, experiencing monastic life at a Buddhist monastery, and living for eighteen weeks as a woman in a Muslim country.
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These transformative experiences dispelled stereotypes and added layers of understanding to my prior beliefs. “As I prepare to enter the world of international policy, these cultural encounters paint a more detailed picture of the world I plan to engage in my career. Recognizing the origins and wide variety of perspectives that exist across the globe reinforces the importance of grounding effective policymaking in an understanding of local communities. The experiences made available to me by the Foundation Fellowship inspire me to inquisitively engage people from different backgrounds as a foundation for effective policies and partnerships in the future.” Luke Mosley ’12 – Costa Rica, England, Germany, India, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania “What attracted me to The University of Georgia? I was captivated by the possibilities of travel and study that the Foundation Fellowship promised. As I listened to the incredible accounts of trips to the Galápagos, journeys aboard the trans-Siberian railroad, and even expeditions to the frozen solitude of Antarctica, I could hardly wait for my own chance at adventure. “And what an adventure my time in the Fellowship has been. I walked through the hallowed gates of Oxford to study history, following in the footsteps of nearly a millennium’s worth of the world’s brightest scholars. I saw the highs and lows of the continent of Africa – from trekking to the summit of Kilimanjaro to living and working in the AIDS-besieged townships of Durban, South Africa. I took my own journey aboard a train, joining in the daily commute of Mumbai’s twelve million inhabitants as I made my way to the hospitals and clinics where I was interning. Conducting public health research, I traded trains for camels and bicycles to explore the deserts, canyons, and mountains of Jordan and Israel. “The lessons and experiences I gained through these travels have forever left their mark on me. Memories of where I’ve been, the people I’ve met, and the things I’ve seen continue to drive me onward and shape my ideas, decisions, and actions. And now looking back as I graduate, I realize my adventure is not coming to an end. Rather, the Foundation Fellowship has prepared me for a lifetime of adventure ahead.” Morgann Lyles ’12 – Bénin, England, Germany, Guatemala, India, Morocco, Spain “Some undergraduates spend a summer volunteering in a crowded, supply-starved hospital in a developing country and walk away saying that their outlook on healthcare has been changed. Others take insightful language classes with a native speaker while living
with a host family and leave saying that their perspective on foreign language education has been revolutionized. Still others are exposed to religious practices, places of worship, or breathtaking glimpses of natural beauty and come away saying that their appreciation for spiritual diversity has been expanded. Any one of these life-altering experiences would make an undergraduate career worthwhile, but incredibly, through the Foundation Fellowship, I have been fortunate enough to have all of these experiences – and many more – before my 22nd birthday. “The theme of my travels, both domestic and international, has been personal discovery. When I began at The University of Georgia, I had a double major in French and microbiology and planned to become a physician and public health worker in Francophone West Africa. I am finishing my career with degrees in French and African American Studies with plans to teach English in France for one year as a Fulbright Scholar before returning to the States to study foreign language education (applied linguistics and pedagogy) at the graduate level. What confirmed the decision for me was an independent trip to Abomey, Bénin, where I realized that I was much more interested in studying French and Francophone culture, as well as finding out more about my African heritage, than learning anything further about the diseases that I encountered in the hospital each day and how to treat them scientifically. I don’t know how else I would have had this epiphany without the Fellowship’s special gift to each student of crafting his or her own academic adventure. “As I move beyond the boundaries of Myers Hall, Moore College, and The University of Georgia, I will take with me the seeker’s spirit I have gained through four years as a Foundation Fellow. I will seek innovative ways to make the world my classroom. I will seek to keep an open mind about what I am supposed to ‘be’ when I grow up. Most of all, I will seek to slow down my energetic pace of life long enough to listen to the interesting voices around me – those of children speaking a mixture of Fon and French as we played Frisbee and American football in Bénin, that of my Guatemalan instructor Mario congratulating me on reading a paragraph in El Alquimista when I was only a beginner in Spanish a few weeks earlier, and those of the camel drivers in Morocco talking calmly to their animal comrades in a language I did not understand as we prepared to ride into the sunset in the chilly Sahara Desert.” Todd Pierson ’13 – China, Michigan, Nicaragua, Oman, South Korea, United Arab Emirates “I actually have to think pretty hard to remember all of the traveling I’ve done
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since the summer of 2011. I spent a week searching for rattlesnakes and turtles in Michigan, six weeks surveying reptiles in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and three weeks exploring the deserts of the American Southwest – just during that summer! Since then, I’ve spent ten days in Guatemala and Honduras sampling amphibians, joined the Fellows trip to South Korea, followed shortly thereafter by an expedition down the Rio San Juan of Nicaragua. For summer 2012, I received a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant to travel to Tibet to study one of the world’s largest amphibians. These experiences are why I’m here, and they are my undergraduate education. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live out my dream!” Sara Black ’14 – Arkansas, California, New York, West Virginia “Being nimble and mobile is an incredible asset in my line of community activism and organizing. Because of travel support from the Fellowship, I’ve been able to galvanize relationships with sustainability and civic action leaders all across the United States, from community organizers struggling to stop mountaintop removal in their backyards in West Virginia, to CEOs and managers directing the future of the organic foods market and 32
industry in California. Relationships build on each other. I got to sit at the table with the director of the National Young Farmers Coalition at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference in Arkansas, where I lined up an internship in the Hudson Valley with the Greenhorns, a national grassroots nonprofit working in advocacy and event and media production for young farmers. Having made connections here, I am in the process of securing two more internships, one in DC and one in China, in environmental journalism and agriculture policy. For me, the Fellowship isn’t just about dollars for tickets. It’s about the freedom to meet the right people at the right time.” Sara De La Torre Berón ’13 – Brazil, France, Italy “Spending a semester abroad was always part of my college plans, and with the help of the Fellowship, I spent six months in Brazil last fall. I learned as much about being independent as I did in my academic classes at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, where I was enrolled along with other Brazilian students. Immersion is the best way to learn a language and appreciate a culture, and going to a place where I knew no one and being able to create a place for myself was formative and educational.
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Clara Nibbelink ’14 – Arizona, Costa Rica, Ecuador “In the winter of 2011, I went to Ecuador to work with a PhD candidate in the Andes on her dissertation on social interaction and agency among kids in making nutritional decisions in a small caserío in the mountains called Chitacaspi. Irene, who soon became a mentor and friend, had a great relationship with the community we were working in, and with her I got a great firsthand experience in what localized international development efforts are like in all of their complexity. From teaching the children English by acting out Snow White to eating traditional cuy (guinea pig) to helping pick potatoes for five hours the Monday after Christmas, I felt incredibly grateful for the opportunity to see what community development and leadership is like and for the chance to spend time with people who welcomed me into their houses and their lives in the most gracious of ways.” Matthew Saltz ’13 – Iceland “From the hexagonal basalt columns of Vik to the gushing falls of Skojafoss overlooking its outlet into the sea, the geographical formations of Iceland never fail to impress, and the black and white overtones of it all left an impression that iron-forging dwarves and hillside hobbits dwelled just beneath the surface. It’s no wonder that Icelandic mythology and landscape penetrated much of Tolkien’s work.” David Zweig ’12 – Iceland “Studying folklore in Iceland over winter break, I got a glimpse of the creative capacity of the human mind to fill dynamic but uninhabited landscapes with complex creatures of its own imagining.”
an extremely remote community deep in the Talamanca Mountains to meet with the community’s shamans. Our students sat in a circle within the traditional ‘cone house’ and for over an hour asked questions and learned about the BriBri cosmology, medicinal plant use, and cultural ways of life. This was about as far from our typical reality as we could get, and it pushed everyone outside of their Western comfort zone to try and grasp a way of thinking about the world that is so different from our own. I was impressed with the respect our students showed to our hosts and with how deeply they engaged in this opportunity.” Academic Focus: Indigenous Cultures Past and Present Kayak the Rio Térraba mangrove forests Horseback ride at Rancho La Merced Discuss a responsible fishing/tourism program in Brunca region and indigenous territories Meet with indigenous leaders and local groups in the Térraba indigenous territory to talk about region, cultural issues, ethnotourism, and a hydroelectric project Travel to Cerro de la Muerte for an alpine ecology talk Talk with a local shaman at Amubri and visit traditional indigenous communities and farms Participate in an organic chocolate activity at ACOMUITA Take a natural and cultural history tour with an indigenous local guide Tour the Guayabo National Monument Raft the Rio Pacuare
Spring Break 2012 International and Domestic Trips COSTA RICA Program Leader: Dr. Quint Newcomer, Director, UGA Costa Rica
Paul Kirschenbauer ’14 “Sleeping in indigenous tree houses, eating with my hands from banana-leaf plates, practicing my Spanish, and exploring the jungle were just a few of the things that made visiting Costa Rica a journey I will never forget.”
“Our trip to Costa Rica with the Foundation Fellows provided the perfect opportunity to pioneer a new program to examine the indigenous cultures of Costa Rica, an often overlooked yet extremely rich aspect of Costa Rican culture. I cannot think of a better group to have had in the field than the Fellows. As always, they were engaging with our guest speakers. We visited two indigenous communities – the Térraba and the BriBri – and met with their spiritual and political leaders. One day we traveled by bus, dugout canoe across a river, and then on a rickety BlueBird bus to
Smitha Ganeshan ’14 “Our trip was the perfect combination of learning about indigenous cultures and their struggle and experiencing the breathtaking biodiversity of Costa Rica. From playing soccer with native Costa Ricans on the Pacific Coast, to learning traditional indigenous songs and dances, to calling the Dawgs in a gorge while kayaking on the Pacuare River, to living in a three-story tree house in the middle of the rainforest, our trip was a magical experience that spurred discourse about cultural diversity, public policy, and everything in between.”
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Jacqueline Van De Velde ’14 “We spent the week speaking to and living among the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica, seeing the beauty of their land and the strength of their culture – and the threats they both face. Having seen their country with their eyes, we left with a deep appreciation for the country and mutual respect for our new friends.”
Academic Focus: Islamic Culture and Traditions Study Moroccan Arabic at the Center for Language and Culture Stay with homestay families in Marrakech Meet local Moroccan students and join in a scavenger hunt of Marrakech Travel to Zagora to stay in desert
MOROCCO Program Leader: Dr. Kenneth Honerkamp, Associate Professor, Religion “It was such a joy to accompany the Fellows to Morocco for spring break. The one-week excursion included visits to Marrakesh, the Red City, founded eight hundred years ago. There the Fellows spent two nights with Moroccan families and experienced firsthand the fabled hospitality of the Muslim world. From Marrakesh we headed south on a four-day trip to the Draa Valley and the Casbah of Ait Ben Haddou, a caravan center dating from the 13th century. Our bus was a time machine as we descended toward the Saharan sands through the longest oasis in the world and our surroundings took on the images that reminded us of the formative period of Islam and Arabia. When our road left the oasis, crossing the rocky plains of the pre-Sahara to our waiting camels, from atop these noble mounts led by noble ‘men of the desert,’ the Fellows set out across the empty dunes towards our encampment, into a silence that can only be experienced in the heart of the desert. The visions of the South never fail to move me, and I sensed a deep appreciation in the eyes and words of the Fellows that this excursion was more than a week in Morocco for them. In Arabic there is a proverb, ‘Seek your companion before you set out on a journey.’ I have made the journey South on numerous occasions, but this journey of fellowship with the UGA Fellows will stand out in my mind. For me the Fellows were among the best companions I have journeyed with.” Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12 “Dr. Honerkamp served more as a spiritual leader and native guide than accompanying professor. From explaining the origins of Islam in a classic Arab garden to leading an early morning walk to watch the sun rise over the Saharan sand dunes, his presence made the trip unforgettable and inimitable. During a college career of unique experiences and opportunities this journey stands out as particularly memorable and worthwhile.”
Stop at Agalmous, Agadir, a 14th century Berber granary Visit Tamagroute library and see famous Tamagroute pottery Talk about Sufism and shrines Tour Casbah Ait Haddou with guide See local shrine of Sidi Ali Bou’Amar, a saint from Murabit times Participate in traditional tea times
Bethany McCain ’13 “Dr. Honerkamp had an inside connection at every destination and afforded us all a glimpse into real Moroccan life and culture. Seeing all of these things with other Fellows meant that discussion was lively and insightful, and though I finished each day physically and mentally exhausted, I woke up thrilled to see what the next had in store!” Sara De La Torre Berón ’13 “Spending the night in the Sahara Desert, riding on camels, staying in homestays with Moroccan families, visiting a UNESCO world heritage site, learning survival Moroccan Arabic, meeting several Arabic and Islamic scholars (and traveling with one!), eating delicious couscous and tajines ,and partaking in Moroccan tea ceremonies made for an unforgettable spring break. Every day of the trip was better than the next, thanks to Dr. Honerkamp’s careful crafting of a culturally immersive, visually astounding, intellectually stimulating, one-of-akind experience.” Hank Schwartz ’12 “Whether camping in the dunes of the Sahara or reflecting on medieval commerce at the fort Ait Benhaddou, I have rarely felt more immersed in a place so far from home. Hospitable homestays, religious sites, and expert guides combined to make this trip the perfect North African experience.”
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SOUTH KOREA Program Leader: Dr. Hyangsoon Yi, Associate Professor, Comparative Literature & GLOBIS Center “Spring break travel-study to Korean Buddhist temples with the Foundation Fellows has been one of the highlights of my career at UGA for the past ten years. What impresses me most is not just their intellectual capacity and knowledge of cross-cultural grammar but their genuine passion for new experience and deep respect for those who choose a very different life path. Their adaptation to the unfamiliar monastic environment is amazingly quick. They interact with nuns and monks with grace, sincerity, and warmth, quickly dissolving a seemingly solid, invisible line between themselves and monastics. This is why Abbess of Unmunsa temple, which is normally closed to even Korean visitors, welcomes UGA ‘any time.’ The Foundation Fellows always remind me of how right Mencius was when he said, ‘That he can get from the whole kingdom the most talented individuals, and teach and nourish them – this is the third delight (in life).’” Academic Focus: Zen Buddhism in South Korea Travel to Gyeonju, the ancient capital of Silla Kingdom Tour of Bulguk Temple, Seokkul Grotto, and Royal Tombs Park
sat down while hearing the traditional temple instruments wake up all the sentient beings of the world. After the final tolling of the enormous brass bell, the chanting and bowing began. Supposedly, 108 full bows in all (although I counted a few extra). If ever I’ve had a genuine cultural immersion experience, this was it.” Matt Sellers ’12 “Imagine waking to the low thrum of a dharma drum, chanting sutras alongside Buddhist nuns, and reflecting on critical questions of identity through zen meditation techniques – all before dawn. Such is the ascetic life of Buddhist monastic, and such is the life we led for a week on our trip to South Korea.” Elizabeth Allan ’12 “Thanks to Dr. Yi’s connections with the monastic feminist movement in South Korea, our entire group had the chance to stay at Unmunsa Temple. At the temple, the nuns integrated our group into monastic life, including waking up at 3 a.m. for morning chanting and participating in the ritual morning meal. On this trip I answered more questions than I knew that I had about Buddhism and discovered a way of life entirely foreign to my experience in the United States. I feel incredibly lucky to have had this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and in a paraphrase of one of the nuns at Unmunsa Temple, what our group learned from three days at Unmunsa will last us a thousand years.”
Hike Mt. Namsan and see Buddha carvings Stay at Unmunsa Temple, a Buddhist teaching monastery for nuns Hike to Sari Hermitage, evening and morning chanting with 108 bows, meditation, balwoo formal breakfast, morning work period, tour of monasteries, traditional temple crafts Participate in evening chanting and stay at Seonunsa Temple, a monastery for monks Learn traditional Korean tea ceremony and have tea with head abbot Visit Gochang Dolmen Museum Return to Seoul for tour of Gyeongbukgung Royal Palace Explore National Museum of Korea and East Gate market
Hillary Kingsley ’12 “I will never forget the experience of waking up at three o’clock for morning chanting at Unmunsa Temple. Surrounded by mountains, we walked through the peaceful temple complex in the dark, making our way to the main dharma hall. We took off our shoes and Foundation Fellows & R a m se y Honor s S chol ar s A nnual R ep ort
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NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, DC (First-Year Fellows) Program Leader: Dr. David S. Williams, Associate Provost & Director, Honors Program Academic Focus: Finance, Theatre, Public Health, and Politics New York Watch a Broadway performance of How to Succeed in Business Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art Discuss finance with David Battle at Metalmark Capital and other UGA alums working in banking/finance Tour New York University Medical School Eat dinner with UGA and Fellows alumni at The University Club Meet Susan Waltman, Senior VP and General Counsel, Greater New York Hospital Association
Savannah Colbert ’15 “The first-year trip to New York and Washington, DC allowed our class the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of group travel while getting to know each other better. Spending time exploring a city and figuring out the subway schedule truly cements friendships. We also had the chance to interact with Fellows alumni and visualize our future careers.” Josh Chang ’15 “The trip meetings and discussions achieved a nice balance of premedical, business, and international affairs. As a biology major with a premedical focus, our visits to NYU and the Greater New York Hospital Association were particularly useful toward reaching my future career goals.” Eilidh Geddes ’15 “I never imagined that I would be able to sit down and talk with a Supreme Court Justice for over two hours or discuss the role of the media with Paul Begala.”
Washington, DC Meet Georgia Senator Chiefs of Staff: Charlie Harman (Chambliss) and Chris Carr (Isakson) Discuss education with University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby at McKenna, Long & Aldridge law firm Eat with Fellows alumni at Carmine’s Meet Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Building Meet with political consultant and CNN commentator Paul Begala
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First-Year Maymester 2012 Study Abroad at Oxford University Courses Biomedical Ethics – Professor Hanna Pickard, All
explored the city of Oxford and its Hogwarts-esque architecture, watched plays and visited museums in London, and made weekend trips to other parts of Europe. But perhaps the most important part of the trip was spending a great deal of time with the other Fellows.”
Souls College, Oxford University English Historiography in the Early-Modern
Period: Literature and Politics – Professor George Southcombe, University College, Oxford University International Conflict – Professor Marc Stears and
Lecturer Joel Lazarus, University College, Oxford University Eilidh Geddes ’15 “Standing on the cliffs of Cornwall engaging in deep discussion, staying in the beautiful UGA house, and being in Oxford together gave us a great chance to bond as a class, whether through studying in the Bodleian, punting on the Cherwell River, or playing soccer in the backyard.” Gautam Narula ’15 “I had brilliant and caring professors, and the discussion-oriented seminars and tutorials were thought provoking and engaging. Outside of class, we
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Kameel Mir ’15 “Studying International Conflict in the distinguished setting of Oxford, with access to the boundless collections within the Bodleian Library complex, was an academic delight. Throughout the course of the Maymester, I came away with a multifaceted understanding of the trends characterizing current international disputes and also forged a unique connection with my fellow Fellows and my instructors in a veritable community of scholars.” Ronnie Kurtz ’15 “Studying at Oxford University, staring into the sunset on the cliffs of Tintangel, punting down the river on a beautiful afternoon, making spur of the moment trips to London, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Vienna, Prague, and Paris – a year ago, these adventures weren’t even a part of my wildest dreams. But that’s just the beauty of the Foundation Fellowship, that it takes what we imagine for ourselves and makes it even better, takes those dreams and makes them come true.”
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INTERNSHIPS Foundation Fellows gain practical experience in their prospective career fields through internships at home and abroad. These provide opportunities for Fellows to learn lessons and make contacts that will serve them for years to come.
