Honors Magazine, fall 2017 by Morehead Honors College

Fall 2017

the magazine of the UGA Honors Program

Honors in Washington Honors students learn and intern in Washington, D.C.

Inside:

Welcome to UGA | Deciphering â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Southernâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Sound | Committed to Service | On the Edge of South Africa

Quotables

Nicholas Twiner A fourth-year student from Atlanta, Nicholas is majoring in linguistics, Classical languages, and Classical culture.

Dorothy Kozlowski

“Research through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) has been such an important part of my academic career. It has pushed me to understand and explore the field of linguistics more thoroughly—to go beyond the classroom and understand what research looks like, how to do it, and what the pressing questions are in my field. Through both excellent mentoring and the help of the CURO Research Assistantship, I have had the opportunity to share my work at conferences across the country— literally from coast to coast.”

On the cover: Honors in Washington students in front of the Capitol are (left to right) front row: Katie Graham, Maddie Dill, and Chelsea Thorpe; back row: Josh Kenway, Magali Lapu, Maggie Little, Nellie Brunson, Margaret Shin, Hunter Smith, Yazmarr Williams, and Kavi Pandian.

Fall 2017, Volume 4, Issue 2

University of Georgia President

Jere W. Morehead Provost

Pamela Whitten Associate Provost & Director of the Honors Program

David S. Williams

Assistant Director & Major Scholarships Coordinator

Jessica Hunt

Assistant Director & Programming Coordinator

Maria de Rocher

Director of Development & External Affairs

DorothĂŠ Otemann

Recruitment & Enrollment Coordinator

14 26

Lakecia Pettway

Magazine staff Editor/Designer

Stephanie Schupska

Writers

Melissa Campbell, Sarah Freeman, Marlow Greer, Stephanie Schupska, Chris Starrs, Abigail Walker Photographers

Wingate Downs, Peter Frey, Marlow Greer, Dorothy Kozlowski, Shannah Montgomery, Cal Powell, Stephanie Schupska, Jason Thrasher, Andrew Davis Tucker Honors Magazine is published biannually for students, alumni, friends, and supporters of the University of Georgia Honors Program. For reprint permissions, address changes, or additional copies, email schupska@uga.edu. Copyright ÂŠ 2017 by the University of Georgia. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without permission from the editor. The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

Postmaster | Send address changes to: UGA Honors Program Magazine 005 Moore College, 108 Herty Drive Athens, GA 30602-6116

Inside 2

Briefs

Q&A with our director

Welcome to UGA

Find us online at honors.uga.edu. On social media, we are:

@HonorsAtUGA

Highlights of the Honors Program

Dr. David S. Williams shares highlights

Honors students play integral role in welcoming prospective students to UGA

A summer of service

Top scholars

To Stellenbosch

Equipped to care

Committed parents

Cover story Students experience D.C. through the Honors in Washington internship program

International recognition

Nikhil on the Hill

Students receive top scholarship awards

Nikhil Gangasani represents UGA at annual Posters on the Hill

Three Ash Scholars talk about their internships with service organizations

Honors welcomes Foundation Fellows, Ramsey Scholars, CURO Honors Scholars

Haidi Al-Shabrawey and Abigail Walker study and tutor in South Africa

Nivita Sharma interns and delivers medical supplies to Fiji

Father shares why he gives; Parent Society reaches highest number

In brief Anita Qualls, center, traveled to Australia and New Zealand this past Maymester through the Honors International Scholars Program. While there, she studied sustainability and went on numerous hikes with her cohort.

Published

Policy brief on stroke care Anita Qualls can count published work among her accomplishments. A third-year Honors student majoring in biology and minoring in Spanish and nutritional science, her policy brief on “Time is Brain: Expanding Access to Stroke Care in Rural Georgia Communities” was published online this summer in the Roosevelt Institute’s journal 10 Ideas. Each fall, undergraduates submit their policy proposals for a competitive evaluation process with the hopes of being published in print or online. She proposes, according to the brief’s summary, that the Georgia Composite Medical Board should

require continued stroke education as part of the Georgia emergency physician licensure process, thereby cross-training emergency physicians on the recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke to improve patient survival and recovery outcomes in rural areas. “I am very excited to see a result like this from all of the research and hard work I put in to the Honors Policy Scholars course,” she said. Anita submitted her work in fall 2016. The course, administered by the Honors Program, is held every fall. Applications for the 2018 course open in late spring.

Visiting the experts Students in the fall 2017 Honors Policy Scholars course traveled to Atlanta in October to meet with the governor’s policy team. They are, left to right, row 1: Amy Pan, Rachael Fola Akinola, and Sebastian Puerta; row 2: Aditya Krishnaswamy, Kate Ayres, Mira Bookman, Simran Modi, and Angela Higginson; and row 3: Shreya Ganeshan, David S. Williams, Zack Flagel, Nidhi Aggarwal, Paul Oshinski, and Caleb Morris.

International education

Cal Powell

Competitive research internship in Germany

Ruth Schade spent 10 weeks this summer at the University of Würzburg, Germany, working full time in Tobias Ölschläger’s pathogenic enterobacteria lab. She was there through DAAD-RISE, a competitive research internship in science and engineering in Germany. Ruth, a third-year Honors student and Foundation Fellow, is earning combined bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nutritional science. She hopes to pursue a doctorate in immunology and conduct research focused on the immunological basis of inflammatory diseases.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

In Germany, she studied how the transcriptome of E. coli Nissle changes in the presence of human cells versus pathogenic E. coli cells. “I learned a lot of cell culture and genetics techniques and was BSL3 certified, and I will be able to do more with microbiology in my lab in Athens,” she said. She currently conducts research at UGA in the Gastrointestinal Neurophysiology Lab under the direction of Claire de La Serre, assistant professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Alumni

Presented

40 Under 40

Malaria research

Seven Honors Program alumni were selected for UGA’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2017. The UGA Alumni Association’s annual program began in 2011 and celebrates the personal, professional, and philanthropic achievements of UGA graduates under the age of 40.

Trisha Dalapati shared her research on maternal health and malaria at the Federal Staff Retreat, hosted each August by UGA’s Office of Government Relations. Trisha is a third-year anthropology and biochemistry and molecular biology Honors student and Foundation Fellow. Her research mentor is Julie Moore, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Approximately 55 million women are at risk of malaria during pregnancy annually,” she explained. Placental malaria causes a number of issues—including low birth weight—in the development of the fetus. “A poorly investigated aspect of placental malaria pathology is the connection between inflammation and blood clotting,” Trisha said. “My undergraduate research has been focused on identifying which factors in these two pathways change in expression during infection. By pinpointing a few of these key players, we can work toward better therapeutics.”

Katie Dubnik

(BBA ‘03), Gainesville President, Forum Communications

Rebecca Filson

(BSED ‘05), Roswell Regional vice president of operations, BenchMark Rehab Partners

Public service

Dorian Lamis

(BS ‘03), Atlanta Assistant professor/ clinical psychologist, Emory University School of Medicine

(BBA ‘04, JD ‘07), Atlanta Senior manager, real estate attorney, Chick-fil-A Inc.

Wes Neece

(BBA ‘00), Atlanta Merchandising vice president for lighting, The Home Depot

Alissa Vickery

(BBA ‘01, MACC ‘01), Mableton Senior vice president for accounting and controls, Fleetcor Technologies Inc.

Whitney Woodward (AB ‘00), Covington Vice president for total rewards, RaceTrac Petroleum Inc.

Great Big Story

Dan Ludlam

Great Big Story on braille trails Evan Barnard, a second-year ecology major, was featured by CNN’s Great Big Story for the project he has worked on since he was 11 years old—making nature accessible to the visually impaired. Because of his project, the Honors student and Ramsey Scholar was selected as a Top 10 finalist for outstanding UN youth delegate. The Great Big Story’s short film was shown this August at the UN’s Youth Assembly in New York. Evan attended as a youth delegate. “When I was 11 years old, I repaired a vandalized braille trail in Rome, Georgia, while doing volunteer work for the Nature Conservancy,” Evan said. “A braille trail is a nature trail with guide ropes and braille signage allowing people who are visually impaired to walk the trail unassisted.” With the Georgia Council of the Blind’s help, he designed and completed the new Whispering Woods Braille Trail at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center in Buford. Evan then founded Nature for All, which pairs student volunteers with visually impaired youth and promotes inclusive communities and accessible public spaces. His work did not stop there; he saw a need to consolidate information about outdoor spaces designed specifically for disabled individuals. He developed the website naturefortheblind.com, an online database with more than 200 braille trails and sensory gardens in 35 countries around the world, as well as information on schools and sports opportunities for the blind. He reports that by July 2017, the website had more than 8,000 page views from 40 countries and had been translated into 37 languages. UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

In brief

1. What are some of the highlights of the past year and this year so far? First, it is notable that we continue to make great progress as a university. UGA was ranked No. 16 in the most recent U.S. News & World Report list of best public national universities, the highest ranking in UGA’s history. Without question, Honors David S. Williams, students play a key role Associate Provost & in helping elevate the Director of the university’s academic Honors Program reputation. We are of course proud of all Honors students and their many accomplishments. But one of the main highlights of this past year was the success of Honors students in nationally competitive major scholarship competitions. Several Honors students received prestigious awards, including Shawn Foster, UGA’s first Beinecke Scholarship recipient. This fall, we welcomed 587 new students to the Honors Program, our largest class ever of incoming first-year students. As a group, they had an average high school GPA of 4.12, an average SAT of 1490, and an average ACT of 33.26. To help bolster our level of service to them, we have hired an additional academic advisor and we are also expanding Honors course offerings. Finally, we were able to support our first student from the new Director’s Circle Fund. Haidi Al-Shabrawey went to South Africa through UGA’s Maymester Stellenbosch program. 2. What does spring semester hold? Each spring, we welcome students from around the nation and internationally to be considered for our top academic scholarships—the Foundation Fellowship, the Ramsey Honors Scholarship, and the CURO Honors Scholarship. It is such a genuine pleasure to be able to meet these students and their families, and to see firsthand the inspiring potential of the next generation. Spring also features the annual CURO Symposium, which last year had 552 student participants. We expect to have 600 this year. 3. If you could share one number or fact with us, what would it be? Certainly, the year 1960 stands out since it was when the UGA Honors Program was founded. This past summer, we had the largest number of parents ever signing up to be a part of our Parent Society through our new 1960 Club. Each year, the Parent Society supports a number of individual Honors students as well as Honors student organizations and programming.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Alumni