To understand the complexities
Jacqueline Van De Velde ’14 – U.S. Department of State, Office of International Religious Freedom “My time at the Department of State introduced me to my passion. During a semester spent in Washington, DC, I worked at the helm of U.S. foreign policy in the Office of International Religious Freedom, where I engaged in multilateral and bilateral diplomacy to promote tolerance and respect around the world. I left my semester-long internship (and DC’s beautiful cherry blossoms) intellectually challenged and personally fulfilled, having encountered the work to which I plan to devote my life.”
of the world outside the university, Foundation Fellows seek handson experience in business, nonprofit, and government organizations. Some internships carry academic credit while others are purely experiential, some are domestic while others are far afield. Supported by the Foundation, Fellows have the flexibility to design an internship experience to suit their academic and career needs.
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Bethany McCain ’13 – J. P. Morgan, Central Bank of Uruguay “At the Central Bank of Uruguay last summer, I conducted research on sovereign debt ratings, produced overviews of Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s ratings methodologies, and collaborated with seniorlevel economists to generate professional and academic papers and presentations. This summer at J.P. Morgan, I work in the Securitized Products Group, which originates, underwrites, securitizes, and trades asset-backed securities. I work fairly long hours, usually getting in at 6 am and remaining on the desk until 8 pm, but I would not want to work anywhere else. I have learned about some of the most sophisticated and fascinating financial products from some of the best traders, salespeople, and researchers on Wall Street, and the learning curve is the steepest I’ve faced in my life. Being able to sit at the epicenter of global finance is an incredible experience and a great way to come to understand world markets.” Jaime Ayers ’12 – Daya Pertiwi “I went to Indonesia to participate in the Freeman Indonesia Nonprofit Internship Program during the summer of 2011. My experience interning with a microfinance nonprofit organization in Indonesia opened my eyes to how the nonprofit sector functions in a different culture and the barriers to service that developing countries face. I analyzed methods of service provision and put into practice all that I’ve learned in school while in a completely new environment.”
Lance White ’13 – La Defensoría del Pueblo de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires “Last fall I interned with a public advocacy group in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The primary focus of the internship was to research a public policy institute created under the MERCOSUR umbrella to launch a funding proposal for projects in Buenos Aires. It was challenging to speak only Spanish in a business environment, but it was an excellent chance to experience a foreign business culture firsthand.” Foundation Fellows & R
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JoyEllen Freeman ’13 – National Archives at Atlanta “My duties include organizing archival material and creating finding aids for researchers. The National Archives at Atlanta is the southern branch of the National Archives and Records Administration and holds archival materials relating to the history of the American South. Because I have conducted archival research for the past three years through my work with the Civil Rights Digital Library, I am familiar with archival studies and have developed a passion for it.” Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12 – Morgan Stanley Institutional Equities “Working on Wall Street proved to be a necessary testing ground for my post-graduation. As a Summer Analyst, I rotated through five trading desks on the equities floor, including convertible bonds, cash equities, listed derivatives, equity swaps, and portfolio trading. I conducted research on optimal hedging baskets, duallisted Chinese ADRs, and index rebalances. I crafted an extensive report on derivatives commission mispricings by client, product, and geography. And, I compiled trade pitches on investment-grade convertible bonds, equities, and portfolio trades. While academic study and independent research are extremely valuable, through the intensity of the professional environment, I learned the topical material at an accelerated pace and distilled what I envision for my future career.” Hemali Vin ’12 – Greater New York Hospital Association “I worked at the Greater New York Hospital Association as a summer intern under Susan Waltman in legal affairs. This was a public health internship in which I had the opportunity to experience public health initiatives in all stages of development and to apply the knowledge I gained from public health courses at UGA. It was an incredibly valuable experience for me as a future health professional.” Matthew Saltz ’13 – Envoc “At Envoc, I learned my way around the business of software development, and I learned how to develop quality, professional-grade software. I enjoyed working with passionate people who were constantly seeking to hone their craft. I learned that extra time taken to learn a new concept can pay off in the long run, and that taking the time to do things the right way is not a luxury, but a necessity.” Morgann Lyles ’12 – Office of Congressman David Scott “As an African American Studies major, I wasn’t your run-of-the-mill DC intern, but it was interesting to see 44
how socioeconomic class is becoming a more salient issue than race in our country, just as we had discussed in my AFAM courses. I wrote an Honors paper reflecting on how members of the Congressional Black Caucus are becoming more generally champions of the poor than specifically champions of Black Americans, as evidenced by the wider variety of constituents who appealed to our office for help during the debt crisis.” Camille Gregory ’13 – Freedman Consulting, LLC “Last summer at Freedman Consulting I analyzed policy interests for foundations and nonprofits, researched polling data, maintained weekly news updates, drafted reports, and prepared recommendations for clients. I developed research and management skills, and I built relationships with coworkers that will serve me well in future endeavors. The experience taught me that I thrive in an intense work environment with high expectations. Also, living and working in DC made for an amazing summer where I developed friendships with people from all over the country.” Alex Rowell ’15 – Obama for America “Through my internship with Obama for America, I’ve gained insights into the role that social media plays in modern political campaigns.” Elizabeth Allan ’12 – BSI Supply Chain Security Solutions “I intern at BSI for eleven hours per week as a research associate. My responsibilities include writing political stability reports, economic outlook reports and trade reports about various countries. I also research supply chain security issues relating to arms trafficking, terrorism, crime, and corporate social responsibility. I’ve gained exposure to the world of international business and learned about the complex issues that transnational business entails. Research associates at BSI are given substantive assignments, and I have enjoyed seeing how my work directly contributes to supply chain security around the globe.” Derek Ponticelli ’13 – McKinsey & Company “At McKinsey I realized my passion for ‘big data’ analytics while serving one of the world’s largest companies. It was a highly quantitative job where I was given complete independence to solve challenging problems however I felt best. Phenomenal mentors allowed me to lead client presentations and team problem solving sessions and grow more in one summer than I ever thought possible.”
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Foundation Fellows Internships 2011-2012 Elizabeth Allan ’12
Research Associate, BSI Supply Chain Security Solutions, Athens, GA
Jaime Ayers ’12
Microfinance Intern, Daya Pertiwi (part of the Freeman Indonesia Nonprofit Internship Program), Malang, Indonesia; Social Work Intern, Western Judicial Circuit Felony Drug Court, Athens, GA
Sara Black ’14
Intern and Project Coordinator for Occupy the Farm Summer Bus Tour, The Greenhorns, Hudson, NY; Summer Programs Trainer, Sierra Student Coalition, Southeastern U.S.; Georgia Trainings Fellow and Georgia Lead Fellow, Southern Energy Network, Athens, GA
Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12
Surveyor, Workers Defense Project, Dallas, TX
Jesse Chan ’14
Summer Loan Officer, FODEMI International, Ibarra, Ecuador
Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12
Summer Analyst, Morgan Stanley Institutional Equities, New York City, NY
JoyEllen Freeman ’13
Research Intern, National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, GA
Smitha Ganeshan ’14
Greater New York Hospital Association, New York City, NY
Camille Gregory ’13
Summer Intern, Freedman Consulting, LLC , Washington, DC; Mentor and Researcher, Sport and Leadership Academy, Battambang, Cambodia
Paul Kirschenbauer ’14
Summer Intern, TIDE 96.0 Radio Station, Hamburg, Germany
Logan Krusac ’12
Carl Vinson Fellow, Carl Vinson Institute of Government International Center, Athens, GA; Government Relations Intern, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLC, Washington, DC
Morgann Lyles ’12
Office of Congressman David Scott, Washington, DC
Bethany McCain ’13
Department of Economic Research, Central Bank of Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; Summer Trading Analyst, J.P. Morgan, New York City, NY
Clara Nibbelink ’14
Co-screenwriter, Director, Filmmaker, and Editor, UGA Costa Rica promotional video for UGA Mascot Competition, Monteverde, Costa Rica
Derek Ponticelli ’13
Summer Business Analyst, McKinsey & Co., Atlanta, GA
Ben Reynolds ’13
Summer Intern, GameOn, Bradenton, FL
Alex Rowell ’15
Spring Fellow & State Digital Lead, Obama for America: Georgia, Athens, GA
Matthew Saltz ’13
Software Development Intern, The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA
Matt Sellers ’12
Project Assistant, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC
Jacqueline Van De Velde ’14
Third Grade Teacher, Cejocep International School in Kakumdo Village, Ghana; Human Rights League, Bratislava, Slovakia; Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Creative Writing, The University of Georgia; U.S. Department of State, Office of International Religious Freedom, Washington, DC
Kishore Vedala ’14
Medical Intern, ADRM Hospital and Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad, India
Hemali Vin ’12
Greater New York Hospital Association, New York City, NY
Lance White ’13
Financial Planning Team, Northwestern Mutual, Buenos Aires, Argentina
David Zweig ’12
Research Assistant, Minotaur Technologies, Fayetteville, AR; Technology Analyst, University of Arkansas MBA Student Business Plan Program, Fayetteville, AR
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U N D E R G R A DUAT E R ESEAR CH Fellows Describe Their Undergraduate Research Experiences Jaime Ayers ’12 – Social Work “Conducting CURO research with Dr. Michael Holosko to examine whether successful completion of the Felony Drug Court Program produces prosocial behaviors in individuals recovering from substance addictions has taught me about the methodology and statistical measures involved in research studies, how to consider the target population involved, and how to make participation in a study appealing. The experience of designing research to explore a phenomenon that has not yet been studied will help me as I move into a future of providing evidence-based services to clients who need them.”
The University of Georgia has a strong tradition of nurturing undergraduate research. Fellows can explore any topic of interest with the guidance of a faculty research mentor from their first semester on
campus. They learn the culture of the academy, skills for conducting investigations, and effective presentation of their findings.
Phil Grayeski ’14 – Genetics “Working in Dr. Jan Westpheling’s lab, I learned the most important qualities of being a scientist – time management and planning. Every undergraduate in genetics will learn the necessary procedure and basic experiments to create a knockout strain of bacteria or a new plasmid, but at The University of Georgia, I’m in a lab where I’m in charge of my own, unique projects. I’ve been forced to develop time management skills to plan around my experiments since many are time sensitive. I’m getting the necessary preparation to become a high performing graduate student anywhere in the country or abroad. “In summer 2012, I worked in the Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Department at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich, Germany under the direction of Dr. Manfred Ogris. The primary focus of our research was to develop nucleic acid-based therapies that target disseminated melanoma. The indiscriminate and toxic current treatment of chemotherapeutics and surgery can be dose limiting, ineffective, and harmful for patients, resulting in a low probability of success. Dr. Ogris’s lab uses non-toxic gene delivery vectors that not only target over-expressed receptors on melanoma cells, but also deliver genetic information that will only be transcribed in our targeted cells. My research focused on developing this “genetic information” by constructing a variety of high-expression, synthetic promoters with different properties. Some were designed to exhibit transcriptional specificity in melanoma cell lines, whereas others were designed to be specific for melanocytes in general while avoiding the “gene silencing” effect often exerted by the host immune system, a key challenge in gene therapy. Ultimately, if successful, this approach can and will be modeled in other cancer treatments.”
Hank Schwartz ’12 – Bioinformatics “I’ve been working with Dr. Ying Xu for about two years. We are on the verge of publishing a paper on the prediction and analysis of the landscape of transcriptional units in E. coli, going beyond operons. From this research, I have learned the modern art that is programming. Using the perl language, I help to organize and decipher the mounds of genomic data flowing out of wet labs from around the country.”
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Buck Trible ’13 – Ecology, Entomology, Genetics “Research is my whole life! I love science and ants. I spent seven months in 2011 independently researching while living in Costa Rica and developed two publishable projects in that time period. I am also continuing a project on cuticular pheromone differences between multiple-queen and single-queen colonies of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta with Dr. Ken Ross and a macroecology project using phylogenetic diversity to test hypotheses about the drivers of global patterns in local ant species richness with UGA Dean of Ecology John Gittleman.” Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12 – Economics “I’ve been working on my master’s thesis in economics. I’m arguing that technological innovation has caused an increase in structural unemployment, particularly in routine tasks apt to machination. The thesis breaks down labor into three skill subsets, analyzes the changes in labor market efficiency over time, and offers innovation as a logical explanation. The research process serves as a culmination of all my prior studies and a catalyst for new knowledge acquisition. I have never been so challenged and energized by an intellectual endeavor.” Todd Pierson ’13 – Herpetology “I really care about amphibian and reptile conservation, and through research I’ve gotten involved with hands-on conservation work. Much of my research has focused on basic distribution and natural history observations, but my project on the recently discovered and rare Georgia salamander (Urspelerpes brucei) has also continued. I am beginning a project studying the population genetic diversity in the species and attempting to use DNA present in stream water to survey new streams for the species under the guidance of the Orianne Society. All of my travels in the Fellowship have been part of amphibian and reptile research.” Thomas Ward ’12 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Religion “I have worked for Dr. Harry Dailey in biochemistry. My project has focused on determining the structure and function of the human variant of ferrochelatase, an enzyme that deposits iron into heme. I’ve also been working this semester with Dr. William Power in the religion department to update Thomas Aquinas’s Five Ways for the proof of God’s existence using Alfred North Whitehead’s Process Philosophy system. My research gave me an in-depth perspective into the meticulous work researchers perform and the rewarding nature of novel discoveries.” 48
David Zweig ’12 – Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences “For my Honors thesis I’ve been investigating dTPP as a potential treatment for parasitic nematodes in Dr. James Franklin’s lab. Working on this project, I’ve developed skills in approaching research questions and developing experimental protocols, learned how to use lab equipment, and learned about the biochemical mechanisms of mitochondria-targeting drugs.” Sara De La Torre Berón ’13 – Anthropology “At UGA, I’ve been doing historical ecology research in the Department of Anthropology, with doctoral candidate Michael Coughlin. We’re looking at land use changes from 1830 until the present in Larrau, a commune in the Western French Pyrenees. It’s a collaboration between UGA and the University of Pau in France, and I will be participating in field work in Larrau this summer with a team of researchers from both universities. This research combines my interests in romance languages and ecology because the documents we’re looking at are written in French, and we’re looking specifically at how fire is used to control land use and terrain composition. I’ll be contributing to the project through participant observation, interviews, and recording of old documents.” Sara Black ’14 – Anthropology, Environmental Conservation “With the Center for Integrative Conservation Research, I’m weaving Dr. Pete Brosius’s original data on hunting patterns of Penan people in the highlands of Borneo into extensive river maps to show how rivers were centrally used by Penan. The results will be presented in a high-profile court date in Sarawak, Malaysia. Penan indigenous leaders have sued to penalize a Chinese oil palm corporation for violation of indigenous rights and to protect what remains of the forest on their lands. It’s been amazing to contribute in a small way to something that may set a precedent for the consideration of hunter gatherer communities and other indigenous groups in issues of deforestation. As Malaysian citizens, Penan people have been struggling for the protection of their rights for decades. It’s inspiring to hear their stories, and it’s been thrilling to find a case study that unifies my interests in human rights, environmental justice, and land use policy.” Tatum Mortimer ’12 – Infectious Diseases “Researching the epidemiology of equine Staphylococcus aureus for the past three years with Dr. Susan Sanchez in the College of Veterinary Medicine, I have pursued my interest in research and prepared myself for graduate school.”
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Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12 – History “Through my research with Dr. Pamela Voekel, I examined the history of relations between black and Latino/a communities in the United States to gain insight into possibilities for solidarity to achieve greater social justice.”
of pancreatic cancer. I plan to continue researching in this same lab over the next two years. Although my research at the CCRC has only recently begun, it has already given me a helpful introduction to what I can expect from a career in professional research.”
Addison Von Wright ’13 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology “I worked in Dr. Lanzilotta’s biochemistry lab this year on heme acquisition by Vibrio cholerae. Working in the lab has been a great opportunity to learn lab techniques, get practical experience, and contribute to the scientific field. The ability to independently pursue my lab goals has been an important experience as well.”
Kishore Vedala ’14 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology “Since last summer I’ve been analyzing the kinetic and thermodynamics of the binding of alpha-dystroglycan to laminin-2, a project that aims to increase understanding of congenital muscular dystrophy. With guidance from Dr. Carl Bergmann and Dr. Lance Wells in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, this research is a very practical way of learning that has helped me immensely in developing diligence and asking the right questions.”
David Millard ’14 – Genetics “Since last summer I’ve worked with Dr. Daniel Promislow in the Department of Genetics, writing computational models to investigate the evolution of post-reproductive lifespan. This experience has opened my eyes to academic research, something I now intend to pursue further.” Josh Chang ’15 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology “This past spring, I began researching with Dr. Lance Wells at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, studying the proteomics of early biomarkers involved in the diagnosis
Eilidh Geddes ’15 – Education “Through the Roosevelt Institute, I’m working with another Fellow, Avery Wiens ’15, on a policy paper on potential solutions for teacher attrition rates. Our faculty mentor is Dr. Sylvia Hutchinson, professor emerita and retired Associate Dean from the College of Education. Working on a policy paper through the Roosevelt Institute has been a wonderful way to further explore my interest in public policy and improve my research skills.”
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Given the recent events of the Arab Spring, attending the Middle
East Institute’s annual conference in Washington was an amazing opportunity to hear the opinions of experts on the future of the region. I left the conference with a strong sense of how developments that unfold in 2012 will shape the future of the region and how my career could fit into these developments.” —Elizabeth Allan ’12 —Middle East Institute Annual Conference
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C O N F E R E N C E S , P R E S E NTAT I O NS, P UB LI CAT I O NS Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) 2012 Symposium Presenters JoyEllen Freeman ’13 “A Portrayal of Power: Black Nationalism in the Documentary Now Is the Time”
Domestic and
Smitha Ganeshan ’14 “Access to Primary Care Services in Athens” Eilidh Geddes ’15 “Teacher Attrition: Potential Policy Solutions”
international
Sophie Giberga ’15 “Drilling for the Future: Domestic Oil Production and Meeting America’s Energy Needs”
conferences add to Fellows’ professional
Phil Grayeski ’14 “Genetic Manipulation of Caldicellulosiruptor bescii for Biomass Utilization”
education and
Anisha Hegde ’14 “Increasing Breastfeeding Rates in AthensClarke County”
introduce them to academic communities both near and far. Many Fellows present at conferences and publish articles with their co-investigators in top journals in their fields.
Logan Krusac ’12 “Individual Environmental Awareness and Urban Water Conservation in Kunming, China” Ryan McLynn ’13 “The Effect of Protein Kinase Inhibitors on the Growth of Plasmodium falciparum” Bryn Murphy ’12 “Prospect Theory and Collective Action Problems: Loss Aversion in International Riparian Treaties” Todd Pierson ’13 “Narcotics Trafficking, Cloudforests, and a Killer Fungus: Amphibian Conservation in Central America”; “Arabian Nights: Preliminary Survey of Herpetofauna and the Phylogeography of Bufo dhufarensis (Bufonidae) in Oman and the United Arab Emirates” John Henry Thompson ’15 “Drilling for the Future: Domestic Oil Production and Meeting America’s Energy Needs” Buck Trible ’13 “Manipulating Tropical Fire Ant Populations to Decrease the Coffee Berry Borer” Kishore Vedala ’14 “Analyzing the Kinetic and Thermodynamics of the Binding of alpha-Dystroglycan to Laminin-2”
Avery Wiens ’15 “Teacher Attrition: Potential Policy Solutions”
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Additional Conference Presentations and Publications Sara Black ’14
Southeast Student Renewable Energy Program, Asheville, NC – “Working with the Media in Grassroots Campaigns” and “Story of Self and the Public Narrative”; Real Food Challenge Breaking Ground, Santa Cruz, CA – “Grassroots Campaign Planning 101”
JoyEllen Freeman ’13
Cultural Journeys Research Conference, Macon, GA – “A Portrayal of Power: Black Nationalism in the Documentary Now Is the Time”
Camille Gregory ’13
Women and Girls in Georgia Conference, Athens, GA – “The U.S. Sex Market: How Demand Limits Knowledge and Reduces Visibility”
Tatum Mortimer ’12
4th Congress of European Microbiologists, FEMS 2011, Geneva, Switzerland – “Epidemiology of Equine Staphylococcus aureus in Georgia and Kentucky 1995-2003”
Todd Pierson ’13
Southeastern Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Fall Creek Falls State Park, TN – “Urspelerpes brucei: Discovery, Natural History, and a Warning for Amphibian Conservation”
Matt Sellers ’12
South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA – “A Twenty-first Century Epic Experiment: Globalization, Language, and the Epic Tradition in Cathy Park Hong’s Dance Dance Revolution”
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My voice shook as I started reading my paper, ‘A Twenty-First Century Epic
Experiment: Globalization, Language, and the Epic Tradition in Cathy Park Hong’s Dance Dance Revolution.’ Here I was, an undergraduate, arguing about the nature of postcolonial poetics to a room full of academics studying that very subject, yet I found my audience very receptive to the paper. In fact, a professor from Emory told me it was one of the best papers he’d ever heard an undergraduate deliver! This experience cemented my confidence in my choice to become an academic, and it speaks to the superlative mentorship I received from Dr. Susan Rosenbaum throughout the research and writing process.” —Matt Sellers ’12 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference
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Professional and Academic Conferences Tori Akin ’12
Joint Mathematics Meeting, Boston, MA
Elizabeth Allan ’12
Middle East Institute Annual Conference, Washington, DC
Sara Black ’14
Mountain Justice Fall Summit, Rock Creek, WV; Real Food Challenge Breaking Ground, Santa Cruz, CA; Real Food Challenge Southeast Summer Training , Chapel Hill, NC; Southeast Sierra Student Coalition Summer Program (SProg), Bay Minnette, AL; Southeast Student Renewable Energy Program, Asheville, NC; Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference, Little Rock, AK
Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12
Fair Food Summit, Immokalee, FL; Issues: A Faithful Response to Immigration, Abiquiu, NM; United Students Against Sweatshops National Conference, Madison, WI
Jesse Chan ’14
American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC; Asian Finance Association, Macau, China; Roosevelt Perfect Presidential Platform, Athens, GA
Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12
Allied Social Sciences Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL; American Economics Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL; Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, Omaha, NE; G.A.M.E. IT Forum, New York City, NY; MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Boston, MA; University Private Equity Summit, Salt Lake City, UT
JoyEllen Freeman ’13
Cultural Journeys Research Conference, Macon, GA
Camille Gregory ’13
Women and Girls in Georgia Conference, Athens, GA
Hillary Kingsley ’12
American String Teachers Association National Conference, Atlanta, GA; Ongoing Dialogues on Memory and Human Rights: Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, Minneapolis, MN
Logan Krusac ’12
China-U.S. Relations Conference, College Station, TX; Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society (COMPAS): Immigration – What’s at Stake?, Columbus, OH; Forum for American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford, Stanford, CA
Morgann Lyles ’12
Association for Theatre in Higher Education Annual Conference, Chicago, IL; Georgia School Counselors Association Annual Conference, Macon, GA; Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures Fall Conference, Brooklyn Center, MN
Bethany McCain ’13
Corsair Society Networking Meetings, New York City, NY
Tatum Mortimer ’12
4th Congress of European Microbiologists, FEMS 2011, Geneva, Switzerland
Luke Mosley ’12
2nd Annual Healthcare Forum: Eliminating the Gap Between Innovation and Resources, San Francisco, CA; Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research: Pediatric Oncology Conference, Edgartown, MA
Rohan Mukhopadhyay ’12
American Economics Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL
Clara Nibbelink ’14
Foreign Policy Association Seminar: Careers in International Development, Boston, MA
Todd Pierson ’13
Kansas Herpetological Society Annual Conference, Wichita, KS; Southeastern Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Fall Creek Falls State Park, TN
Derek Ponticelli ’13
Corsair Society Networking Meetings, New York City, NY; Joint Mathematics Meeting, Boston, MA
Jacob Rooney ’12
Joint Mathematics Meeting, Boston, MA
Matthew Saltz ’13
Future of Web Design Conference, New York City, NY
Matt Sellers ’12
South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Atlanta, GA
Rachel Sellers ’14
Southeastern Geological Society of America Meeting, Asheville, NC
Anuj Shukla ’12
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Boston, MA
Buck Trible ’13
Vegetation Structure and Dynamics Symposium, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Kishore Vedala ’14
Thunderbird Global Business Dialogue, Glendale, AZ
Hemali Vin ’12
Association of Clinical Research Professionals Conference, Houston, TX; Hinman Dental Conference, Atlanta, GA
Thomas Ward ’12
Free and Open Source Software Developers’ European Meeting, Brussels, Belgium
Brittany Young ’13
CREI Macroeconomics Summer School, Barcelona, Spain
David Zweig ’12
Licensing Executive Society International Annual Conference, London, England
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At the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Summit, I learned firsthand
about one of the country’s most important labor movements in recent history. In addition to connecting with dozens of committed fair food activists, I witnessed how the CIW builds collective power in the face of abuse and exploitation in the Florida agricultural industry.” —Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12 —Fair Food Summit
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Fellows Describe Their Conference Experiences Patrick Fitzmaurice ’12 – American Economics Association Annual Meeting “The AEA annual meeting helped me complete the transition from undergraduate to graduate economics and formulate my master’s thesis topic. I came away from the conference more keenly aware of the fringes of economic knowledge and excited to make my mark through the completion of my studies.” Hillary Kingsley ’12 – American String Teachers Association National Conference “I learned about the pedagogical approaches of some of the greatest string teachers of the 20th century and today. Understanding these techniques and philosophies will shape my own violin playing and teaching throughout my career.” Matthew Saltz ’13 – Future of Web Design “At this conference, we heard from the founder of Instagram, a wildly popular iPhone app, and from a man whose specialty is algorithmic art and who worked on designing the visible part of Watson, the IBM machine that played Jeopardy. It was pretty amazing to see that a ten-person company averages six million hits on their website a day, and it was inspiring to see some of these people who have been successful doing what they truly love.” Hemali Vin ’12 – Hinman Dental Conference “I attended workshops and lectures about new dental technology, how to handle being an emerging dentist, and even forensic dentistry. I met and heard from many oral health professionals whom I aspire to emulate when I become a dentist.” Kishore Vedala ’14 – Thunderbird Global Business Dialogue “It was a great experience to hear prominent individuals, from the former president of Costa Rica to the former head of public relations for BP during the oil spill, speak about handling business issues in the global market.” Jesse Chan ’14 – Roosevelt Perfect Presidential Platform “Working with other students to broadly overhaul tax policy reminded me of the constant challenges embedded in fundamental tax code reform and the need for talented individuals to closely examine the consequences of potential actions. The balloon in complexity of the tax code is a pressing problem in the United States’ status as a competitive economic power. Tackling this complexity will be just as convoluted as the tax code itself – reminding me of the need to continue learning about this topic and pushing for an open discussion in the national political dialogue going forward.”
“
The Forum for American Chinese Exchange at Stanford was an extremely rewarding week-long experiment in people-to-people diplomacy. As one of twenty student delegates selected to represent the United States, I engaged in discussion and debate with my Chinese peers about topics from trade to environmental protection to human rights. Though the week began with both sides having quite divergent views, by the end we all had a better understanding of each other’s perspectives and had come to a consensus on how to resolve several important challenges. I can only hope our elected leaders will interact with such civility and compromise!” —Logan Krusac ’12 —Forum for American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
“
Students Comment on Service and Leadership Experiences
I’ve learned that
Ronnie Kurtz ’15 – SGA Freshman Forum (Vice-President) “Through UGA’s Freshman Forum, I was given an opportunity to observe the workings of UGA’s Student Government as well as organize and participate in a wide array of service projects. Whether it was volunteering at the local Boys and Girls Club, coordinating events to raise awareness about human trafficking, or observing the contentious debate over the status of illegal immigrants in our state universities, Freshman Forum allowed me to see the change that students can make in this school and community and to effect changes of my own.”
being effective in community organizing means incorporating humility into leadership, listening more than talking, empowering others to develop their skills and experiences, and inviting all stakeholders to the table, especially the
Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo ’12 – Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition, Freedom University, Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, Student/ Farmworker Alliance “I’m passionate about building collective power, especially for those who historically haven’t had access to formal avenues of decision-making. Making change by lobbying is a narrow concept of politics. It’s crucial to build power with the people who are most affected and have the most at stake, especially when the dominant culture ignores the importance of living in your community, serving in your community, and fighting for your community.”
underrepresented. You don’t
Elizabeth Allan ’12 – Roosevelt@UGA (Executive Board, Roosevelt Scholars Teaching Assistant), Thomas Lay After School Tutoring have to plan rallies for a living Program (Director) “At a program that revolves around tutoring and to incorporate these concepts mentoring elementary school students, every day has innumerable surprises. A constant throughout my experience, however, has been into your work, however, and I the relationships that I have developed with students in the program. think I’ll carry these skills with At Thomas Lay, I loved working with a student to transform a difficult concept into a fun and tangible idea, yet some of my favorite me to ensure that whether memories also include playing tag on the playground and discussing I’m working in law, policy, or a student’s weekend plans. That the Thomas Lay program goes beyond homework help to focus on these relationships is the prime business, my work will always reason for the program’s success and the most meaningful aspect of have an aspect of public the program to me. “The Roosevelt Institute at UGA combines an in-depth service.” understanding of real-world issues with a policy focus that seeks to create —Sara Black ’14 positive change. As a sophomore, I wrote a policy proposal relating to early childhood education in Athens. I ultimately presented my proposal Southern Energy Network, Real to Athens’ Early Childhood Education team, and parts of this proposal Food UGA, Sierra Student were included in a community-wide grant request to the Department of Coalition, The Greenhorns, Education. Becoming so deeply involved in the policy process was an eyeOdum School of Ecology opening experience for me and will inform my opinions on public policy and Ecotones social issues in the future.” Todd Pierson ’13 – Game Day Recycling (Executive Board), UGA Herpetological Society (Co-President) “As a conservationist, it is not enough to do research. Public education is a necessity. Being a part of the UGA Herpetological Society and Game Day Recycling has given me experience in working with educational campaigns.” 58
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Josh Chang ’15 – Asian Children Mentoring Program, Athens PB&Js, Bulldog Outreach to Nursing Homes and Elderly, Delta Prize Student Selection Committee, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Myers Community Council “Service has always been an important part of my life, and the organizations I’ve gotten involved in during my first year at UGA are helping me to continue this theme in college. Working with Athens’ local communities, nursing homes, and homeless populations has been a rewarding experience that I plan to continue being involved with for the remainder of my undergraduate years.” Sara De La Torre Berón ’13 – Athens-Clarke County Mentor Program, Dawgs Ditch the Dumpster, Ecology Club, Go Green Alliance, Learning Ally “The ability to read is something that is easy to take for granted, but every time I volunteer at Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic), I’m reminded of the incredible blessing it is to read what I want, when I want. As a volunteer reader, I am one of many voices working to give the same opportunity to people who aren’t able to read on their own. In English and Spanish, I read anything from marketing textbooks to children’s ghost stories, with the aim of giving someone else the joy of getting lost in an interesting story, whether for class or for personal enjoyment.” Lance White ’13 – Guide Dog Foundation, Area Coordinator and Puppy Raiser “Working with the Guide Dog Foundation in Athens isn’t always easy. From waking up countless mornings to a bored puppy who’s ready to get the day started, to fighting off tears as I hand the leash over for the final time – it certainly brings its fair share of challenges. More importantly, it’s rewarding to know I’m making a positive difference in someone’s life by raising a guide dog and to realize that doing so has positively impacted my life as well.” Thomas Ward ’12 – American Society for Microbiology (President), Free IT Athens “In a science outreach program in a local middle school, we’ve performed experiments that included quantifying the amount of bacteria on surfaces throughout the school. (I highly recommend avoiding the sinks in the boys’ bathrooms.) I have also volunteered with Free-IT Athens, a nonprofit organization that delivers low-cost computing to the community. Volunteering has affirmed the importance of knowing that the Athens area extends far beyond UGA and offers a brilliant tapestry of diversity.”
Phil Grayeski ’14 – Whatever It Takes at UGA (CoFounder) “Our organization has about 200 members, and we are continuing to grow. We work with the local Whatever It Takes initiative, a movement started by a Promise Neighborhood Grant that aims to ensure every child in Athens-Clarke County will have the opportunity to go to a post-secondary school. We founded a free afterschool program in a low-income, underserved area, where we work with 20 K-6 students, helping them with homework and practicing the basics behind their annual CRCT test. We have also donated over 3,000 books for Books for Keeps and are planning to host a teen maze at Clarke Central High School, a maze where their life decisions lead to different outcomes. Next year, we will open another after-school program and integrate service learning courses into our endeavors.” Grace Siemietkowski ’15 – Boys and Girls Club, Oasis Católico Tutoring, Prelude Dance Ensemble “Volunteering at Oasis Católico and the Boys and Girls Club has given me the opportunity to experience the Athens that exists outside of the university. This city is not just a college town – it’s a place where many less fortunate children and families grow up and make a living. It has made me more aware of the kind of impact that the university can have on the greater Athens community.” Brittany Young ’13 – Designated Dawgs (Executive Director, Vice President of Finance), Safe Ride Programs United (Board Member, Conference Delegate) “Traditionally, Safe Ride Programs United has been an annual conference where different programs could meet and discuss best practices. UGA’s Designated Dawgs will host the conference in February 2013, and we have established the mission, values, business proposal, website, and employer identification number for a national-level SRPU. We are moving quickly with the goal of having a fully functional and funded organization with a full time staff by the end of 2013.” David Millard ’14 – Free IT Athens, MATHCOUNTS Outreach (Head Coach, Volunteer Coordinator) “Through my involvement in Free IT Athens and MATHCOUNTS Outreach, I work with members of the Athens community, helping to provide the tools and education required for success.”
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Foundation Fellows and Ramsey Scholars Lead and Participate in a Variety of Campus and Community Organizations In addition to social, fraternal, and religious organizations; sports and recreation activities; and student government – Fellows and Ramseys participate on and off campus in a variety of endeavors, including: Academic & Professional
Educational Outreach
ACMP, AIESEC International, Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Med Honor Society, American Medical Student Association, American Society for Microbiology, Corsair Society, CURO Honors Scholars, Dean William Tate Honor Society, Economics Society, Honors Teaching Assistant, IABC, Ideas & Issues University Union, IGEM, Journal for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, Leonard Leadership Scholars Program, Math Club, Medicine in Literature Book Group, MEDLIFE at UGA, Mercy Health Center, Myers Community Council, Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, PRSSA, Student Association for the Archaeological Sciences, UGA Student Life Technical Services Crew, WUOG 90.5FM Operations Staff
Athens-Clarke County Mentor Program, Athens Day Reporting Center GED Tutoring, Chase Street Elementary School ESOL Tutoring, Classic City High School Performance Learning Center, First Book UGA, MATHCOUNTS Outreach at UGA, Oasis CatĂłlico Tutoring, Thomas Lay After School Tutoring Program
The Arts African American Choral Ensemble, Asura Dance Team, Ballroom Performance Group, Music Therapy Student Association, National Association of Future Music Educators, Odum School of Ecology Ecotones, Prelude Dance Ensemble, SWUNG (Swing Dance Performance), UGA Basketball Band, UGA Black Theatrical Ensemble, UGA Choral Association, UGA Concert Winds, UGA Percussion Ensemble, UGA Redcoat Band, UGA Symphony Orchestra, UGA Wind Symphony
Environmental Outreach Beyond Coal Campaign, Dawgs Ditch the Dumpster, Game Day Recycling, Go Green Alliance, Ecology Club, Project GROW, Real Food UGA, Students for Environmental Action, Member, UGA Herpetological Society
Political Advocacy, Public Policy, Public Speaking Animal Advocates at UGA, Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition, College Republicans, Delta Prize for Global Understanding Student Selection Committee, Demosthenian Literary Society, Freedom University, Georgia Debate Union, Georgia Political Review, Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, Lambda Alliance, Mock Trial, Model United Nations, Not for Sale, Roosevelt@ UGA, Student/Farmworker Alliance, Students for Barack Obama, Young Democrats
Campus & Community Service AIDS Athens, Asian Children Mentoring Program, Athens-Clarke County Bilingual Directory of Services, Athens PB&Js, Bulldog Outreach to Nursing Homes and Elderly, Designated Dawgs, Free IT Athens, Guide Dog Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Honors Program Ambassador, Honors Program Student Council, Learning Ally (Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic), Powered by the Heart, Relay for Life, Safe Ride Programs United, Students for the American Red Cross, Torch Club (Boys and Girls Club), Vibha@UGA
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Honors & Awards Blue Key Honor Society, CIEE South Korea Scholarship, Chinese Scholar Council Fellowship, Critical Language Scholarship, CURO Scholar Distinction, CURO Summer Research Fellowship, CURO Symposium Best Paper Award, Dean William Tate Honor Society, Deer Run Fellow, English Department Virginia Walter Award, Fulbright Scholarship, Gamma Theta Upsilon Geography Honor Society, Gannett Foundation Dean’s Scholarship, Geography Department Merle C. Prunty, Jr. Scholarship, Geography Department Outstanding Undergraduate, Georgia Historical Advisory Board Excellence in Student Research Award, Goldwater Scholarship, Halle Foundation Summer Fellowship in Germany, Honors International Scholars Program, Honors in Washington Internship, Intercultural Affairs at UGA Excel Award, Kicklighter Grant for Germanic and Slavic Studies, Leonard Leadership Scholar, Marshall Scholarship, Math Department John G. Hollingsworth Award, Middlebury’s Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Arabic Studies, Mock Trial Champions, Capitol City Invitational, Mock Trial 2nd Place & Outstanding Attorney – Mid-South Invitational, National Collegiate Honors Council Grand Canyon Honors Semester Scholarship, National Geographic Young Explorer Grant, National Council on Geographic Education/American Association of Geographers Excellence in Scholarship Award, NYU SURP, Palladia Women’s Honor Society, Pandora Yearbook Outstanding Senior Leader, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Presser Scholar, Sphinx, State Senate Bill of Recognition, Strahan Award, Terry Alumni Board Student of the Year Finalist, Terry Case Challenge Winning Team, Terry Diversity MBA Case Challenge Winner, Terry Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Economics, Terry Spotlight, Truman Scholarship National Finalist, Tucker Dorsey Memorial Scholarship, Udall Scholarship, UGA Amazing Student, UGA First Honor Graduate, UGA Founder’s Day Student Responder, UGA Libraries Undergraduate Research Award, UGA Museum of Natural History Laerm Award, xTax Competition UGA Champion
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L I S A A N N C O O L E AWA R D
The Lisa Ann 2012 Recipient Coole Award was established in 1999 Hank Schwartz, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Ecology, Mathematics to honor the memory Here’s how his fellow Fellows describe Hank Schwartz. of an extraordinary “Anytime you meet someone who knows Hank Schwartz, or knew him in young woman and to high school, without fail their first words will be, ‘Oh, Hank! He’s one of my inspire Foundation Fellows best friends.’ Hank’s unfailing kindness makes him a precious friend to all to translate into their who know him, and his now world-famous puns have brightened all of our lives the compassion, joy, lives, whether it’s just another day on campus or an all-night Oxford essaycourage, and excellence that writing frenzy. But Hank’s is more than just ordinary friendliness: he defined Lisa’s presence in the possesses a quiet, deep-down goodness that is tangible to all those Fellowship, at UGA, and in her around him. And although he’s finishing up three rigorous science communities both in Georgia degrees, you’ll never hear Hank make any reference to his academic and in Illinois. accomplishments. His humility exemplifies Lisa Ann Coole’s model of ‘excellence without a hint of self-promotion.’”