Scientist of the year Cori Bargmann was named 2017 Scientist of the Year by R&D Magazine. The same week in mid-October, the neuroscientist was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. Cori, an Honors Program and Foundation Fellow alumna, graduated in 1981. She studies the relationship between genes, neural circuits, and behavior. She is president of science for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; is the Torsten W. Wiesel Professor and head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at Rockefeller University; and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Sustainability grant

Green roof efforts Grace Peoples led a team that installed a new green roof demonstration at the Boyd Graduate Studies Research Center on South Campus. As a second-year Honors student majoring in international affairs and minoring in Japanese language and literature, she received a campus grant from UGA’s Office of Sustainability to enhance the green roof at Boyd, which was originally planted in 2003 as a vegetated roof research site. Under the direction of Todd Rasmussen, professor in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, Grace and her team of volunteers installed several flats of plants on the roof, visible from the building’s lobby.

A CURO summer

CURO Fellows This past summer, Honors student Ridge Maxson, right, and 29 other undergraduates worked as CURO Summer Fellows. Their research varied from lyricism in the poetry of the Internet to superbug gene prevalence in freshwater streams. Ridge, an exercise and sport science major and music minor, studied tissue engineering with Cheryl Gomillion, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering. He worked on the fabrication and optimization of novel nitric oxide releasing antibacterial scaffolds for bone tissue engineering, which included 4-D printing of tiny tube structures on which to grow bone tissue.

Stephanie Schupska

The Director’s Corner

HONORS by the

numbers

2017 Highlights of the UGA Honors Program

Peter Frey

We have

Honors royalty

Homecoming Maddie Dill was crowned Homecoming queen during halftime of UGA’s 53-28 win over the University of Missouri. A fourth-year Honors student and Foundation Fellow majoring in anthropology and Spanish and earning a master’s degree in public administration, she was joined by Cameron Keen, SGA president and a fourth-year political science and international affairs major, as homecoming king. Additional Honors students on the court were Nidhi Aggarwal and Josh Kenway.

2,500 students

587

are first-years.

They have an average Honors weighted GPA of

4.12

an average SAT of

Study abroad

In Argentina Clayton Null hiked around the northwest region of Argentina before settling into an internship in Buenos Aires as part of the Honors International Scholar Program. For two weeks this past summer, the third-year accounting and finance major and Spanish minor backpacked with his sister, Evan, a newly admitted Honors student (seen at right at Salinas Grandes, a massive salt desert in Argentina). For the next seven weeks, Clayton lived in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo with a host family and interned on the real estate, media, and telecom team in the commercial banking group for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the largest bank in the world by total assets. “I learned to love the day-to-day challenges that come with living and traveling in a completely foreign place,” he said. “Waking up knowing that every sight, sound, and smell is something new is what makes the experience so attractive.”

33.26 an average ACT of

1490

Honors class sizes are small:

16:1

student-to-professor ratio average

Our 4-6 year graduation rate is

96.7%

Honors students

are enrolled in our combined bachelor's and master's degree programs

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

eer

M arlo w Gr Kerri Andre, left, answers questions during a tour stop on North Campus.

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Campus personalized:

Honors students as tour leaders welcome future students to UGA By Marlow Greer

s prospective students make their way onto campus for the first time, one of their first stops is the University of Georgia’s Visitors Center. A former dairy barn located on East Campus, the Visitors Center gives potential students their first glimpse of what it is like to be a UGA student. While the building itself is unique in its origin, it is the people who work there who give the Visitors Center its welcoming charm. Currently, 11 Honors students serve as tour leaders through the Visitors Center—and to them it is much more than a job position. Liana Mosely, a fourth-year Honors student double majoring in music and nutritional science, considers her time working at the Visitors Center one of her most rewarding experiences as a UGA student. “You get to be the first person to smile at potential students, and it can really touch your heart when people come back and tell you that you are the reason they are applying to UGA,” she said. Liana asserts the job of student staff is not to sell UGA to prospective students but rather “share our experiences with them and show them what student life could be like here at UGA.”