Lisa was a model Foundation “To his friends – and I’ve never met anyone who isn’t friends with Fellow. She graduated from The Hank after spending just a few minutes with him – Hank offers University of Georgia magna unrelenting support, sage (and sometimes ‘punny’) advice, and cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa sincere compassion. He knows how to diffuse tension and how to with a degree in biology in 1997. put people at ease. Most heartfelt, though, is Hank’s commitment to fostering the sense of community that makes the Fellowship She was a 19-time All-American such a superlative program. I cannot find words effusive enough to swimmer, won two NCAA titles, characterize Hank’s great impact on the class of 2012. Hank has, over and was selected as the 1997 the past four years, brought our class closer together, transforming NCAA Woman of the Year. Lisa classmates into a cohort of friends and colleagues. I count myself had just completed her first unbelievably fortunate to have had Hank’s friendship, and I count year of veterinary medicine the class of 2012 stronger because of his earnest and tireless efforts to at the University of Illinoisbring us together, one pun at a time.” Champaign when she died as “From our first spring break trip to NY/DC when Hank was constantly a result of injuries received worried that none of us were getting enough food to eat until our last in an automobile accident. year here, Hank has always been the guy you know cares about you. Hank In 1999, she was inducted would never expect to be awarded for how well he treats people, but in into the UGA Athletic truth, he deserves to be honored. Hank is the kind of guy who gives me Association Circle of faith in the future of American healthcare. Whoever is lucky enough to have Honor, the highest tribute Hank as their doctor will be incredibly blessed. I know I am from simply paid to former Bulldog knowing him.” athletes and coaches.
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Previous Recipients 2011 Mir Inaamullah & Alex Squires
2004 Vanessa Reynolds
2010 Betsy Allen
2003 Chris Gibson
2009 Elizabeth Godbey
2002 Cathy Lee and Tina Rakkit
2008 Anant Mandawat
2001 Laquesha Sanders & Kyle Wingfield
2007 Helen Smith
2000 Bronson Lee
2006 Chloe Thompson
1999 Lacy Feldman & Torre Mills
2005 Krisda Chaiyachati
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Victoria Suzanne Akin
Juliet Elizabeth Allan
Major(s): Mathematics
Major(s): Arabic, Economics, International Affairs, Master of International Policy
Hometown: Macon, GA Research: Partial Completion of Totally Positive Matrices, Polynomials for Groups of Small Degree, Agent-Based Modeling of Influenza A Travel: France; Germany; Greece; India; Italy; South Korea; Spain; Tanzania; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Math Club, MATHCOUNTS – Coaching Coordinator and Competition Coordinator, Honors Teaching Assistant, Honors Ambassador, Food Bank of Northeast Georgia Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Goldwater Scholar, Alice T. Schafer Honorable Mention, Hollingsworth Award, Outstanding Junior in Mathematics, 2nd Place Kossak Calculus Challenge, 9 on Putnam Exam, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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Hometown: Atlanta, GA Research: Modernization and Cultural Shifts: Analyzing Changes in Gender Parity in the Moroccan Labor Force; An Efficient Design for Cap-and-Trade; Importance of Home Environment in Early Childhood Education Travel-Study and Internships: Australia; England; Germany; India; Morocco; Peru; South Korea; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Roosevelt Institute Local Center Director, Roosevelt Scholars Teaching Assistant, Thomas Lay After School Tutoring Co-Director and Treasurer, Honors Teaching Assistant, Roosevelt National Campus Network Senior Fellow, Solutions for the South Editor, UGA Versus Oxford Union Debate, Delta Prize Committee, British Standards Institution Research Associate, Vinson Institute of Government Intern, Joint Training Session Intern – Beijing Administrative College and UGA Honors and Awards: Critical Language Scholarship, Palladia Honor Society, Blue Key Honor Society, Davis Fellowship for Peace, Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Jaime Elizabeth Ayers Major(s): Child & Family Development, Social Work Hometown: Tampa, FL Research: Effects of the AIDS Epidemic in Namibia; Prosocial Outcomes of Successful Completion of the Felony Drug Court Program in Athens, GA Travel-Study and Internships: China; Costa Rica; England; Germany; Indonesia; Morocco; Namibia; Washington, DC; New York, NY
Juan Carlos CardozaOquendo Major(s): Anthropology, Human Geography Hometown: Decatur, GA Research: Black and Brown Relations in the United States Travel-Study and Internships: Brazil; England; Germany; India; Morocco; Peru; Washington, DC; Immokalee, FL; New York, NY
Campus/Community Activities: Athens Day Reporting Center Tutor, Classic City High School Performance Learning Center Tutor, UGA Relay for Life, Chi Omega Vice President, Promote Africa Ambassador to Chi Omega, Student Government Association, Special Projects Director of External Affairs for SGA
Campus/Community Activities: Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition, Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, Living Wage Campaign, Nuestras Voces Contributor, Georgia Students for Public Higher Education, Instituto Elos-Brasil Intern, Iniciativa Comunitaria Volunteer, AnthropologyTeaching Assistant, Creative Writing Teaching Assistant, National Education and Technological Services
Honors and Awards: Phi Kappa Phi, Outstanding Student in Family & Consumer Sciences, Freeman Indonesia Nonprofit Internship Program Award, Rotaract Student Service Award for the School of Social Work, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Honors and Awards: Phi Kappa Phi, National Council on Geographic Education/Association of American Geographers Award, Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute Future Scholar Award, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with High Honors
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Patrick Joseph Fitzmaurice, Jr.
Dana Lynn Higgins
Major(s): Economics (BBA/MA), International Affairs
Major(s): International Affairs, Political Science, Master of International Policy
Hometown: Marietta, GA Research: Structural Unemployment in U.S. Labor Market Travel-Study and Internships: England; Costa Rica; Germany; Morocco; Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; Omaha, NE; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT Campus/Community Activities: Corsair Society President, MATHCOUNTS Outreach Mentor and President, Model United Nations Head Delegate and Treasurer, Garnett Ridge Boys & Girls Club Torch Club Leader, Sports Communications Student Assistant, Leonard Leadership Scholars Program, Deer Run Fellows Program, Economics Department Tutor Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Terry Alumni Board Student of the Year, UGA Amazing Student, Terry College Award for Outstanding Achievement in Economics, Blue Key Honor Society, Tucker Dorsey Memorial Scholarship, Beta Gamma Sigma, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with High Honors
Hometown: Calhoun, GA Research: Perception and Power Disparity in Conflict Mediation and Negotiation; The Missing Link Between System Structure and State Behavior: Perceptions of Power in Pre-World War I Germany; New Marshall Plan; Risk-Taking in Midterm Elections Travel-Study and Internships: Australia; Costa Rica; England; Germany; Italy; South Korea; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: UGA Grand Strategy, Prelude Dance Ensemble, UGA MATHCOUNTS, Roosevelt Institute, Phi Kappa Debate Society, Every Monday Matters @ UGA, Furkids Animal Rescue, Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, The Dershowitz Group, Applerouth Tutoring Services Honors and Awards: Phi Kappa Phi, Outstanding SPIA Student, Blue Key Honor Society, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Hillary Dolores Kingsley
Logan Hunter Krusac
Major(s): Music Performance (Violin)
Major(s): Political Science
Hometown: Marietta, GA Research: Pastoral Elements and Reminiscence in the Violin Concertos of Beethoven and Elgar Travel-Study and Internships: England; Germany; India; South Korea; Spain; Washington, DC; New York, NY; Brevard, NC Campus/Community Activities: UGA String Project Instructor, American String Teachers Association, UGA Symphony Orchestra, Athens Symphony Orchestra Honors and Awards: Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, UGA Symphony Concerto Competition Winner, Presser Scholar, Athens Symphony Assistant Concertmaster, UGA Symphony Principal 2nd Violin, Hugh Hodgson Award, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Hometown: Smyrna, GA Research: Individual Environmental Awareness and Urban Water Conservation in Kunming, China; The Children of Non-Immigrant Visa Holders, Aging Out, and Higher Education Travel-Study and Internships: China; England; Germany; Morocco; Spain; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Public Relations Director – Saxon for U.S. Congress, Honors Program Student Council Service Committee Chair, Myers Hall Resident Assistant, McKenna, Long, & Aldridge Intern, Vinson Institute of Government Intern, Student Government Association – Freshman Board VP, Franklin College Senator, Senator at Large Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Boren Scholar, Critical Language Scholar, Phi Kappa Phi, Dean Tate Honor Society, Blue Key Honor Society, CURO Best Paper Award, UGA Amazing Student, Roosevelt Scholar, Myers Community Resident Assistant of the Year, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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Tatum Danielle Mortimer
Major(s): African American Studies, French
Major(s): Genetics, Microbiology
Hometown: Roswell, GA Research: The Multicultural Vision of Andrew Young; Use of Murine Models to Prevent Placental Malaria and Loss of Pregnancy in Kenya Travel-Study and Internships: Bénin; Canada; England; Germany; Guatemala; India; Morocco; New Haven, CT; Washington, DC; Macon, GA; Brooklyn Center, MN; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Black Theatrical Ensemble President and Associate Programming Coordinator, Fast Track to College SAT Program Founder and Lead Tutor, French Language Community, Honors Program Student Council Programming Committee, Medicine in Literature Book Group Leader Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Fulbright Scholar (France), Blue Key Honor Society, Cecil Willcox Award for Excellence in French, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with High Honors
Hometown: Waleska, GA Research: Epidemiology of Equine Staphylococcus aureus in Kentucky and Georgia from 1995-2003 Travel-Study and Internships: Australia; Costa Rica; England; Germany; Morocco; Switzerland; Tanzania; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: UGA American Society for Microbiology President, Prelude Dance Ensemble Officer, Animal Advocates at UGA, Volunteer Dance Instructor at Oasis Católico and Boys and Girls Club, Clarke County Mentor Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, CURO Research Scholar Distinction, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Student, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Luke Hensley Mosley
Saptarsi Mukhopadhyay
Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, History
Major(s): Biology, Economics, International Affairs
Hometown: Ellijay, GA
Hometown: Marietta, GA
Research: Solidarity: A Symbol of Power in Poland in the Early 1980s; Fucci Analysis of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
Research: Biochemistry Microfluidics Research, Athens Clarke County Energy Efficiency Funding, Genetics of Invasive Species with UGA/NSF PIRE in Nanjing, China
Travel-Study and Internships: Costa Rica; England; Germany; India; Jordan; Morocco; South Africa; Tanzania; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Rally Bike Ride Team Leader, Promote Africa Director of Corporate Relations, MATHCOUNTS Fund Raising Chair, Oasis Católico Tutor, Wesley Foundation, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Classic City Community Church, Appalachian Music (Mandolin, Dulcimer, and Musical Saw) Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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Travel-Study and Internships: China; Costa Rica; England; Germany; India; Morocco; Spain; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Delta Prize Selection Committee, UGA Philharmonia Orchestra, Roosevelt Institute, SGA Freshman Forum, Club Powerlifting, Parkour, Ecology Club, Boy Scouts of America, Pujari Bengali Community, MATHCOUNTS Outreach, Kaplan MCAT Instructor, CFHI Mumbai Public Health Intern, Nanjing Botanical Gardens Plant Genetics Research Intern Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with High Honors
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Bryn Elise Murphy
Jacob Hunter Rooney
Major(s): Environmental Social Science, International Affairs, Spanish
Major(s): Mathematics Hometown: Marietta, GA Research: Intrinsic Symmetry Groups of Links with Eight and Fewer Crossings; Knot Theory; Algebraic Geometry Travel-Study and Internships: England; France; Germany; Greece; India; Italy; Spain; South Korea; Washington, DC; New Orleans, LA; Boston, MA; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Georgia American Regions Mathematics League Coach, UGA Math Club President, UGA Math Tournament Volunteer, UGA MATHCOUNTS, Grader for MATH Differential Geometry, Real Analysis, Introduction to Higher Mathematics Classes Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Alan Jaworski Award, Strahan Award, Kossack Prize, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Hometown: Suwanee, GA Research: Loss Aversion in International Riparian Treaties; Avoiding Water Wars: Environmental Security through River Treaty Institutionalization; Blogging and Bioregionalism in the Peruvian Amazon; Migration and the Urban Environment in Puerto Maldonado, Peru; Keeping PACE: Clean Energy Financing for Athens-Clarke County; Community-Level Environmental Law in Indonesia Travel-Study and Internships: Botswana; Costa Rica; England; France; Germany; Indonesia; Malaysia; Morocco; Peru; South Africa; Spain; Washington, DC; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Prelude Dance Ensemble Officer, Prelude After-School Dance Program Founder and Coordinator, JURO Humanities Content Editor, Honors Teaching Assistant Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, CURO Research Scholar Distinction, UGA Libraries Research Award, CURO Best Paper, Globis Undergraduate Research Fellow, Blue Key Honor Society, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, First Honor Graduate, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Henry Louis Schwartz
Matthew Richard Sellers
Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Ecology, Mathematics
Major(s): English Hometown: Perry, GA
Hometown: Marietta, GA Research: Prediction and Analyses of the Landscape of Transcriptional Units in E.coli: Going Beyond Operons; Water Conservation Policy Travel-Study and Internships: Argentina; Costa Rica; England; Germany; Iceland; India; Morocco; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Unite for Sight, Roosevelt Institute, Xu Lab Bioinformatics Research Assistant, Center for Integrative Conservation Research Exurbanization Study MATHCOUNTS Coach, Triathlon Team – Swimming, Chabad Student Organization Honors and Awards: Lisa Ann Coole Award, Dean’s List, cum laude with Honors
Research: Spiritual Experience in Robert Penn Warren’s Poetry; Creating Equal Protection for LGBTQ Students in Georgia’s Public High Schools; Penn Warren, Populism, and the Democratic Ideal; Globalization, Language, and the Epic Tradition in Dance Dance Revolution; La Construction d’une Identité Martiniquaise et la Réconciliation avec le Passé Traumatique dans Mémoires d’île par Ina Césaire Travel-Study and Internships: England; India; Italy; South Korea; Tanzania; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Roosevelt Institute Local Center Director and TA, JURO Operations Manager, SPIL Group Director, UGA Collegium Musicum, AIDS Athens Volunteer, UGA Press Acquisitions Intern, Vinson Institute of Government Roosevelt Fellow, HIW NACo Research Intern, U.S. Department of Education Program Assistant, UGA Chamber Choir, Volunteer Alliance Ambassador Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Marshall Scholar, UGA Outstanding Scholar, Outstanding Honors Student in Humanities, CURO Research Scholar Distinction, Virginia Walter Award, Blue Key, Dean’s List, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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Anuj Atul Shukla
William Harry Stephenson
Major(s): Cellular Biology
Major(s): Comparative Literature, Film Studies
Hometown: Cordova, TN Research: Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Neurons as Biosensors for Neurotoxins; Role of the Notch Pathway in Astrocyte Development; Creating a Novel Assay for Reactive Oxygen Species Detection in Neuronal Cultures Travel-Study and Internships: Costa Rica; England; Germany; India; South Africa; South Korea; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Promote Africa, Association for India’s Development, Unite for Sight, UGA Thomas Lay After School Tutoring Program, Model United Nations, Indian Cultural Exchange, Intramural Soccer, Recreational Squash, Tennis, Table Tennis, Racquetball
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Hometown: Albany, GA Research: The Subversive Horror Cinema of Jose Mojica Marins Travel-Study and Internships: England; Germany; India; Italy; Morocco; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: DJ for WUOG 90.5 FM, UGA ICEVision Film Screenings Curator, Athens Food & Culture Magazine Film Columnist Honors and Awards: Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, magna cum laude with Honors
Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Intramural Table Tennis Champion, Dean’s List, magna cum laude with High Honors
Hemali Prakash Vin
Thomas Matthew Ward
Major(s): Microbiology
Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hometown: Export, PA Research: Analyzing and Quantifying Disorderly Speech Characteristic of Schizophrenia Patients Travel-Study and Internships: Australia; Costa Rica; England; France; Germany; Italy; Morocco; Spain; Vietnam; Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; New York, NY; Houston, TX Campus/Community Activities: Prelude Dance Ensemble, JURO Editor, Honors Teaching Assistant, Pre-Dental Club Community Service Chair Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Blue Key Honor Society, Dean Tate Honor Society, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with High Honors
Hometown: Atlanta, GA Research: Characterized Water Channels in the Enzyme Ferrochelatase; Adapting Three Traditional Arguments for the Existence of God to a Process Philosophy System Travel-Study and Internships: Belgium; Botswana; Costa Rica; England; Germany; Morocco; South Africa; Washington, DC; New York, NY; Lander, WY Campus/Community Activities: MATHCOUNTS Tutor, American Society for Microbiology Outreach Vice President, VisionEducation for UFS Vice President, Free-IT Athens Volunteer, Wilderness-EMT, Intramural Indoor and Outdoor Soccer Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Student, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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David Michael Zweig Major(s): Environmental Chemistry Hometown: Fayetteville, AR Research: Producing Transgenic Rice and Switchgrass for Enhanced Ethanol Production; Combating Parasitic Worms in Human and Livestock Populations; Microfluidics Instrumentation for Neuroscientists Travel Study and Internships: Costa Rica; England; Germany; India; Morocco; Livermore, CA; Washington, DC; New York, NY Campus/Community Activities: Habitat for Humanity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Campus Movie Fest, Technology Analyst for University of Arkansas MBA Entrepreneurship Program, Research Assistant – Parrot Lab, Franklin Lab, Minotaur Technologies Awards and Honors: Fulbright Scholar (New Zealand), Phi Kappa Phi, Dean’s List, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
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Sara De La Torre Berón Clarke Central High School Athens, GA Romance Languages
JoyEllen Ashley Freeman Milton High School Milton, GA English
Camille Parker Gregory Brentwood High School Brentwood, TN Geography
Bethany Cotten McCain Northview High School Johns Creek, GA Economics, International Affairs
Ryan Patrick McLynn Northview High School Johns Creek, GA Biology, Psychology
Todd Warren Pierson Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School Zionsville, IN Ecology
Derek Anthony Ponticelli Alan C. Pope High School Roswell, GA Economics, Mathematics
Reuben Arthur Reynolds Bainbridge High School Bainbridge, GA Biology
Matthew Wyatt Saltz Episcopal High School Baton Rouge, LA Computer Science
Waring “Buck” Trible III James Monroe High School Fredericksburg, VA Ecology, Entomology
Megan Nicole Unger Camden County High School St. Marys, GA Biology
Lawrence William White Bacon County High School Alma, GA Accounting, International Business
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Addison Von Wright Lassiter High School Marietta, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, History
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Brittany Anne Young Lewisville High School Lewisville, TX Finance, International Business
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Yuliya Bila Cherokee High School Canton, GA International Affairs, Russian, Spanish
Sara Thomas Black Mountain Brook High School Mountain Brook, AL Anthropology, Ecology
Jesse Yuen-Fu Chan Beech High School Hendersonville, TN Accounting
Smitha Ganeshan Northview High School Alpharetta, GA Anthropology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joseph Elliott Gerber Adlai E. Stevenson High School Lincolnshire, IL International Affairs
Philip Joseph Grayeski Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School Bridgewater, NJ Genetics
Osama Shariq Hashmi Lakeside High School Martinez, GA Biology
Anisha Ramchandra Hegde Brookwood High School Snellville, GA Comparative Literature, Genetics
Paul Alexander Kirschenbauer Baylor School Chattanooga, TN Economics, German
Marianne Morris Ligon D. W. Daniel High School Clemson, SC Anthropology, Cellular Biology, Microbiology
David Richman Millard Athens Academy Athens, GA Computer Science, Mathematics
Clara Marina Nibbelink Cedar Shoals High School Athens, GA Geography
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Rachel Claire Sellers South Forsyth High School Cumming, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Geology
Blake Elizabeth Shessel The Lovett School Atlanta, GA Animal Ethics, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jeremiah Hudson Stevens Northwest Whitfield High School Tunnel Hill, GA Agriscience and Environmental Systems
Jacqueline Elizabeth Van De Velde Glynn Academy Brunswick, GA English, International Affairs
Kishore Pavan Vedala Alpharetta High School Alpharetta, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Economics
Cameron Saeed Zahedi Milton High School Alpharetta, GA Economics, Mathematics, Physics
Matthew Telford Tyler Druid Hills High School Atlanta, GA Political Science
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Joshua Andrew Chang Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology Duluth, GA Biology
Savannah Elyse Colbert A.N. McCallum High School Austin, TX Advertising
Megan Elizabeth Ernst Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School Atlanta, GA Journalism, Political Science, Master of Public Administration
Parker Timothy Evans Franklin High School Franklin, TN Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Political Science
Eilidh Geddes Dunwoody High School Dunwoody, GA Economics, Mathematics
Sophia Helene Giberga St. Scholastica Academy Covington, LA Anthropology, Political Science
Ronald Jackson Kurtz Duluth High School Duluth, GA Political Science
Michael Tyler Land Pickens High School Jasper, GA Cellular Biology, Genetics, Spanish
Kameel Mir George Walton Comprehensive High School Marietta, GA Arabic, International Affairs
Sarah Aneese Mirza Grand Island Senior High School Grand Island, NE Spanish
Gautam Rajhar Narula Alpharetta High School Alpharetta, GA Computer Science, Political Science
Davis Reynolds Parker Huntsville High School Huntsville, AL Economics, Political Science
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James Alexander Rowell Lowndes High School Valdosta, GA Economics, International Affairs
Grace Maastricht Siemietkowski Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School Washington, DC French
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John Henry Tab Thompson A. C. Flora High School Columbia, SC Biology, Political Science
Megan Frances White Northview High School Alpharetta, GA International Affairs, Linguistics
Avery Elizabeth Wiens Lovett High School Atlanta, GA Chemistry
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Caroline Grace Coleman William R. Boone High School Orlando, FL Biology
Alexandra Rae Edquist Alpharetta High School Alpharetta, GA Economics, International Business
Lee Handly Folk Ensworth High School Nashville, TN Undecided
Kirstie Dolores Hostetter Houston High School Collierville, TN Environmental Economics & Management, International Affairs
Caleb Alexander Ingram Richmond Hill High School Richmond Hill, GA Mathematics
Shaun Henry Kleber Henry W. Grady High School Atlanta, GA Biology
Torre Elisabeth Lavelle Mount de Sales Academy Macon, GA Biology
Christopher Thomas Lewitzke Grayslake North High School Third Lake, IL Marketing, Public Relations
Katie Ann Lovejoy Myers Park High School Charlotte, NC Business
Kelsey Jane Lowrey Chamblee High School Dunwoody, GA Applied Biotechnology
Sandip Kaur Minhas Richmond Hill High School Richmond Hill, GA Unspecified
Caroline Elizabeth Moore Socastee High School, Scholars Academy Myrtle Beach, SC Public Relations
Meredith Marie Paker James Madison Memorial High School Madison, WI Economics, Political Science
Eytan Aaron Palte The Weber School Atlanta, GA Unspecified
Rand Warren Pope Brookwood School Barwick, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Spanish
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Hannah Mary Reiss Decatur High School Dectaur, GA Genetics
Giovanni Righi Collins Hill High School Lawrenceville, GA Ecology
Leighton Michele Rowell North Springs Charter High School Sandy Springs, GA French, Journalism
Madison Grace Snelling Henry Clay High School Lexington, KY International Affairs
Minhyuk Michael Song Brookwood High School Lawrenceville, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Karishma Sriram Athens Academy Athens, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Economics
John Bradley Stroud Glynn Academy St. Simons Island, GA Computer Science, Economics, Mathematics
Kevin Hongyi Sun Johns Creek High School Johns Creek, GA Economics
Treva Chung-Kwan Tam Blessed Trinity Catholic High School Roswell, GA Undecided
Bert Ferguson Thompson, Jr. Stratford Academy Macon, GA History, International Affairs
Laron-Chenee Heidi Tracey Brookwood High School Lawrenceville, GA International Affairs, Spanish
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FOUNDATION FELLOWS NEWEST ALUMNI – CLASS OF 2012
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Tori Akin
University of Chicago, PhD Candidate, Mathematics
Elizabeth Allan
University of Georgia, Additional Bachelor’s Degrees (Arabic, Economics, International Affairs) and Master of International Policy, December 2012
Jaime Ayers
Florida State University, Joint Master’s Degree in Social Work, Criminology, and Criminal Justice
Juan Carlos Cardoza-Oquendo
Workplace Justice Organizer, Workers Defense Project, Dallas, Texas
Patrick Fitzmaurice
Associate, Boston Consulting Group, Atlanta, Georgia
Dana Higgins
Harvard University, PhD Candidate, Government
Hillary Kingsley
University of Minnesota, Master’s Degree in Violin Performance
Logan Krusac
iEARN-USA, Resident Director in Taiwan
Morgann Lyles
Fulbright Scholar, English Teaching Assistantship, Lycée Jean Zay, Aulnay-sous-Bois, France
Tatum Mortimer (Wesely)
University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD Candidate, Microbiology
Luke Mosley
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Rohan Mukhopadhyay
Genetics of Invasive Species PIRE Program, China
Bryn Murphy
Intern, Natural Resource Defense Council, Chicago, Illinois
Jacob Rooney
University of California-Los Angeles, PhD Candidate, Mathematics
Hank Schwartz
Mayanot Jewish Studies Program; Emory University School of Medicine
Matt Sellers
Marshall Scholar, Oxford University, Master of Modern Literature
Anuj Shukla
University of Tennessee School of Medicine
Will Stephenson
Arts Intern and Freelance Film/Music Critic in Atlanta, Georgia
Hemali Vin
University of Maryland-College Park Dental School, Master of Public Health and Doctor of Dental Medicine
Thomas Ward
University of Virginia School of Medicine
David Zweig
Fulbright Scholar, Environmental Engineering Research, New Zealand
Foundation Fellows & R a msey Honor s Schol ar s Annual Report
F oundation F E L L O W S A L U M N I Class of 1977 John Ernest Graves Robert Richardson Rice Joseph Allan Tucker, Jr. Class of 1978 Michael Thomas Bohannon Audrey Shields (Crumbley)
John Edward Fowler, Jr. Mary Ruth Hannon Noel Langston Hurley Kirsten Jarabek (Franklin) Elizabeth Ford Lehman Robert Marcus Reiner Margaret Ruth Sparks Class of 1988 Sharon Blair (Enoch) Thomas Christopher Cisewski India Frances Lane Linda Leith (Giambalvo) Cathy Luxenberg (Barnard) Neil Chandler Thom John Eugene Worth
Class of 1979 William Ball John Weldon Harbin Harold Bobby Lowery Class of 1980 Sara Shlaer Bryan Jay Whitfield Class of 1981 Cornelia Isabella Bargmann Class of 1982 Fred Holtz III Peter Lumpkin Patrick Michael Brian Terry Catherine Leigh Touchton Class of 1983 William Mark Faucette Frank J. Hanna Betsy Lyons (McCabe) Judson Durward Watson III Class of 1984 Stephen Robert Ellis Jessica Bruce Hunt Denise Lamberski (Fisher) Charles William McDaniel Robert Brad Mock Kevin Brett Polston Sara Voyles (Haddow) Leslie Williams (Wade) Class of 1985 Sharon Anderson (White) Charles Victor Bancroft Margaret Crowder (Lawrence) Marjorie Dixon (Mitchell) Frank Eugene Glover, Jr. Shannon Terrell (Harvey) Tab Eugene Thompson Christopher Lamar Vickery
Class of 1989 Lisa Caucci Courtney Cook (Wiswall) Amy Lee Copeland Julie Kathleen Earnhart Adena Elder (Potter) Susan Golden (James) Nancy Letostak (Glasser) Leah Deneen Lowman Kyle Wayne Sager Andrew William Stith Kimberlee Walkenspaw (Wilson) Class of 1990 Maitreya Badami Albert Felton Jenkins III Gwen Renee Kaminsky Mark David Sheftall John Carlyle Shelton Alicia Elsbeth Stallings Class of 1991 James Ansley Granade III Elizabeth Hebert (Day) Paul Harvey Matthews John Phillip Piedrahita Susan Shackelford (Dawes) Marc Lane Silverboard Lougene Williams III
Class of 1986 Grace Elizabeth Hale Andrew Madison Martin Stephen William Smith Mark Edward White
Class of 1992 Laura Jane Calhoon (Lyttle) Robert Geoffrey Dillard Chris Gunter Anne Marie Hargaden Robert Kirk Harris Martin Allie Hollingsworth Robin Ann Kundra Andrew McSwain Millians Charles Andrew Mitchell Christina Stewart (Payton)
Class of 1987 Rebecca Elizabeth Biron Bruce Edward Bowers Anne Davison (Dolaher)
Class of 1993 Michael Herman Burer Jennifer Cathey (Arbitter) Christine Darden (Brennan)
Albert Vernon Dixon III David Michael Hettesheimer Peter James McBrayer Mia Noerenberg (Miller) Spencer Allen Rice Thad Andrew Riddle Nevada Waugh (Reed) Philip Rodney Webb Christen Wheeler (Mitchell) H. Thomas Willman III
Robyn Andree Painter Vijaya Rangan Palaniswamy Beth Alison Shapiro
Class of 1994 Sonja Victoria Batten Stephen Spratlin Bullock Jennifer Tracie Calvert (Rosser) Pamela Ann Hungerbuhler Michael Paul Jones, Jr. Anne Kissel (Harper) Eric Marvin Overby Brett Jerry Pellock Caroline Placey Jennifer Marie Rubin Laura Anne Shepherd Katherine Anne Smith Julie Lynne Steiner
Class of 2000 Melissa Marlene Bugbee Dhruti Jerry Contractor Tiffany Celena Earley-(Spadoni) Matthew Scott Eckman Holly Gooding (Tran) Bronson Hurst Lee Michael Eugene Morris Ethan James Sims
Class of 1995 Laura Barbas (Rhoden) Harold Dean Green, Jr. Scott Allen Haggard Joshua Eric Kight Molly Megan McCarthy Darren Howard Pillsbury Andrew Rhea Schretter Amanda Wojtalik-(Courter) Class of 1996 Keith Robert Blackwell Thomas Andrew Bryan Robert Compton Cartwright Timothy Paul George Bomee Jung James Benjamin Kay IV Bradley Scott Malcom Michael Justin Shoemake Robert Matthew Sutherland Stephen Jefferson Tate Robert Thomas Trammell, Jr. Class of 1997 Ryan Paul Bartlett Christie Mew Jan Leilani Cooksey Lisa Ann Coole William Stephen Steiner Andrew Abell Wade Class of 1998 Jay Chugh Adrian John Daigle Catherine Allison Evans (Webb) Brandon Edward Kremer
Class of 1999 Leona Nichole Council Laura Lacy Feldman (McCurdy) Jane Huang TorrĂŠ Deshun Mills Ellen Jean Sutherland
Class of 2001 Laura Ann Adang Dustin Joseph Calhoun Christopher Macdonald Caruso Semil P. Choksi Fruzsina Anna Csaszar Corey Scott Gill Amita Ramesh Hazariwala Kathryn Jessica Hull Robert Gardner Linn Thomas John Ludlam Francis Joseph Martin Amy Mulkey (McGowan) Joseph Adams Perry-(Parrish) Laquesha Shantelle Sanders Andrew Clark Thompson Kyle Burton Wingfield Class of 2002 Divya Balakrishnan Julie Dotterweich (Gunby) Laramie Elizabeth Duncan Amy Elizabeth Early Eric Jonas Gapud Allyson Elizabeth Harper Alyssa Lillian Holmgren Rachel Kassel Cathy A. Lee-(Miller) Marc Paul Lindsay Caitlin Christine Martell Lorina Naci Kameko Lanilaura Nichols Mary Catherine Plunkett Tina Rakkhit Suzanne Elizabeth Scoggins Steven Christopher Smith Kathryn Stepp (Nicolai) Lakshmi Swamy Andrew John Sucre Andrew Wright Emory Paul Wright
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F oundation F E L L O W S A L U M N I Class of 2003 Maria Anderson (Booth) John Anthony Asalone Marshall Martin Chalmers Timothy Tianyi Chen Kimberly Council (Sheridan) Adam Steven Cureton Brian Matthew Dunham Christopher James Gibson Jennifer Gibson Gill Leah Rose Givens Eirin K. Kallestad Dmitry Sergeevich Kolychev Tanya Marie Martin Meredith Neal McCarthy Robin Elizabeth McGill Jeffrey Daniel Pugh Robert Province Quinn Jennifer Malcolm Srygley Chung (Gemma) Suh Buudoan (Doannie) Tran Melanie Monroe Venable Joseph Brendan Wolpin Class of 2004 Virginia Barton (Bowen) John Carnes Boggan Amanda Morgan Casto William Cullen Conly Blake Linton Doughty Ellen Downs (Beaulieu) Corrin Nicole Drakulich Deepti Gupta-(Patel) Sarah Nicole Hemmings Bliss Immanuel Khaw David Alan Kross Daniel Michael Ludlam Evan James Magers Megan Jean McKee Kunal Mitra Jane Adaeze Okpala Julie Walsh Orlemanski Satya Hiru Patel Nathan Willis Ratledge Daniel Winfield Reed Travis Daniel Reeves Vanessa Reynolds (Hale) Randolph Lines Starr Carson Wayne Strickland Manoj (Sachin) Varghese Josh Alan Weddle Charles Elliott Willson Class of 2005 Raechel Keay Anglin Benjamin Samuel Bain Allison Cathleen Carter Krisda Chaiyachati Eugenia Gina Chu Charles Philip Ciaccio, Jr. Renee Claire Contreras Matthew Tyler Crim John Thomas DeGenova
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Jeremy Paul Johnson Kathryn Elizabeth Kay Ivy Nguyen Le Ashley Marie Lott Tuquyen Mach (Yee) Thomas Michael Mittenzwei Brendan Francis Murphy Sarah Ellen Sattelmeyer Kacie Schoen (Darden) Allison Michelle Scott Amy Nicole Sexauer Matthew Buckley Smith Adam Martin Sparks Jeanette Eva Thurber Charles Thompson Tuggle III Katherine Helen Vyborny Leslie S. Wolcott Anne Martin Zimmerman Class of 2006 Jennifer Andrea Bartmess Jason Michael Brown Melissa Cabinian (Kinnebrew) Jana Dopson (Illston) Simon Flax Ferrari Daniel Joseph Gough Beth Grams (Margalis) Warren Brandon Holton Lisa Last (Moore) Joseph Robert LeCates William Michael Lynch Patrick Joseph Maher Katherine Leigh Morgan Jenny Page (Linton) Sara Tova Pilzer Brian Patrick Quinif Heather Michaela Ripley Rebekah Lee Rogers Laura Emiko Soltis Robert Christopher Staley Matthew James Stewart Nathan Joseph Stibrich Chloe Thompson (Kelley) David Carson Turner Class of 2007 Mary Alvarez-(Hall) William Brooks Andrews Franklin (BJ) Ard John Christopher Binford Yves Wolfgang Laurent Bouillet Priya Chandan Caelin Cubenas (Potts) Lesley Marie Graybeal Anna Vivian Harrison John Floyd Howell Douglas Michael Jackson Joseph Edgar Lariscy IV Michael James Levengood Robert Bradley Lindell Andrew Campbell McKown Erin Alicia Mordecai Yannick Beale Morgan
Amulya Nagarur Jayanthi L. Narain Corrine Allison Novell Sarah Brown Puryear Helen Caples Smith Zachery Philip Smith Jake Everett Turrentine Katrin Usifo Class of 2008 Lynzi Jacqueline Archibald Maria Alejandra Baetti Sarah Ritchey Bellamy Anureet Cheema (Copeland) Benjamin Tyler Cobb Katherine Elizabeth Folkman Matthew Wood Grayson Adele Handy (Goodloe) Shannon Snead Hiller Donald Ray Johnson, Jr. Joseph Robert Kapurch Peter Tomlinson Klein Mindy Cara Lipsitz Anant Mandawat William Giles Mann Jordan Elizabeth Myers Bryan Scott Overcarsh Tyler Blalock Pratt Deep Jayendrakumar Shah Gabriel Rehman Shaukat Adam Thomas George Valentinov Vulov Rachel Elizabeth Whitaker (Elam) Class of 2009 Craig Chike Akoh Payton McCurry Bradford Kevin Kyong Chang Chuan (CiCi) Cheng Christopher John Chiego Rebecca Yeong Ae Corey Colleen Helen Cotton Jordan Allen Dalton Christina Lynn Faust William (Beau) Featherston Gilmore Elizabeth Anne Godbey Sana Fatimah Hashmi Clare JoAnna Hatfield Chadwick Parker Hume Brittany Morgan Lee Caitlin McLaughlin (Poe) Nithya Natrajan (Hall) Milner Benedict Owens Kevin Christopher Poe Elizabeth Anne Riggle Paul Andrew Ruddle II Marlee Jean Waxelbaum
Class of 2010 Elisabeth Lundsberg Allen Thomas Matthew Bailey Amanda Nicole Brouillette Sarah Marie Caruana Kevin Peter Copp Amy Patricia Davis David Dawei Fu Peter Carswell Horn David Martin Howcroft Kelsey Jones (Pratt) Connor Lawson McCarthy Sharon Aileen Marie McCoy Laura Elizabeth McDonald Joshua Ivan McLaurin Zoe Eva Fadul Meroney Allon Mordel Virginia Susan Newman Cleveland Alcides Piggott, Jr. Lucas Llanso Puente Jennifer Ann Taylor Lila Elisabeth Tedesco Robert Barton Thrasher Jasmaine Denice Williams Class of 2011 Stephanie Lee Chapman Katherine Sara Cuadrado Ryan Michael Friday Lucy Fu Katherine Geales Goodwin Marcus Jamel Hines Mir Mohamed Inaamullah Anne Helene Karam Matthew Henry Levenson Xiaofeng (Phoeny) Li John Benjamin Marshall Aaron Bartow Marshburn Calley Aileen Mersmann Phillip Charles Mote Muktha Sundar Natrajan Rachel Hannah Pocock Sabrina Ann Ragaller Robert Nalls Rosenbleeth Robert Darnell Sinyard III Alexander David Squires Claire Underwood (Hailey) Tracy Jane Yang Sheena Shiyi Zhang
Foundation Fellows & R a m se y Honor s S chol ar s A nnual R ep ort
FELLOWS ALUMNI OUT WEST A host of Foundation Fellows alumni have settled in the Bay Area to continue their studies or professional careers. Here’s a quick look at who’s who in Northern California: Brooks Andrews – Student, Stanford Graduate School of Business Maitreya Badami – Supervising Attorney, Northern California Innocence Project, Santa Clara Divya Balakrishnan – Product Manager, Accenture, San Francisco Ellen Downs Beaulieu – Research Scientist, SRI International, Menlo Park Jake Boggan – Data Scientist Amanda Brouillette – Student, Stanford Law School Amanda Casto – MD/PhD Student, Stanford University School of Medicine Jay Chugh – Program Associate, S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, San Francisco Corrie Drakulich (married to Josh Weddle) – Attorney, Fish & Richardson PC, Redwood City Brian Dunham – Director of Business Development, Embly, San Francisco Matt Eckman – Financial Business Analyst, Genetech, San Francisco Sana Hashmi – Student, Stanford University School of Medicine Pam Hungerbuhler – Assistant Controller, Omidyar Network, Berkeley Peter Klein – Privacy Engineer, Google, San Francisco Aaron Marshburn – Account Executive, Wildfire by Google, Redwood City Frank Martin – General Counsel, Standard Pacific Capital LLC, San Francisco Mary Catherine Plunkett – Manager of Channel Strategy & Analytics, Autodesk, San Francisco Rachel Pocock – Human Resources, Google, San Francisco Lucas Puente – PhD Student, Political Science, Stanford University Suzanne Scoggins – PhD Student, Political Science, UC Berkeley Julie Steiner – Physician, Kaiser Medical Center, Richmond Adam Thomas – Attorney, Latham & Watkins LLP, San Francisco Jeanette Thurber – Attorney, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLC, San Francisco Dave Turner – Analyst, Accenture, San Francisco Josh Weddle (married to Corrie Drakulich) – Attorney, Paul Hastings LLC, San Francisco Jasmaine Williams – PhD Student, Cancer Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine Charlie Willson – Student, Stanford Law School and School of Education
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Maitreya Badami
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n a manner of speaking, nearly 25 years after leaving her room at Creswell Hall, Maitreya Badami ’90 has come back to campus. Maitreya, a Foundation Fellow who graduated from Georgia with a degree in political science, last year moved into the faculty apartment in the Xavier Residential Learning Community at Santa Clara University in Northern California. A supervising attorney for the Northern California Innocence Project, a clinical education program in the Santa Clara School of Law, Maitreya teaches law students all aspects of challenging wrongful convictions. She is particularly focused on the issue of eyewitness misidentification, which she adds is the leading cause of wrongful convictions. She moved to Santa Clara after nearly two decades in nearby San Francisco as a criminal defense attorney – working both in private practice and as a public defender – and took up residence in Xavier with her daughter, Eve, 9, and son, Beckett, 5. “It’s definitely different,” says the San Francisco native who earned her law degree in 1994 from Berkeley Law. “There are only 5,000 students in the whole place, and my building has about 200. They’re very nice kids, but I see this as an opportunity to reach out to people who haven’t seen much of the world and start trying to interest them in things outside their own personal experience.” Maitreya says her position with the Northern California Innocence Project – part of a national network of innocence projects founded to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through litigation and public policy creation – provides her with myriad opportunities. She works with clients, students, lawmakers, and other professionals in an environment that expertly combines litigation with education. “It’s unbelievable. It’s so great,” she says. “We have a class that explores the legal causes of wrongful conviction, what goes wrong in the system that results in these kinds of convictions, and the procedural ways we have of attacking the problem. There are some very complex legal issues, and I really love teaching. “I don’t just litigate. I get to teach, I get to do policy advocacy, and I’ve strategized with the sponsors of state legislation, spoken to city councils, and presented on law enforcement-sponsored panels. There is tremendous variety in the work I get to do.