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

The experiences the Honors Program provides its students play a factor in what information they are able to share with visitors. As an Honors student, Liana was able to participate in the Honors International Scholars Program, which supports Honors students engaging in overseas opportunities through merit-based scholarships. “Because of that funding, I was able to travel to Ghana this past summer, which was one of the most challenging but fruitful experiences I have ever had,” she said. “I worked in nutrition clinics located in rural areas and was able to deliver Western health care to people who had never seen it before.” In addition to enrichment overseas, Liana has found rewarding experiences on campus in Honors book discussions, which she notes as great opportunities to read outside of class and meet professors. She said the Honors Program also “facilitates meeting areas for different Honors students to interact, which definitely makes college feel more like a family. It makes UGA feel more personal.” Ivey Tanner, a third-year Honors marketing major and Visitors Center tour leader, said the Honors Program has

“

You get to be the first person to smile at potential students, and it can really touch your heart when people come back and tell you that you are the reason they are applying to UGA.

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given her a more universal view of what UGA has to offer its students, including study abroad and scholarship opportunities. Ivey’s experience as an Honors student has allowed her to take classes that are much smaller, more personal, and richer in discussion— elements that she likes to share with prospective Liana Mosely, fourth-year music students. and nutrition science major “I have had classes that, instead of the typical 300 students, are 25 students,” she said. “It is a really cool opportunity to get to know professors and have more discussion-based classes.” Kerri Andre, a fourth-year Honors student and Foundation Fellow majoring in environmental health science, shares that, “One of the biggest things that has shaped my experiences here at UGA has been that through the Honors Program, I have had the opportunity to study abroad a lot. That is one of my favorite things to talk about on the tours—that UGA does a really great job of tailoring so many different programs for students. Regardless of what college you are in within UGA, you can find a study abroad experience that is not only fun but will get you class credit.” In addition to study abroad experiences, Kerri has been involved in CURO and was able to conduct research for two years in assistant professor Cheryl Gomillion’s engineering lab. She shares that students and parents are surprised when they learn students have the opportunity to conduct research as undergraduates at UGA, “especially when I tell them that I started meeting with people from different labs my freshman year… and that this experience culminated with me traveling to a conference in Minneapolis and presenting my research.” As members of the Honors Program and student staff members at the Visitors Center, these students understand the value of individual interaction and instruction. “At the Visitors Center, we really put an emphasis on building connections with students who come to visit,” said Josh Kenway, a fourth-year Honors student and Foundation Fellow double majoring in economics and political science. As tour leaders, their responsibility is “about finding out what those students are interested in and what they are passionate about, which we achieve by talking to them one-on-one. We have conversations with the students as we go around, working out what they are interested in and then guiding the discussion around that so we can tailor it to their interests.” Both the Visitors Center and the Honors Program work to create environments where students feel welcome and are able to express their individuality. UGA’s sprawling campus can understandably seem overwhelming to potential students, Liana said, but what they quickly learn is that so many resources can make this big school feel like home. “We joke that the Visitors Center is the happiest place on campus just because everyone who works here has a huge heart for welcoming students and being positive,” Ivey said.

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UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Cover story

Margaret Shin Majors: International affairs, political science Internship: Sen. David Perdue

“Working with Senator Perdue’s national security team, I was constantly learning by writing briefs, attending committee hearings, working on interesting projects, and interacting with staff members; I truly felt like I was a member of the team rather than a dispensable intern.”

Honors in

Washington

Story and photos by Stephanie Schupska

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Summer internship program introduces Honors students to life in the nation’s capital

Honors in Washington participants—along with Honors Program students in D.C. for the summer through other programs—gathered at Delta Hall for a dinner seminar with UGA alumnus Jonathan Davis, an attorney-adviser at the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. They are, left to right, Katherine Nichols, Honors Program assistant director Maria de Rocher, Maddie Dill, Amaan Charaniya, Steven Feng, Nellie Brunson, Margaret Shin, Josh Kenway, Ayesha Jamil, Chelsea Thorpe, Katie Graham, Jacqueline Roeder, Izzy Ceron, Kavi Pandian, Victoria Pekala, Hunter Smith, Claire Brunner, Zack Flagel, and Yazmarr Williams.

argaret Shin balances a phone on her shoulder and a mouse in her hand, deftly answering a constituent’s question phoned in to Sen. David Perdue’s office in Washington, D.C. Izzy Ceron works on marketing material for the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda while also booking a flight for her internship coordinator. Josh Kenway focuses on energy and the environment as a junior staff assistant in the Federal Relations Office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Margaret, Izzy, and Josh are three of 16 Honors students who spent summer 2017 in Washington, D.C., through the Honors in Washington (HIW) internship program. From their home base of Delta Hall, they learned the ins and outs of the city—from metro stops and the best coffee shops to Capitol Hill and the quiet rhythm of morning and evening commutes. “I gained my first taste of legal writing and interpreting statutes, studied many aspects of campaign finance regulation, and got a taste of the bureaucratic side of the electoral process,” said Claire Brunner, an English and economics pre-law major who interned for the global law firm Dentons. “Overall, the internship was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.” Every summer, Honors students occupy half of the 32 available student living spaces in Delta Hall. Named in honor of a $5 million grant from the Delta Air Lines Foundation, UGA students have called the permanent residential facility their D.C. home since January 2015, when a renovation on the former office building was completed. The three-story brick structure tucked away on Massachusetts Avenue NE looks much like the homes that surround it—except for the college students who trickle out of its doors every morning and flow back through them every night.