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Although just about every University of Georgia student finds it hard to leave Athens, many Foundation Fellows have found the lure of Northern California too enticing to ignore. And what’s not to like? There are major minds at work in university communities such as Stanford, Berkeley, and Santa Clara, as well as in the high-tech Silicon Valley; the weather is agreeable almost 12 months a year (even in foggy San Francisco); the cultural diversions are myriad from Santa Rosa to San Jose and beyond; and don’t forget the many wineries and vineyards. Not surprisingly, a number of alums have landed at Stanford – in fact, there are so many former Bulldogs in the land of the Cardinal that a substantial UGA alumni chapter could be established there. S
Lucas Puente ’10 is completing his second year in a political science PhD program at Stanford and expects to remain there until 2015, at which time he hopes to find work as a college professor. Lucas admits moving to the West Coast took some getting accustomed to, but he soon found himself right at home. “The best part of living here is definitely the people,” says Lucas. “There are plenty of ambitious and engaging young people who are changing the world. Silicon Valley is truly a magnet for some really smart people. And Lake Tahoe is not too far away.” S
After a varied career that included a substantial stint in Washington DC, working for the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Charlie Willson ’04 has returned to the classroom and is pursuing degrees in Stanford’s Law School and School of Education. Charlie is presently working on some intriguing initiatives that combine his law and education studies. “I have developed a topic-area interest in college access and success, and I hope to contribute to the process of figuring out how to develop a 21st century workforce,” says Charlie, who lives in San Francisco’s Mission District with his wife, Emily Kirk Willson. “Last summer, I worked with a nonprofit law firm, and this summer I will work with a foundation that provides scholarships and other supports to first-generation and low-income college students. “During my time here, I’ve also worked as a consultant to major foundations seeking to strategically use their grants to support college success. I’m not sure exactly what
Foundation Fellows & R amsey Honors Schol ars Annual Report
role I’ll have when I graduate, but I have a few ideas within this policy space.” He adds that he hopes to remain in the Bay Area when he completes his studies. “With its eclectic mix of architecture and all the hills, San Francisco is a fun place to walk around,” says Charlie, who shared law classes with fellow Fellow Amanda Brouillette ’10 and has regular contact with alums Frank Martin ’01, Ellen Downs Beaulieu ’04, and Divya Balakrishnan ’02. “In the course of an extended stroll, you feel as if you’ve visited a few different cities.” S
Although he spent the summer in Atlanta working with a private equity firm between his first and second years at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Brooks Andrews ’07 still calls the West Coast home. After graduating from UGA, Brooks went to work in New York for Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. In 2009, he moved to California and worked for a private equity firm for two years before opting to return to school. He admitted his transition to Bay Area life wasn’t easy, but it was more due to the work he was doing than anything else. “I went from working at a massive investment bank (with 100,000-plus employees) with lots of young people in my same shoes to a 30-person private equity firm with just three or four other guys my age,” says Brooks. “It definitely took some time to make new friends and establish a new network. But I found people in general to be incredibly nice and more laid back.” Brooks will graduate from Stanford in 2013, at which time he’ll figure out his next move. “After this summer, I’ll be able to evaluate where I want to live (San Francisco or Atlanta), and in the fall I’ll have conversations with employers regarding full-time positions,” he says. “Once I know where I’m working, I’ll turn my attention to fully enjoying the second year of business school – this is likely the last time I’ll be able to travel for weeks on end for quite some time.” S
A number of Fellows who moved to California to continue their education have decided to remain in the area. Among those is Frank Martin ’01, who relocated to Berkeley to attend law school (he graduated in 2004) and now works as general counsel for Standard Pacific Capital LLC, an investment advisory firm located in San Francisco.
Adam Thomas
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dam Thomas ’08 spends much of his time working on environmental litigation for the global law firm Latham & Watkins, but he admits environmental issues weren’t his top priority as a UGA undergrad. That doesn’t mean, however, that Adam wasn’t engaged in a host of meaningful endeavors while in Athens. Now living in Oakland and working in San Francisco after earning a law degree from Stanford in 2011, Adam was involved with UGA Safe Place, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, AIDS Athens, University Judiciary, and the Lambda Alliance during his days on campus. “When I was at Georgia, none of the things I did actually related to ecology,” said Adam. “But I did go to New Zealand the summer after my first year and spent time studying the ecology there, and spent some time in Costa Rica. For whatever reason, my mind wasn’t working that way at the time. I didn’t have the interest in environmental issues.” It was at Stanford that Adam’s interest in the environment was piqued. “Stanford encourages people to participate in clinics, which teach you how to practice law, because classes really don’t do that,” he said. “I signed up for the environmental law clinic. I didn’t know at that time what I wanted to practice, but I had a good mentor and found that I actually liked that area of law as well.” Adam said that he ultimately wants to serve as a clinical professor, to guide students through the ins and outs of a law practice. “I need to get some experience first,” he said. “But it’s my eventual goal in three or four years. I want to help others get the kind of experience that was probably the best thing I did in law school.” Adam – who got engaged to be married this summer with his partner Stephen Podowitz (who works at Stanford as a post-doctoral scientist in a lab researching nuclear detection materials) – said he enjoys the diversity that comes with living in Oakland and the adventures that come with Bay Area life. “During my first year, I fell in love with the vibe of the Bay,” he says. “It’s filled with polite and kind people, much like the South. And I love the dynamic of being in San Francisco, which is a really compact but very urban city, surrounded by beaches, mountains, and about anything else you could want to do. It also doesn’t hurt that I now live less than an hour from wine country.”
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Jasmaine Williams
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or Foundation Fellows, inspiration on a career path generally appears following a series of “light bulb” moments that evolve over months or even years. But Jasmaine “Jazz” Williams ’10 discerned her future plans rather early in her University of Georgia tenure. “I started working with CURO my freshman year at Georgia, was introduced to (biochemistry & molecular biology professor) Dr. Lance Wells, and I worked in his lab freshman and sophomore year,” says Jazz, who earlier this year completed a master’s degree in Medicine from Stanford and is now pursuing a PhD in cancer biology. “I got hooked on research and wanted to learn more about cancer biology. I also had a cousin who had breast cancer, so there was a family connection. I started thinking about scientific problems I was interested in, and everything sort of combined, and I met all the right people at UGA. It’s all due to the people in Moore College.” Jazz’s career pursuit was also inspired in part by the time she spent at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (or TGen), an Arizona-based nonprofit devoted to improving cancer diagnostics and treatment. She said she was impressed with the way doctors and researchers were able to arrive at common ground despite their divergent responsibilities. “At TGen, they do research and have a hospital, so you have scientists and physicians working together,” she says. “The issue of scientists and physicians not knowing how to communicate with each other is not a problem there. The idea behind getting a master’s was that I would interact with physicians, and through my PhD I could facilitate communication between those two groups.” Jazz – who hopes to earn her PhD by June 2016 – has shifted her focus somewhat, although communication remains at the core of her interests. “My career interests are changing now. I want to work on cancer research, learning more about cancer patients and how to improve cancer treatments. When I came to grad school, I thought I wanted to pursue teaching at a larger university. The nice thing about Stanford is that there are so many entrepreneurial people, and not just in the sense of starting businesses, but people with new ideas who are thinking in innovative ways. “So I’ve become more interested in how you communicate science results to people who don’t have a science background. I’m also thinking about how to expose low-income and underserved populations to science early. I have no idea what I’m going to end up doing, but the ideas I’ve been exposed to are really cool.” Jazz is also well-connected in Stanford’s Bulldog circles, working with Amanda Brouilette ’10 and seeing Lucas Puente ’10 and Brooks Andrews ’07 on campus and Rachel Pocock ’11 in nearby Mountain View, where she works for Google.
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The Atlanta native is returning to the Berkeley campus in a new capacity later this year. “In the fall, I will be teaching a course on hedge funds at Berkeley Law,” he says. “I am also lucky to be involved with a couple of local boards, including an outstanding nonprofit called Youth Radio.” S
Like Frank, Ellen Downs Beaulieu ’04 moved west to attend graduate school at Berkeley and has since remained in the area, where she works as a research scientist in infectious diseases at SRI International, a nonprofit research and development company in Menlo Park. “I am a medicinal chemist, looking for new medicines and diagnostics for infection,” says Ellen. “I find my work in this area highly rewarding, and I find infection, in particular, fascinating. There is a lot of room for high-impact research in the areas of neglected and tropical diseases that affect millions across the globe but don’t provide big profit motive.” Ellen enjoys her daily commute to work because she’s able to share it with her husband of seven years, David Beaulieu, a Georgia Tech graduate and a mechanical engineer. David works at Abbot Vascular, also in Menlo Park, so the couple is able to carpool to the lab. Although she admits she suffered from “sticker shock” when she moved to the Bay Area and had to spend time dissuading some of her Berkeley classmates of what they thought were the cuisine choices of Southerners, Ellen said it didn’t take long for her to find her niche in the area. And for Fellows planning a visit to Northern California, Ellen may be the best “go-to” person to seek advice about where to go in the wine country. “By my fourth year here, my husband and I had tasted at over 100 different wineries,” she says. “We keep personal rating lists for anyone who wants to visit the bay and needs recommendations for food or wine, which we happily share on request.” S
Jay Chugh ’98 decided to try moving away from the Bay Area after a successful teaching career, which culminated in two of his students becoming the first Californians to win the Intel International Science Fair in 2011. Jay and his wife, Sejal Choksi (sister of Fellow Semil Choksi), moved back to their California home within just eight months “because it’s an intellectual Mecca with
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rich cultural and geographical diversity.” At the Bechtel Foundation, Jay and his team support STEM education initiatives both locally and state-wide. S
Two Fellow alums – Peter Klein ’08 and Rachel Pocock ’11 – might run into each other at work. Peter is a privacy program manager for Google and Rachel works as a People Operations Rotational Associate for Google in Mountain View. Rachel – who says that Peter was one of the first to greet her when she took her job at Google – lives in San Francisco’s Mission District and rides to work each day in a “Google shuttle,” which comes complete with wifi, leather seats embroidered with the Google logo, and colored lights. “I get the best of both worlds - enjoying San Francisco’s eclectic neighborhoods and diverse cuisine on nights and weekends, while thriving on the intensity of Silicon Valley during the week,” she says. “I have been truly enriched by the city’s diversity in religion, ethnicity, political views, and socioeconomic status.” Peter, who says he “liked San Francisco instantly,” has plans to remain in the technology sector for the foreseeable future and adds that his UGA tenure has added immensely to his West Coast experience. “UGA and the Foundation Fellowship prepared me for the real world in a way that was different from Stanford or Cal Tech or other small, private schools,” he says. “In addition to a comprehensive and balanced education, I was inundated with an attitude and approach to life focused on working together toward a common goal, helping one another out along the way, and a rich Southern charm defined by mutual respect, and an unadulterated pursuit of knowledge.”
A fourth-year medical student at Stanford, Sana Hashmi ’09 says she felt a touch of intimidation upon enrolling in med school but soon discovered the many opportunities she received as a Foundation Fellow held her in good stead. “UGA, with its opportunity to participate in research and independent learning as an undergrad, prepared me very well for graduate school and its rigorous curriculum.” Sana, who will pursue a career in dermatology and plans to practice medicine and conduct basic science research, adds that “despite liking the Bay Area” she plans to move back to the South in 2013 for her residency. S
Although Aaron Marshburn ’11 had his sights set on a career as a reporter covering an overseas beat and even spent some time after graduation working as an intern with a German media outlet in Berlin, he’s found a new line of work in California that he’s completely happy with. Aaron works in sales at Wildfire by Google, a global social media marketing company. Although he’s worked at Wildfire for less than a year, he was recently promoted to account executive. Aaron says he faced less of an adjustment moving to San Francisco than he did making the transition from college student to full-time employee. “In college, you have all this free time, and you have all the capacity in the world to explore different things. Working in the everyday world, you tend to do the same things, which can feel a bit constraining compared to the freedom you had in college. But I’ve found it extremely satisfying to develop a deeper mastery when I work at something for a long time. “The opportunities I’ve had coming out of college have been so great. It’s like a mountain to climb – a bigger mountain. But it’s exciting looking up – it’s just astounding what people are doing out here.”
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FELLOWS IN CHARM CITY Although University of Georgia alumni can be found in every corner of the world, there’s a considerable concentration of former Foundation Fellows that can be found in Baltimore, Maryland, the home of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, considered by many to be the top medical school in the country and, much like the Fellowship, quite discerning in whom it allows to study there. The Johns Hopkins Hospital is embraced within the city, which is considered a cultural capital due in no small part to its starring role in the films of Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men) and John Waters (Hairspray, Polyester), television shows like Homicide: Life on the Streets and The Wire, and the novels of Anne Tyler. Baltimore is known by many as “Charm City,” where every neighborhood in town has its own unique character. S
“When I got here, I hit the ground running,” says John Marshall ’11, who recently completed his first year at Hopkins. He is pursuing an MD and has an interest in tuberculosis research. “I was very busy and very pumped to be here, and I was fine until I went home for Christmas for two weeks. When I came back after the break, it seemed much harder for me. It wasn’t an easy transition. It just took me some time to get to know the charm of Charm City.”
was coming from Germany and didn’t have a chance to do apartment hunting before I came here.” Now after several years, Amy says she has found her niche and has been able to make friends outside the hospital, “which is a big help toward making you feel you have a place here.” In the fall, Amy will begin her seventh year of an MD/
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PhD program at Hopkins. The life of a graduate student can
“After being here a year, I’ve grown to love it. If Athens were a big city, it could be Baltimore,” adds Phillip Mote ’11, who is pursuing an internal medicine & pediatrics path. He recently married Madison Asef, a UGA Honors alumna who will soon earn her nursing degree. Phillip and John, who became great friends through the Fellowship, were roommates their first year in Baltimore and were able to help each other through that difficult transition. “This med school experience would have been a lot different,” says John, “without Phillip as a roommate. The Fellowship propelled both of us to Hopkins, and our friendship has only grown here, to the point of my being a groomsman in his wedding last summer.”
definitely be a grind, and Amy finds that one of the best ways to relax is through music. An active musician in the Baltimore area, she plans to spend a portion of her short summer vacation at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan for an intensive one-week chamber music camp. “I’ve been involved in the classical music scene in Baltimore,” says Amy, a violist and violinist who played with the Athens Symphony Orchestra and now is a member of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. “We have a lot of fulltime professional musicians in the group, and we play a full concert season every year, in addition to many educational and outreach concerts. I also play in a string quartet, and I’ve done a couple of very intensive workshops with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
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“I had a rough introduction to Baltimore,” says Amy
“I’m a much happier person because I have music as
Sexauer ’05, who moved there directly after a year of study
part of my life. One of my professors gave me an article
in Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship. “I did what you
from The Lancet about what physicians can learn from
should never do – find an apartment on the internet. I
musicians and how much overlap there is between the skill
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sets of musicians and physicians. I’ve encountered so many
down regularly to see UGA friends who are based in the
students and faculty here who are also musicians. It’s pretty
area. I’ll even be meeting up with my Fellows classmate
inspiring. I try to make time to play every day.”
Helen Smith ’07 when I’m in Malaysia in November.”
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John Marshall says he was able to utilize his musical talents
“There is a chapter of the Baltimore Dawgs that meets in
during his class’s recent white coat ceremony, and he and
town to watch the games,” says Caelin Cubenas Potts ’07.
some classmates had another performance scheduled for
“Baltimore is a great football city with the Ravens, but
late spring.
it’s nice to hear people cheer for the Bulldogs.” Caelin is
“I’ve played violin since I was six years old,” he says.
pursuing a PhD and will begin her sixth year at Hopkins
“We have a trio at med school and will be performing
in the fall. She works in the Biochemistry Department
before our fellow students soon. We’re part of a collective
studying the Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO)
of musical med students called Ultrasound, but our little
protein. Caelin is married to Chris Potts, a software
chamber group doesn’t have a name. We’ll play Dvorak’s
designer for Earth Networks in Maryland.
‘Piano Trio’ at historic Hurd Hall in the hospital. Music is a real stress reliever. I’ve found having that sort of outlet like rehearsal once a week helps me have the energy and inspiration to then go study.”