“We are so lucky as UGA students to have the opportunity to live in Delta Hall—it’s beautiful and couldn’t be in a better location for Hill interns,” said Zack Flagel, an economics major who interned for Sen. Johnny Isakson. “I am truly thankful to UGA and the Honors Program for facilitating and investing in such worthwhile opportunities for students.” Honors in Washington students work 40 hours a week for a minimum of nine weeks at internships as varied as their interests—ranging from congressional offices, law firms, and government agencies to media companies, nonprofits, and think tanks. What they do not experience is the typical debt associated with an unpaid internship in D.C. The Honors Program provides its students with housing, a generous stipend, alumni networking opportunities, and dinner seminars through Honors in Washington. Each fall, second- and third-year Honors students are selected for HIW—as well as for internships in New York and Savannah— through a competitive application and interview process. Some will go to specific placements, and others will be free to pursue new internship opportunities according to their interests. “We have so many talented Honors students that selecting the best 16 from a pool of about 60 each year can be a bit of a challenge,” said Maria de Rocher, assistant director of the Honors Program and Honors internship program coordinator. “Our goal is to help our students find placements well-suited to their career interests, and every summer, it’s incredible to see how they grow professionally and academically through their time in Washington, D.C.” On the next few pages, we share photographs and quotes from the 2017 Honors in Washington participants.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Maggie Little Majors: Political science; master’s in public administration Internship: Americans for the Arts

“I’ve really enjoyed working with different arts agencies and leaders across the country. This has been such a unique opportunity to learn about diverse groups who work in completely different places with completely different stakeholders; in my job, I get to find the commonalities between them. Honors in Washington allowed me to actively explore new career paths and opportunities. I feel that once I begin to apply for jobs, I will feel immensely more informed as to what these careers will be like day-to-day and how I can market myself for those jobs because of HIW.”

Top left: Maggie Little welcomes visitors to the Americans for the Arts offices. Top right: Honors students gather on the Senate steps for a photo shoot. Clockwise from photo just right: Margaret Shin directs calls in Sen. David Perdue’s office. Josh Kenway staffs the front desk in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Federal Relations Office. Magali Lapu celebrates her birthday in D.C. Ayesha Jamil, Claire Brunner, Chelsea Thorpe, and Margaret Shin gather for Fourth of July fireworks.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Magali Lapu Majors: French, international affairs Internship: Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

“HIW empowered me to be fearless in my pursuit of job opportunities away from home. I will always be thankful to the Honors Program for helping me feel unstoppable and connecting me with influential UGA alumni throughout my stay in D.C.”

Above: Yazmarr Williams interned this summer for Voice of America; Maddie Dill, right, worked for the State Department; and Izzy Ceron, far right, interned for the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. Kavi Pandian, bottom, worked for D.C. Public Schools.

Above: Magali Lapu, right, with Dariely Rodriguez, the Lawyers’ Committee’s economic justice project director. Below top: Maggie Little, right, discusses projects with intern coordinator Graciela Kahn. Below bottom: Chelsea Thorpe, center, with Dr. Yonah Alexander and Sharon Layani.

Kavi Pandian Majors: Sociology, economics Internship: D.C. Public Schools

“Some of my most important learning has happened thanks to my fellow interns—the 16 of us are doing very different work, and I’ve learned so much just from conversations I’ve had around the house. From speaking with interns at my placement, I’ve learned interning can be an extremely lonely experience. HIW has meant that from my first day in D.C., I’ve had at least 15 people I knew I could spend time with outside of work.” UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

2017

Honors in Washington

Katie Graham Majors: International affairs, political science, English Internship: Rep. Rob Woodall

interns

“My favorite part of working on the Hill has been nearly unfettered access to the Capitol; getting to roam the halls with our nation’s great leaders is unbelievable. Getting to walk past the Capitol on my way to work every morning makes the hard work and long hours worth every second of it.”

Claire Brunner (Richmond, Virginia): English, economics (BA/MA); Dentons

Nellie Brunson (Evans): Accounting;

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

Izzy Ceron (Dacula): Latin America and Caribbean studies, international affairs; National Hispanic Leadership Agenda

Maddie Dill (Atlanta): Anthropology,

Spanish, public administration (MPA); State Department

Zack Flagel (Marietta): Economics; Sen. Johnny Isakson

Katie Graham (LaGrange): International affairs, political science, English; Rep. Rob Woodall

Josh Kenway (London, England):

Economics, political science; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Federal Relations Office

Magali Lapu (Atlanta): French,

international affairs; Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Maggie Little (Cumming): Political

science, public administration (MPA); Americans for the Arts

Kavi Pandian (Tucker): Sociology, economics; D.C. Public Schools

Left: Victoria Pekala chats with Chelsea Thorpe after a dinner seminar with Jonathan Davis (BA ‘02), center, who is an attorney-adviser at the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. Right: Claire Brunner, right, attends a Nationals baseball game with a friend.