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Ginny Barton Bowen ’04 has some delightful away-fromschool distractions. She and her husband Jesse – who works for the Admissions Office at the University of Maryland,
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have a son, Jack, who celebrated his first birthday on July
Not surprisingly, UGA grads often find each other in
4. Ginny earned an MPH from Johns Hopkins in 2008
Baltimore, not only sharing professional and academic
and expects to receive her PhD in Population, Family and
information, but also sharing time on fall Saturdays in local
Reproductive Health in the fall. She still enjoys interacting
bars and restaurants watching their beloved Bulldogs on
with former UGA students.
the football field.
“A UGA Alumni Association chapter opened in the S
“Being from UGA puts you in a nice automatic network,” says Amy. “Here’s an illustration: When Sarah Puryear ’07 came to Hopkins, she was two years behind me. I tried to give her a little advice about classes, textbooks, and rotations. Now she has more medical experience because I’ve spent so much time in the lab, and I’m asking her for advice. It’s nice to have that built-in connection.”
last three years,” says Bowen. “I was vice president of that last year. I jumped on board early. I was looking to expand beyond school friends because my friends started to graduate out from under me! I was looking for something with more consistency, and the alum group is good for that. It’s nice to have that outlet.” S
Another Foundation Fellow – Hemali Vin ’12 – will be
A graduate of Clarke Central High School in Athens,
nearby this fall at the University of Maryland, where she
Sarah began her fourth year at Johns Hopkins in July after
plans to earn DMD, DDS, and MPH degrees. After four
spending a year of research in Botswana on a Doris Duke
years in Athens, she looks forward to life in a new city.
International Clinical Research Fellowship. She plans to
“I liked the area a lot when I went to interview,” she said.
pursue a career in infectious diseases.
“It felt like a good mixture between the big city and the
“In terms of connecting with UGA folks, I definitely keep in touch with people and am surprised how many I
medical community. I like that it’s close to the harbor, which I hear is very beautiful. You can’t beat that.”
run into in the area,” says Sarah. “There are a few UGA grads and former Fellows I see in the hospital pretty regularly. There’s also a small but very active group of young alums who get together to watch the Georgia games in the fall. Since Washington is pretty close, I make it
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THE RAMSEY HONORS SCHOLARSHIP
Ramsey Scholars are selected through the Foundation Fellows application process. The program welcomed five new students in 2011-2012, bringing the total number of Ramsey Scholars to 27. In-state Ramsey Scholars receive a $5,050 annual stipend along with the HOPE Scholarship, while out-of-state students receive an $8,250 stipend and an outof-state tuition waiver, currently worth more than $18,000 per year. An additional $3,000 is available to each Ramsey Scholar for travel-study.
The Ramsey Honors Scholarship was
The average SAT score for the incoming class was 1560 (math + verbal only) and the average ACT score was 34. Their high school grade point average was 4.15 on a 4.0 scale, which indicates extra points for Advanced Placement classes. The Ramsey Scholars also have impressive high school academic and extracurricular credentials.
created by the trustees of The University of Georgia
Students enjoy Ramsey community events throughout the year, including a weekend retreat in the mountains of North Georgia, book discussions and seminars with premier faculty, kayaking down the Broad River, a spring break service trip, and the Ramsey graduation banquet.
Foundation in 2000 and is named for the
The Ramsey Honors Scholarship provides a $3,000 travel-study grant, which was used by the following students this year:
University’s most generous individual benefactor, the late Bernard Ramsey
Logan Butler
New Zealand
Samantha Gray
Phoenix, AZ
Trevor Hohorst
New Zealand
Amanda Holder
New Zealand
Whitney Ising
Denver, CO
Alli Koch Indonesia
(BS ’37), long-time
Carmen Kraus
John Otwell Morocco
chairman of the
Ryan Sheets
board of Merrill
Abigail Shell
Lynch.
New Zealand
Catie Shonts Pranay Udutha
South Korea San Francisco, CA; Virgin Islands; Washington, DC Boston, MA; Denver, CO Philadelphia, PA
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R A M S E Y S C H O L A R S – T R AV E L- S T U DY
“
Seniors Talk about the Impact of Their Travels
The summer
Tiffany Hu ’12 – India “During my internship with Child Family Health International in the summer of my sophomore year, I explored India’s public health system. I and third years, I saw medicine at work from a small medical camp in a villager’s home to a large traveled to Cusco, hospital with a unique spiritual model. I witnessed daily the efforts of the largest democracy in the world to manage its double burden of infectious and chronic Peru to volunteer at diseases. Speaking with rural doctors, I learned about the struggles of treating an orphanage for young patients who only come when the pain becomes unbearable. I was humbled by their increasing workload in the face of India’s physician shortage. My girls. I did a homestay for visit to a community health project’s training session offered a glimpse of five weeks with a family in the public health challenges that India’s National Rural Health Mission is currently addressing. the heart of Cusco. At the “Visiting a leprosy treatment center that included vocational orphanage, I taught daily training for patients, I saw medicine’s potential to intervene in social English classes with a few other culture. Armed with specially designed footwear and physical therapy, physicians were attempting to obliterate prejudice against leprosy volunteers and was responsible patients with drop-foot. Speaking with Indian physicians about for tutoring and providing cultural norms, I came to respect differences in practice and ideology and to appreciate cross-cultural learning. This experience challenged activities for the girls after my beliefs about medicine’s duty to society. I questioned my own school. Every weekend I could country’s capacity to provide for different socioeconomic populations. Observing the orthopedic surgeon’s skill with anesthesia, I wondered hike to Inca ruins, catch a bus to how far I could step up to meet needs in understaffed conditions.”
between my second
larger sites like Machu Picchu, or join in the parades and festivals happening in the center of town. My time in Cusco provided the perfect environment for honing my Spanish speaking skills and experiencing the culture and history I had been studying in the classroom in Athens.” —Whitney Ising ’12, Peru
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Samantha Gray ’12 – Costa Rica, Japan “The summer after my freshman year, I went on UGA’s Maymester program to Costa Rica to study art and culture, and then on a three-week language and culture program in Kobe, Japan. This past summer I participated in the Critical Language Scholarship program for Japanese and stayed in Kyoto for two months. All of these experiences have given me precious memories and taught me the value of travel in broadening my horizons and growing not only as a student but as a person.”
Ryan Sheets ’12 – South Korea “I earned a CIEE scholarship for spring break travel-study in South Korea. The scholarship offered me the opportunity to visit museums, traditional Korean villages and palaces, karaoke studios, a Kia plant, famous Korean markets, and Buddhist temples. Whether I was learning a traditional Korean dance or listening to a lecture on the history of the Korean peninsula, each new place, event, and person I met gave me insight into the culture. My trip to the demilitarized zone, the border between North and South Korea, was a sobering reminder that the Korean people still live under the shadow of unease and uncertainty. ”
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“
My time at the University of Georgia as a Ramsey
Scholar has been about chasing my dreams, be they pursuing a combined degree in Athens, studying abroad in the South Pacific, or experiencing eight seconds of vertical free fall at the Nevis Bungy in Queenstown, New Zealand." —Amanda Holder '14
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“
I’ve already used up my travel stipend, and two years into my undergraduate degree, I tend to forget that my tuition is completely covered. However, it’s tough to ignore the benefits of the Ramsey Scholarship. This summer, with the help of the Fellowship staff, I created a fully funded internship for myself in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, a two-month project that granted me a thorough introduction into the world of environmental stewardship. From the initial cover letters to the final internship proposal, the staff helped make a seemingly impossible task an achievable goal. I now have to deal with sorely missing a mountain range in my backyard, but otherwise, because of this summer’s boon and the financial aid of the Ramsey Scholarship, I have the time and leisure to travel for a few weeks, practicing my Arabic and French, before I continue my studies at the University of Oxford. Choosing the University of Georgia kind of feels like choosing the University of the World." —Mariana Satterly '14
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R A M S E Y S CHOL AR S – AC ADE MIC ENRICHM ENT
Art & Science in Cortona, Italy with Chemistry Professor Richard Morrison
“
Marianne Ligon ’14, “I had Dr. Morrison for Organic Chemistry, but I never knew about his involvement with the Cortona study abroad program. He’s someone who enjoys – and is a master of – telling stories that make the place come to life. He loves chemistry and its real world applicability, such as art preservation chemistry in Cortona, and he makes you want to love it, too.”
In Dr. Brown’s
dinner-seminar, we explored the
Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene with John Gittleman, Dean of the Odum School of Ecology
nature of culture and what it means to
Tiffany Hu ’12, “Natural selection is a theory I have studied repeatedly since the beginning of my biological sciences education. Imagine my surprise then, when Dr. Gittleman’s discussion of The Selfish Gene seriously challenged all my misconceptions of this famous theory. Genetics, economics, ethology, and philosophy came together as we discussed the book’s implications with similarly diverse educational backgrounds ourselves. The evening of discourse and fellowship ended lightly with a few of Dr. Gittleman’s personal anecdotes of Dr. Dawkins.”
be part of a cohesive group. I was captivated by the enthralling stories of her experiences with different societies around the world. In this way, she effectively and excellently applied what we were learning from graphs and charts to real life scenarios.” —Alli Koch ’15
Think Like a Medieval: Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy with English Professor Kalpen Trivedi, Director of UGA@Oxford Mariana Satterly ’14, “You know a discussion is going well when after two solid hours not a single student makes an attempt to leave the room. Dr. Trivedi’s seminar quickly became one of those inspiring and intriguing dialogues, jumping easily between lecture and debate and lasting far into the night. Analyzing the influence of a dying Roman’s last thoughts on medieval literature and education proved an interesting topic, but compounded with a host of contentions we brought to Boethius’ arguments, the lecture became fantastically heated, confusing, abstract, and yet hardly obfuscated. Laughing, frustrated, and filled with incredible Italian cuisine, nothing could have more gracefully distracted us from the raucous campus outside the library’s walls.”
An Insider’s View of the Supreme Court with Law Professor Bo Rutledge Pranay Udutha ’13, “A true insider to the workings of the Supreme Court, Dr. Bo Rutledge shared his unique perspective from having worked both as a Supreme Court clerk and as a lawyer in a case before the Court.”
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The Music Business with Payton Bradford, Foundation Fellows Class of 2009 Emily Backus ’14, “As someone who is very much invested in learning the inner workings of the Athens music scene and beyond, hearing about Payton’s experiences forming, touring, and recording with Futurebirds helped me to understand the many gears that must turn for a full-time musician to be successful.”
Banerjee & Duflo’s Poor Economics with Helen Smith, Foundation Fellows Class of 2007 Mariana Satterly ’14, “The number of students hoping to edge their way into the world of NGOs, public health, economic development, and international education is staggering, and conversation about the beneficial as well as dangerous impacts of such work is never dry. However, to sit down and discuss in detail those aspects of global development projects that can either succeed or render ineffective a goal proved an enlightening method for
tackling ethical and economic issues from the view of several disciplines. Helen Smith, an alumna who has already done considerable work tackling issues of worldwide poverty, gave us all the opportunity to actively explore the why’s and how’s of such efforts.”
National Culture: Software of the Mind with Veterinary Medicine Professor Corrie Brown Abigail Shell ’15, “Dr. Corrie Brown’s enthusiasm for culture embraced the Ramseys and Fellows the moment we stepped into her living room. After enjoying a home-cooked meal reflective of her travels, we discussed the significance of a person’s home culture and the worldview it forms as well as the consequences when people leave their home cultures to travel the world. Listening to her discourse on culture-shock not only clarified some questions my own previous travels had raised but also gave me a new set of tools to utilize in international adventures to come.”
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RAMSEY SCHOLARS – RESEARCH Ramseys Describe Their Undergraduate Research Experiences Tuan Nguyen ’15 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology “I’m currently working under the guidance of Dr. Natarajan Kannan, studying the molecular basis of protein kinase evolution. The environment in the Kannan Lab has been supportive in exploring different research tools and the intricate facets of research. The guidance of others in the lab has provided insights into the vast ocean of unanswered questions in structural biology and bioinformatics. This has really piqued my interest in structural bioinformatics, something I had never looked at prior to entering the Kannan Lab.”
“
In Dr. Tarleton’s
lab, I’ve been helping to map out the immunological in response
pathway of
mice to the parasite T. cruzi. I’ve learned many scientific techniques and methods used to look into how the immune system is responding. I’ve also learned a lot about good experiment set-up and what conclusions can be drawn from the results.” —Stephen Lago ’14 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology in
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Victoria DeLeo ’14 – Crop & Soil Sciences “It has been wonderful to work Dr. Katrien Devos’s lab at UGA studying intron variance in a dwarfing gene (Br2) in plants for the past two years. I’ve gained familiarity with lab procedures that I know I’ll need in my future career, and I’ve learned how the whole process and bureaucracy of research works. I feel much more prepared for graduate school and what comes after. “In the lab of Dr. Bikram Gill at the Wheat Genetics Resource Center at Kansas State University, I worked on the physical mapping of the wheat D genome. My responsibilities included threedimensional pooling of the BAC library and replication and array of BAC library clones. I learned the theory and method behind genome mapping, which crop scientists use to breed improved varieties of agriculturally important plants.” Alli Koch ’15 – Archeology “In the spring of 2012, I conducted research with Dr. Jared Wood, manager of the Archaeology Laboratory and instructor in the Department of Anthropology. Under his supervision, I gained field experience by helping a graduate student with a mound site in southwestern Georgia. Dr. Wood had great advice for me as a student and a professional.” Marianne Ligon ’14 – Biochemistry & Molecular Biology “I’ve been working with Drs. Mike and Becky Terns studying part of the CRISPR-Cas system, a newly discovered immune system in bacteria and archaea that protect them from viruses. I’ve learned how to think like a scientist – how to critically analyze data and to question and test the validity of conclusions. Additionally, I’ve developed my own interest reading scientific literature for my career.”
Emily Peng ’13 – Genetics, Health Policy “Over the summer, I worked for eight weeks in a bench laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Dr. Dean Erdman, sequencing the genome of a new strain adenovirus to develop a faster method of sequencing that would be useful during an outbreak. The work that I completed at the CDC will be included in a paper to be published in a methods journal sometime in the next year or two. In the fall of 2011, I started working on a policy proposal about Medicare’s physician reimbursement system through Roosevelt@UGA and presented my Roosevelt policy at the 2012 CURO Symposium.”
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Conference Presentations and Publications Catherine Backus ’14
Southeastern Region American Music Therapy Association Conference, Charlotte, NC – “Songwriting in the Clinical Setting”
Victoria DeLeo ’14
UGA College of Agriculture and Environmental Science Undergraduate Symposium, Athens, GA – “Patterns of Intron Loss and Gain in a Gene Regulating Auxin Transport”
Marianne Ligon ’14
Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) Symposium, Athens, GA – “Characterization of Tneap Complex in the CRISPR-Cas Viral Defense System of Prokaryotes”
Emily Peng ’13
Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) Symposium, Athens, GA – “Reducing Costs and Maintaining Quality: Alternatives to Fee-for-Service in Federal Health Insurance Plans”
Pranay Udutha ’14
Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) International Symposium, Monteverde, Costa Rica – “Interbasin Transfer Policy in Georgia”
National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Ogden, UT – “Interbasin Transfer Policy in Georgia”; “USAID’s Haitian Redevelopment Programs”
Ramseys Attend Professional and Academic Conferences and ExtraUniversity Courses with Funding from the Ramsey Honors Scholarship Catherine Backus ’14
National American Music Therapy Association Conference, Atlanta, GA; Southeastern Region American Music Therapy Association Conference, Charlotte, NC
Emily Backus ’14
Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference, Savannah, GA
Marianne Ligon ’14
American Physician Scientists Association Southeast Conference, Atlanta, GA
Pranay Udutha ’14
Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) International Symposium, Monteverde, Costa Rica; National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Ogden, UT
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R A M S E Y S cholars – S P R I N G S E R V I C E T R I P
The Ramsey Scholars created, developed, and carried out the second annual
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Ramsey Scholars Spring Break Service Trip. A group of 11 students, led by second year Stephen Lago, enjoyed a mix of volunteer opportunities and sightseeing
The trip adds
during their visit to Charleston, SC.
so much value
“Our service projects were all very different from each other,” says second year Victoria DeLeo, who helped Stephen organize the trip. “On
to the Ramsey
the first day we did yard work at an elementary school, and on the second
Scholarship program in
we worked at a food bank inspecting, cleaning, labeling, packing, and
several ways: volunteer
During the third service project – what several called the highlight
sorting goods to be sent to distribution centers.” of the trip – the students worked with the South Carolina Oyster
opportunities to pay
Restoration and Enhancement program along the coast. They took
forward the generosity
samples at an oyster reef to judge the efficacy of oyster rehabilitation projects in bringing wildlife to coastal areas. In the evenings, students enjoyed group dinners and
the Foundation shows
participated in cultural events. In addition to service, the trip
us, an educational and exciting tour of a new city, and of course, a bonding experience with some of the highest achieving students
included plenty of opportunity for cultural activities. Students visited an aircraft carrier, saw Fort Sumter, went swing dancing, toured a plantation, spent Second Sunday on King Street observing the people and visiting the shops, and went on a ghost tour to learn a bit about the paranormal history of the city. According to first year Cody Baetz, the Ramseys “bonded as a group over fun activities while volunteering in the local community. We hope to carry on the tradition with a trip next year to another U.S. city.”
at UGA!”
“A big part of what makes RSB great is the way we get to organize
—Glenn Branscomb ’13
it ourselves,” Victoria says. “From contacting volunteer organizations to looking up cultural events, Ramseys take a lot of responsibility in making RSB what we want it to be. I think it’s a credit to the University, the Foundation, and the Ramsey Scholar community that we are capable of planning such a wonderful experience. I look forward to next year!”
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Students worked with the South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement program along the coast. They took samples at an oyster reef to judge the efficacy of oyster rehabilitation projects in bringing wildlife to coastal areas.
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R A M S E Y S cholars – C I V I C E N G A G E M E N T Commitment to Campus, Local, National, and Global Communities Pranay Udutha ’14 – Student Government Association (Senator) “Through UGA’s Student Government Association, I worked with administrators to facilitate the implementation of projects to benefit my peers on campus for years to come. I enjoyed making real changes on campus and helping to address concerns raised by students, as well as our heated debates on the Senate floor over controversial resolutions and issues.”
“
I had a wonderful
experience in Charleston with
Whitney Ising ’12 – Bilingual Directory of Services (Editor) “The bilingual directory project has been a great way to learn about and interact with many of the organizations off campus that are devoted to serving our large Spanish speaking community. It has been a rewarding responsibility.”
the Ramsey scholars – serving the local community at a food bank and on the coast with oyster restoration, touring historical sites such as Fort Sumter and a plantation, and growing closer as a group. I look forward to spending spring break with the Ramseys for the next couple of years.” —Alli Koch ’15
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Emily Peng ’13 – MEDLIFE at UGA (Co-Founder, President) “In August 2010, I co-founded MEDLIFE at UGA, an Honors-sponsored nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable medicine, education, and community development for the underserved abroad in Latin America and locally in Athens. Our organization sends students to Peru for medical clinics and was awarded an $8,000 Volunteer UGA sustainable service grant to renovate the grounds at Oasis Católico, an after-school program for local Latino children. I have gained valuable skills for leading passionate people toward a common goal, and I’ve met some of my closest friends at UGA.” Catherine Backus ’14 – Lambda Alliance (Speakers Bureau), Music Therapy Student Association “For the Lambda Alliance, I’m a member of the Speakers Bureau, a group of LGBTQ-identified students who volunteer to lead panel discussions with classes and groups in the community about our experiences and answer any questions students may have. It’s a great way to debunk misconceptions and spread cultural awareness. As a member of the Music Therapy Student Association, I often give presentations to classes and prospective students on music therapy and its application to various client groups.”