Jessica Pasquarello (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania): Political science, international affairs, religion; Rep. Hank Johnson

Victoria Pekala (Marietta): English, economics; Freedman Consulting

Margaret Shin (Alpharetta): International affairs, political science; Sen. David Perdue

Chelsea Thorpe Majors: Criminal justice, economics Internship: International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

Hunter Smith (Jesup): Political science; Rep. Buddy Carter and Rep. Tom Graves

Chelsea Thorpe (Alpharetta): Criminal

justice, economics; International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute

Yazmarr Williams (Duluth): Journalism; Voice of America

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

“I researched with Dr. Yonah Alexander, one of the most respected scholars in the D.C. intelligence community. Dr. Alexander has served as an academic and life mentor, encouraging me to explore areas of violent extremism unfamiliar to me.”

Zack Flagel Major: Economics Internship: Sen. Johnny Isakson

“I was placed on the finance/tax policy team in charge of Sen. Isakson’s preparation for the Senate Finance Committee. While health care took precedence this summer, tax policy staffers were busy laying the groundwork for a hopeful push in the fall, and it was neat to be in the middle of the debate prep work."

Hunter Smith Major: Political science Internship: Rep. Buddy Carter and Rep. Tom Graves

“After spending 12 weeks on Capitol Hill, I feel like I understand political and governmental processes more than after all of my previous classes combined. My internship was one of the most integral experiences in my academic career and truly a defining moment in my life.”

Above: Izzy Ceron poses with Catherine Hinshaw, her internship coordinator at the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda. Top left: Jessica Pasquarello worked for Rep. Hank Johnson.

Nellie Brunson Major: Accounting; Minor: History Internship: Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

“HIW has given me the chance to spend a summer interning in the heart of accounting and audit regulation, and provided numerous networking opportunities with alumni in a wide range of backgrounds.” UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Scholarships

From Beinecke to Udall, Honors students receive

international recognition through scholarship

very year, Honors students are counted among the nation’s academic elite as they compete for and receive national and international scholarships. From Boren and Beinecke to Udall and Goldwater, 2017 was no different. These major scholarships are providing funding for 17 students as they pursue their academic dreams. In the following pages, we share their stories.

Shawn Foster:

1st

UGA’s

Beinecke Award

Goldwater Scholars

Boren Scholars

Fulbright offers:

2017 in Scholarship Numbers

Rhodes Scholar

6 students accepted

Udall Scholars

Erasmus Mundus

/pɪn/ • /pɛn/

UGA’s first Beinecke Scholar focuses on deciphering sounds of the South

in. Pen. Two words, two dictionary definitions, two different images brought to mind. But from the mouths of many Southerners, the vowels sound the same, and both pin and pen are pronounced pin. In fact, drop either an “i” or an “e” in front of an “n” or an “m” in nearly any word, and many Southern speakers will pronounce it like “in” or “im”. Fourth-year Honors student Shawn Foster has heard what linguists refer to as the “pin-pen merger” his whole life. A linguistics and cognitive science major— and UGA’s first Beinecke Scholar—he is from Franklin, a single-stoplight town of 800 deep in the heart of rural Georgia and 15 minutes from the Alabama state line. Through a sociolinguistic research project, he is analyzing the vowels in these and other words by studying interviews housed at UGA in the Digital Archive of Southern Speech.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

“We have archived interviews from the 1970s, a lot of them with people who were born in the late 1800s,” Shawn said. “I’ve been narrowing my focus to mergers, a specific class of linguistic phenomena, and it’s when a distinction between two sounds is lost.” Shawn is one of an army of nearly 40 undergraduates sifting through 372 hours of interviews in the Digital Archive of Southern Speech. A three-year grant from the National Science Foundation is funding the transcription and acoustic analysis of this archive, which is part of the much larger Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States. While studying words like pin and pen may not seem like a big deal, the tiny differences—or lack thereof—matter as Shawn and other researchers help define the many sound variations that make up a Southern accent and also explore the “linguistic, historical, geographical,

and social extent” of these patterns, said Margaret Renwick, assistant professor of linguistics and co-principal investigator on the study (the other is William Kretzschmar, Harry and Jane Willson Professor in Humanities). “Shawn’s work, mainly supported by the CURO program, is crucial because he’s helping our team get a jump on answering the many questions that are prompted by this very large data set,” Margaret said. He is studying “thousands of measurements from vowels spoken by dozens of Southern speakers," she said, "helping us to learn which speakers follow typical patterns of Southern speech and which might sound less Southern, and how.” His major goal is to “describe how these mergers spread, when they started, and how they interact with the Southern dialect as a whole,” Shawn said. “The cool

Stephanie Schupska

Shawn Foster, left, discusses his sociolinguistics research with Margaret Renwick, assistant professor of linguistics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. They are in front of Gilbert Hall, which houses the linguistics department.

thing about mergers is that they tend to spread, and once you have the merger, it’s very difficult to unmerge.” Shawn is also preparing for doctoral programs. A first-generation college student, he is one step closer to achieving that objective as one of 20 students nationwide selected as a Beinecke Scholar. The award provides $34,000 to third-year students with demonstrated financial need who will pursue graduate studies in the arts, humanities or social sciences.

“Shawn certainly deserves the recognition and support provided by the Beinecke Scholarship,” said David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program. “He is as gifted a student as I have ever met while also being perhaps the most humble. What makes Shawn truly stand out is his pure inquisitiveness. I think he has an unlimited future as a researcher.” The Beinecke Scholarship Program was established in 1971 in honor of Edwin, Frederick, and Walter Beinecke

to encourage students of exceptional promise to pursue graduate studies in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Since 1975, the program has selected more than 590 college juniors from more than 100 different undergraduate institutions for support during graduate study at any accredited university. “I have really enjoyed Shawn’s intellectual drive to answer important questions in linguistics and cognitive science—but what I respect the most about Shawn’s approach is his desire to understand and help humanity through his research,” Margaret said. “I enjoy spending time with Shawn: He fits well into our research team because he is totally comfortable in a room of more advanced researchers, he isn’t afraid to ask questions, and he’s very down-toearth and open.” In addition to his current research project, Shawn works for UGA Food Services at the Niche Pizza Company and has been the humanities content editor of the Journal for Undergraduate Research Opportunities at UGA. He was also a research assistant in UGA’s Work and Family Experience Research Laboratory and the Leadership and Performance Dynamics Lab. He spent summer 2016 as an intern and research assistant in California at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He speaks Spanish, Russian, and basic Arabic. During spring break this year, he married Lexi Whitlock. They met in high school, and she is an English major at UGA who is “a great, stabilizing presence in my life,” he said. “She’s really supportive, and I love her.” This December, he will present his merger research at the Acoustical Society of America’s meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through the massive amount of data they are collecting, “other researchers, not just other linguists, can take the results and run with them,” Shawn said. “Engineers and programmers can build better speech recognition programs. Journalists and critics can write about how depictions of the South in media stack up to the reality of the region. Other geeky teenagers in other cottonmill towns can hear someone say, ‘Yes, there is more to the world, but no, that doesn’t mean places like this don’t have anything to say.’” —Stephanie Schupska

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Scholarships

Stephanie Stewart: Boren Scholarship opens doors to intensive Arabic language program

n her first two years at UGA, Stephanie Stewart has pursued immersive language study in both Arabic and Spanish, having spent two months in AMIDEAST’s Summer Intensive Arabic Program in Rabat, Morocco, and a spring semester in Madrid, Spain. “Living with Arabic speakers in Morocco pushed me to use my language skills over a wider breadth of topics than any other social situation and was integral to my language improvements,” said Stephanie, an Honors student and Foundation Fellow who is majoring in international affairs and gender studies. “Through conversations about politics, life, and religion, I learned more about the culture and actual citizens’ perspectives of their world.” After a summer in Greece teaching English at a women’s shelter, Stephanie’s next step in her Arabic language studies started this fall with an academic year in Muscat, Oman, first at the Center for International Learning and then at Sultan Qaboos University. Through direct enrollment at Sultan Qaboos, she will take linguistic courses not offered through traditional Arabic language programs. Noting that in Yemen’s war-torn society, women play a key role in caring for children and displaced residents but don’t have seats at the mediation or negotiating tables in peace-building, Stephanie said her long-term goal is to be able to “understand Gulf state

Boren Fellowships

culture to better understand how to include women in peace talks.” Her education in Oman will be central to both her linguistic studies and cultural awareness. As part of her Boren service requirement, Stephanie hopes to work at the U.S. Department of State in either the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs or the Office of Global Women’s Issues. “I would like to work within the interagency task force implementing the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security,” she said, adding she plans to pursue a master’s degree and Ph.D. in either conflict or gender studies. She would like to assist the U.S. in developing relationships with local initiatives aimed at supporting female political participation. —Chris Starrs

Boren Scholarships (for undergraduates) and Fellowships (for graduate students) provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