Alex Vey ’13 – Mock Trial (Team Captain), Model United Nations (Security Council Director), Demosthenian Literary Society “This past year I participated in UGA Mock Trial, UGA Model United Nations, and the Demosthenian Literary Society. For Model UN, I worked as the director for the UN Security Council at UGAMUNC, the conference we put on for high school students, where I moderated a debate on international security issues and developed a crisis scenario for the students to deal with. For Mock Trial, I was a team captain this year, where I taught, trained, and led a mix of new and returning members for several competitions throughout the Southeast. My teams placed at three competitions, including a second place finish and a tournament championship.”
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Ryan Sheets ’12 – Model United Nations (Conference Director, Director General, Secretary General) “The experience of working with, while also leading, peers and friends will prove valuable to me throughout life in my professional relationships. Discerning between play time and work time and effectively conveying it has been the greatest lesson I’ve learned as part of this team.” John Otwell ’12 – Mercy Health Center “Working at Mercy Health Center, I saw the myriad people in the Athens community who do not have the resources to pursue healthcare opportunities within the current system. I have also had the privilege of working closely with a wonderful team of healthcare providers in numerous specialties to see the art of medical practice.” Emily Backus ’14 – National Association of Future Music Educators, UGA Percussion Ensemble “The National Association of Future Music Educators has provided me with valuable hands-on experience running a band, from working as a Percussion Assistant at UGA’s JanFest and MidFest band festivals to helping to run our Undergraduate Conducting Symposium. Playing with the UGA Percussion
Ensemble has shattered any of my preconceptions about the limits of musical notation and instrumentation, as we perform pieces for three tables and hands, radios and newsreader, and completely improvised works.” Amanda Holder ’14 – Honors Program Teaching Assistant “As an Honors Teaching Assistant, I learned a great deal about how to effectively convey ideas and concepts in a classroom, a skill that will be important in my future career as an educator.” Alli Koch ’15 – Powered by the Heart Cross-Country Trek “Cycling an average of 90 miles a day for four straight weeks to raise money for the American Heart Association was a daily struggle, but I realized that service and leadership are not about being comfortable. Making a difference requires self sacrifice, and it isn’t always easy. Through this crosscountry cycling experience, I gained invaluable experience creating my own website, appearing on TV and radio stations across the U.S., managing a budget, and reaching out to local and national sponsors. It was a huge step out of my comfort zone but highly rewarding.”
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RAMSEY SCHOLARS – INTERNSHIPS
Glenn Branscomb ’13 – Deloitte, Layer 3 Communications, LLC “During my summer internship with Deloitte, I am traveling around the country performing IT risk
“
audits for some of the largest corporations in the world. The on-the-job training as well as the formal training seminars and conferences have helped me develop
Working
my skill set and determine where I want my career to go. The opportunities
with the Athletic
Deloitte has afforded me are second only to the Ramsey Scholarship! Last year at Layer 3 Communications, I got hands-on experience as a network
Association has
engineer with the hardware infrastructure that supports the information systems I’ve learned about in the classroom.”
given me a chance to have a real hand
Alex Vey ’13 – National Association of Counties; U.S. Magistrate Judge,
in the operations of
of Counties in DC as part of the Honors in Washington program. I
Federal Court “This summer I worked with the National Association
UGA’s sports programs. I interact on a daily basis with athletes, coaches, administrators, donors,
worked on a state-by-state survey of open meetings laws and their relationship with social media, finishing the project with a published work to my name. Along the way, I gained a better understanding of how laws are constructed and interpreted, in addition to seeing how state and local governments deal with changing technology. Last summer, I interned with a United States Magistrate Judge in Chattanooga, where I helped write bench memoranda, examined
and fans in a public
issues for death penalty appeals, and observed a wide variety of
relations capacity.”
to see the legal system from a judge’s perspective.”
federal court proceedings. Given my interest in law, it was valuable
—Logan Butler ’13
Emily Peng ’13 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, International Leadership Foundation “During the summer of 2011,
UGA Athletic Association
I interned in the Division of Viral Diseases at the CDC. Working under Dr. Dean Erdman, who led the CDC team in researching the 2003 SARS virus, I ran PCR assays and gel electrophoresis and sequenced part of the genome for a new strain of adenovirus that causes respiratory disease. “I was an International Leadership Foundation Civic Fellow. The program places 30-35 Asian-Pacific American students into federal agencies in Washington to conduct policy research and analysis and participate in public service. I worked as an intern for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues related to health disparities and minority health.”
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Ramsey Scholars Internships 2011-2012 Emily Backus ’14
Dollywood’s Splash Country, Pigeon Forge, TN
Glenn Branscomb ’13
Enterprise Risk Analyst, Deloitte, Atlanta, GA; Network Engineer, Layer 3 Communications, LLC, Norcross, GA
Logan Butler ’13
Sports Communications Student Assistant, The University of Georgia Athletic Association, Athens, GA
Marianne Ligon ’14
Public Health Intern, International Service Learning, Managua, Nicaragua; New York University Summer Undergraduate Research Program, New York City, NY
Emily Peng ’13
Summer Intern, Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA; Civic Fellow, International Leadership Foundation, Washington, DC; Summer Intern and Shadowing, MEDLIFE, Cusco, Pamplona Alta, Lima, Peru
Ryan Sheets ’12
Athens First United Methodist Church, Athens, GA
Pranay Udutha ’14
Universitat Zürich/ETH Zürich Chronobiology and Sleep Research Lab, Zurich, Switzerland; University of Pennsylvania Molecular Biology Summer Research Program, Philadelphia, PA
Alex Vey ’13
National Association of Counties, Washington, DC; U.S. Magistrate Judge, Federal Court, Chattanooga, TN
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THE SKIPPERDEES
Ramsey Scholars and musicians Catherine and Emily Backus hit the Athens music scene as the Skipperdees.
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While being offered the prestigious Ramsey Scholarship was certainly the major factor in Catherine and Emily Backus’ decision to enroll at The University of Georgia, the extraordinary music scene in Athens also played a key role in the process. The twin sisters, born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, are now in their third year at UGA and have pursued their love of music both on and off campus. Catherine is a music therapy major and Emily is studying music education, and when they’re not pursuing academic requirements, they’ve been known to break out their acoustic instruments (Catherine plays guitar while Emily plucks the banjo) and emerge as The Skipperdees, described by Athens’ Flagpole magazine as a “charming local acoustic folk duo with rich, folkie vocal harmonies and a sense of humor.” Catherine and Emily began singing together at an early age and once in school were band students, with Catherine taking up the trumpet and Emily tackling percussion instruments. Their early musical forays were comprised of punk and indie-pop adventures, but by the time they’d arrived at UGA, the twins were focused on a more rustic sound, which they agree befits their upbringing in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains. “Our band was indie-pop,” says Catherine. “We wanted to be a lot more hardcore. Then I got an acoustic guitar and we went to this arts summer camp and we made friends and sang songs and realized lugging drums and amps around was such a hassle, so we decided to play the music we wanted to play. There was a shift somewhere and I can’t exactly place it, but I think it happened over the summer before we started at Georgia.” In the summer between their first and second years, they made a first stab at recording an album but were unsatisfied with the results, so over the Labor Day weekend in 2011, Catherine and Emily tried again, and the 11-song Here’s to Hoping, which was released a month later, has found favor with many in the Classic City’s music community. “The folk music scene in Athens is really great,” says Emily. “We always get a nice reception from those folks, many of whom have been playing for a while and really know their stuff. We’ve played these tiny places in town and it’s always fun and you don’t have to have a huge crowd for it to feel warm.” With plans to pursue performing on a full-time basis after UGA, both Catherine and Emily placed a great deal of value on their Ramsey experiences. “Being a Ramsey is fantastic,” says Emily. “Sometimes in college, we get locked up in our own on-campus-under-a-rock type of world, so Ramsey makes sure we are exposed to a lot of things. I can go the High Museum of Art and not worry about gas money or admission, or I can go see all the concerts that come here.” “Being a Ramsey has broadened my horizons,” adds Catherine. “In the music school, it’s really easy to only hang out with musicians all the time. It’s nice to know people who know tons of stuff about what you wouldn’t necessarily delve into. There are so many great seminar opportunities, and we have these amazing book discussions that are so far out of my course load. It’s nice to learn for the sake of learning.” Foundation Fellows & R
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Ramsey Scholars C
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Samantha Colleen Gray
Tiffany Ying Hu
Major(s): Graphic Design, Japanese
Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hometown: Springfield, VA
Hometown: Suwanee, GA
Travel-Study and Internships: Costa Rica; Japan
Research: Re-Examining Alternative RNA Editing and Understanding the Protein Diversity in T. brucei; The American Obesity Epidemic: Creating Incentives for Nutritional Choices at the Point of Purchase
Campus/Community Activities: American Institute for the Graphic Arts in Atlanta Student Board, UGA Graphic Design Club, Graphic Design Exit Show Committee, Adsmith Intern Honors and Awards: Franklin Study Abroad Scholarship, UGA Costa Rica Foundation Incentive Scholarship, Honors International Scholar, UGA Graphic Design Area Scholarship, Critical Language Scholarship, Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude
Travel-Study and Internships: India Campus/Community Activities: Promote Africa Director of Art Division, Honors Teaching Assistant, Honors Ambassador, Chemistry Teaching Assistant, CURO Summer Research Fellow, Roosevelt Scholar, JURO Content Editor, Ramsey Scholar Service Spring Break, Peachtree Christian Hospice Volunteer, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Volunteer Camp Counselor, Child Family Health International Intern Honors and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Blue Key Honor Society, Dean Tate Honor Society, UGA Amazing Student, Honors International Scholar, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Highest Honors
Whitney Marie Ising
Aisha Mahmood
Major(s): Economics, International Affairs
Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hometown: Louisville, KY
Hometown: Kennesaw, GA
Travel-Study and Internships: Peru
Research: Genetics of Invasive Species with UGA PIRE; Evolutionary Biology Research Internship at Nanjing Botanical Gardens in Nanjing, China; Heme Biosynthesis Research
Campus/Community Activities: Athens-Clarke County Bilingual Directory of Services Editor, UGA HEROs Freshman Council, Economics Society, Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, Ramsey Student Advisory Council, Ramsey Scholar Service Spring Break, Chase Street Elementary Tutor Honors and Awards: Gannett Foundation Dean’s Scholarship, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, summa cum laude with Honors
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Travel-Study and Internships: China Campus/Community Activities: Association for Women in Science, Ramsey Scholar Service Spring Break, Helping Hands, Amnesty International, OIE Peer Advisor, CET Campus Ambassador, Dean’s Student Advisory Council Honors and Awards: Dean Tate Honor Society, Critical Language Scholar, Benjamin Gilman International Scholar, National Science Foundation UGA PIRE Program, Georgia Governor’s Scholarship, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with Honors
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profiles
John Bradley Otwell
Anna Catherine Savelle
Major(s): Cell Biology, Microbiology
Major(s): Animal Science, Dairy Science, Poultry Science
Hometown: Dunwoody, GA
Hometown: Watkinsville, GA
Research: Enzymatic Profile of Anaerocellum thermophilum with Emphasis on Breakdown of Lignocellulosic Mass
Research: Determining Bacterial Concentrations on Differing Surfaces in Poultry Processing Plants Using Bioluminescent Technology
Travel-Study and Internships: Morocco Campus/Community Activities: Ballroom Performance Group, Wesley Foundation Leadership, Wesley Foundation Crosstrainers, Myers League Ultimate Frisbee, University Theatre, Town and Gown Community Theatre, Mercy Health Center Honors and Awards: EMT-I, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar
Travel-Study and Internships: China; Costa Rica; France; Italy; Wales; Madison, WI Campus/Community Activities: Georgia State FFA Officer, Poultry Science Club Historian, Dairy Science Club Treasurer, Wesley Foundation Prayer Leader, Athens First United Methodist Church Youth Leader, UGA Dairy Judging Team, Oconee County Middle School FFA Assistant and Coach, UGA Little International Livestock Show Participant and Chair, Georgia FFA Convention, Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation Board of Directors Honors and Awards: Palladia Honor Society, National Dairy Shrine, All-American Status for Collegiate Dairy Judging at World Dairy Expo, Top 100 Student Employee of the Year, Sigma Alpha Lambda Service Honor Society, Golden Key International Honor Society, Speaker for CAES Thanks-for-Giving Sponsorship Luncheon, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar
Ryan Oliver Sheets Major(s): International Affairs Hometown: Mobile, AL Travel-Study and Internships: South Korea; Taiwan; Mobile, AL Campus/Community Activities: UGA Model United Nations Team, UGA American Medical Student Association, Medicine in Literature Book Group, Intramural Flag Football and Softball, Athens First United Methodist Church Choir Member, Boy Scouts of America Troop 85 Assistant Scout Master, Undergraduate Admissions Lunch Host Honor and Awards: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Honors International Scholar, CIEE South Korea Scholarship, Alpha Epsilon Delta, UGA Mr. Freshman 2009, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with Honors
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Catherine Lois Shonts
Sheila Vedala
Major(s): Nutrition Science
Major(s): Economics, Management
Hometown: Charlotte, NC Travel-Study and Internships: Mexico; Denver, CO; Baltimore, MD
Hometown: Alpharetta, GA Travel-Study and Internships: Bahrain
Campus/Community Activities: DanceFX Dance Company, Student Athletic Association Tutor, Journal of Corporate Finance Assistant to the Editor, Thomas Lay After School Program Tutor
Campus/Community Activities: AIESEC President, Kuchipudi Dance, English Teaching Assistant and Marketing Intern for the Berlitz-Bahrain Language Center
Honors and Awards: UGA Student Employee of the Year Nominee, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude
Honors and Awards: Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Golden Key Honor Society, Dean’s List, Presidential Scholar, magna cum laude with Honors
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Ramsey Scholars C lass
Glenn Ryan Branscomb Parkview High School Lilburn, GA Management Information Systems, Statistics
Frank Logan Butler IV Stratford Academy Macon, GA Public Relations, Sport Management
Emily Elizabeth Backus Oak Ridge High School Oak Ridge, TN Music Education
Mariana Lynne Satterly Oconee County High School Watkinsville, GA English
Pranay Kumar Udutha Joseph Wheeler High School Marietta, GA International Affairs
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2 0 1 3
Trevor Hunter Hohorst Lee County High School Leesburg, GA Computer Science, Mathematics
C lass
Catherine Jane Backus Oak Ridge High School Oak Ridge, TN Music Therapy
of
of
Yiran (Emily) Peng Parkview High School Lilburn, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alexander Collins Vey The McCallie School Hixson, TN International Affairs, Political Science
2 0 1 4
Victoria Lynn DeLeo Archbishop McCarthy High School Ft. Lauderdale, FL Applied Biotechnology, Genetics
Amanda Jane Holder Pierson High School Sag Harbor, NY Psychology
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Stephen Edward Lago Blessed Trinity Catholic High School Roswell, GA Biochemistry, Computer Science
C lass
Cody James Baetz South Forsyth High School Cumming, GA Economics, Mathematics
Allison Nicole Koch Kennedy Senior High School Cedar Rapids, IA Anthropology, Latin American and Caribbean Studies
of
2 0 1 5
Carmen Orpinas Kraus Cedar Shoals High School Athens, GA Art, Ecology
C lass
of
Tuan Anh Nguyen Douglas County High School Douglasville, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Physics
Abigail Taylor Shell East Coweta High School Sharpsburg, GA Chemistry
2 0 1 6
Melissa Carlene Cousins Northside High School Midland, GA Art, Biology
Lauren Wesley Dennison Kings High School Maineville, OH Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Berta Maria Franzluebbers Oconee County High School Watkinsville, GA Physics, Romance Languages
Samuel Thomas Johnston Mountain Brook High School Birmingham, AL Chemistry, Genetics
Rachel Hana Paleg Albert Einstein High School Silver Spring, MD Ecology, International Affairs
Mihir B. Patel Lakeside High School Martinez, GA Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Juliana Jianquan Saxton Lassiter High School Marietta, GA Music Performance
Kathleen Elizabeth Wilson Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School Beaumont, TX Spanish
Swayamdipto Misra Lakeside High School Martinez, GA Cellular Biology
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RAMSEY SCHOLARS NEWEST ALUMNI – CLASS OF 2012
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Samantha Gray
Graphic Design Intern, Adsmith, Athens, GA; World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, New Zealand
Tiffany Hu
Mayo Medical School; Offered but Declined Fulbright Scholarship to Indonesia
Whitney Ising
University of Chicago Law School
Aisha Mahmood (Haley)
University of Virginia Law School
John Otwell
Faculty Fellow, Wesleyan School, Atlanta, Georgia
Anna Savelle
University of Georgia, Additional Bachelor’s Degrees (Animal Science, Dairy Science, Poultry Science), December 2012
Ryan Sheets
University of Alabama-Birmingham School of Medicine
Catie Shonts
University of Colorado-Denver Dental School
Sheila Vedala
Research Intern, WEtv, AMC Networks, New York, New York
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R amse y S cholars A L U M N I Class of 2004
Class of 2008
Class of 2010
Ladson Gaddy-(Dubac)
Matt Charles Agan
Alexander Linton Brown
Andrew Ely Guthrie
Brent Lewis Allen
Peyton Clark Edwards
Virginia Wood Pate
Jeffrey Elrod
Carole Noelle House
Daniel Anthony del Portal
James Tristan Gordy
William Daniel Jordan III
Samuel Winters Richwine III
Annie Ming Huang
Halina Maladtsova
Rachel Elizabeth Wahlig
Joseph Tristan Knight
Nicholas Anthony Passarello
John Thompson Matthews
Lauren Elizabeth Pinson
Class of 2005
James Lucas McFadden
Emily Frances Reed
Katherine Elizabeth Bugg
Noah Reuben Mink
Caitlin Gail Robinson
Andrew G. Crowley
Gregory James O’Connell
Zao (Michael) Yang
Lawrence Robert Ficek
Molly Beatrice Pittman
Matthew Eric Hickman
Blake William Shealy
Class of 2011
Ngozi Christie Ogbuehi
Karen Christina Wong
Jonathan William Arogeti
James Christoper Tarr Brian William Teplica
Jason Daniel Berkowitz Class of 2009
Christopher Jordan Floyd
Nneka Alicia Arinze
Haylee Nicole Humes
Class of 2006
Shannon Chen
Mark Paul Johnson
Elizabeth Kate Davidson
Jonathan Brown Chestnut
Jung Woong Kim
Jarrett Horne (Jackson)
Nisha Gupta
Nicole Elizabeth Nation
Staci Renee Hutsell
Jeremiah Doug Johnson
Erika Parker (New)
Molly Beth Martin
Jeremy Howard Jones
Griffin Daniel Rice
Charles Dillingham May
Lindsay Beth Jones
Joseph Cataquiz Rimando
Elizabeth Alexandra Katz
Stephen Bradford Thompson
Class of 2007
Madison Moore (Pool)
Andrew George Watts
Mary Beth Bereznak
Peter Samuel Shoun
Laura Ann Wynn
Hope Carrell (Ham)
Joseph Dempsey Turrentine
Jonathan Andrew Charles Brian Lee Claggett Kelly Katherine Eaton Maggie McQueen Hodges Brian Louis Levy Daniel Suresh Mathews Lamar Houston Moree Rebecca Joyce Rahn Lauren Elizabeth Sillery Teerawit (Tim) Supakorndej Andrew Jay Vesper
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DorothĂŠ Otemann
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William Reeves University Printing P hotograph y
Pat Smith text and editing
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Jessica Hunt Carolyn Crist Rebecca Cheney
Chelsea Smith
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University Printing
The University of Georgia Foundation Fellowship 215 Moore College 1 Herty Drive Athens, Georgia 30602-6127 706-542-5482 www.uga.edu/honors