The UGA graduate students who received Boren Fellowships are: Elizabeth Louis, Haiti. A Ph.D. candidate in counseling psychology, Elizabeth is spending 10 months in Haiti. She is continuing her language studies and partnering with various nongovernmental agencies—Partners in Health among them—providing health care, mental health services, and disaster prevention training. Her career plans include working as a psychologist in an international setting, and conducting trauma, disaster prevention, and relief work, preferably in Haiti or developing countries. John McGreevy, Haiti. A Ph.D. student in anthropology, John is spending a portion of his Boren Fellowship in two Haitian communities—Dekle and Camp-Perrin—that suffered significantly from hurricanes while nearby Caribbean nations remained relatively unscathed. He is conducting research on the underlying causes of hurricane exposure and indicators of vulnerable communities using satellite image analysis, surveys, and interviews to build a model to inform disaster management in the U.S. and Haiti. Rachel Ward, Brazil. On track to earn master’s degrees in public health and social work in 2018, Rachel will spend six months in Brazil mastering Portuguese and working with medical and public health professionals to better understand methods for confronting Zika and similar diseases. She plans to seek fulltime employment at the CDC in the areas of global health or maternal-child health, using her Portuguese and Spanish language skills “in a way that promotes global health security.”

Molly Swindall:

Above: Molly Swindall started her two-year Erasmus Mundus program at the University of Glasgow. Below: A weekend trip to Loch Ness yielded a good hike, but no monsters.

Erasmus Mundus scholar dives into program focused on international security

ver the next two years, Honors alumna Molly Swindall will be traveling across Europe in pursuit of an international master’s degree in security, intelligence, and strategic studies. The Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degree program was developed by four European universities—Charles University in Prague, Dublin City University in Ireland, University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, and OTH Regensburg in Germany. Molly will spend a significant amount of time at each, learning about the growing demands of international security. The integrated program examines modern security issues, new technologies, and transnational and organized crime in order to establish a network of experts prepared to react to crisis, identify security threats, and look for opportunities of beneficial interdependency between nations. This past September, Molly began her master’s program in the U.K. studying security strategies and policymaking; in the spring, she will head to Ireland to continue her studies.

“I can’t deny that I am very excited about the traveling and getting to live in four different countries,” Molly said. “I’m thrilled to be working with my fellow students. My classmates and I come from 28 different countries and all have very different backgrounds. There are only 40 of us, but I can already tell that I am going to grow over these next two years culturally, academically, and mentally because of each of my classmates.” As a triple major in political science, international affairs, and broadcast journalism, Molly was extremely diligent during her time at UGA. She was selected for some of the most competitive scholarships and programs such as the Honors in Washington internship program, which places students in full-time summer internships in Washington, D.C. Through Honors in Washington, Molly was a communications intern for Sen. David Perdue. Her responsibilities included preparing daily press clips, drafting newsletters and press releases, and coming up with creative communication ideas. “I was able to gain an inside look into the workings of our government and also learned many skills which one can only learn from doing,” Molly said. She also worked as a campaign intern for former congressman Jack Kingston, who said he was “most impressed by the fact that she would see things that need to be done, would discuss them, and then take initiative on her own.” Both of these internships provided Molly with government experience that will be beneficial to her bridging the gap between government, industry, and defense sectors during her studies abroad. —Melissa Campbell

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Scholarships

James Thompson:

Fulbright student works on journalism, language skills in Germany

inding the right words to tell a compelling story is hard enough right out of school. James Thompson is taking the challenge one step further by doing so in a country that does not speak his native language. James, an Honors alumnus who graduated summa cum laude with highest honors from UGA with degrees in journalism and history and a minor in German, was named a Fulbright scholar and accepted a journalism assignment in Germany. “International experience is a very large asset to journalists,” James said of the year-long grant. “Many American news outlets seem to focus almost exclusively on domestic current events and often ignore important issues abroad. I think this would change if more American journalists made gaining some international experience a priority.” A participant in Honors in Washington and the Honors International Scholars Program, James is well equipped for this next step in his journalistic career. In addition to being an on-air contributor and host for campus radio station WUOG, he worked as a reporter for Grady Newsource, the broadcast news organization for the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. James, a native of Screven County, originally heard about the Fulbright program when meeting with Maria de Rocher, assistant director of the Honors Program and the U.S. Student Fulbright Program adviser at UGA. She told him about a Fulbright program for journalists in Germany. After a six-week language course, he will take part in the Young Professional Journalism program in Freiburg, Germany, spending his first several months working on a short documentary film and then interning for a German news organization. “I expect to use the exact same video journalism skills that I learned at Grady to tell stories in Freiburg,” James said. “I’ll have to find story ideas, shoot b-roll, and do interviews. My German is respectable, but it will certainly be an adjustment to

James Thompson, red shirt, poses with the Zeuner family during a previous visit to Germany.

do interviews in German instead of English.” James’ interest in German began in high school, where he learned from Screven County teacher Jim Sheppard. During this time period his family also hosted German exchange students. While he didn’t have the opportunity to travel to Germany as a high school student, the experience presented itself in college when he spent six weeks in a study abroad program taking a language course at the Goethe Institute and studying sustainability efforts in Freiburg. James spent this past summer working as an intern in Gov. Nathan Deal’s Office of Communications, where he assisted with press releases, social media, and speechwriting. —Sarah Freeman

Ten UGA students, alumni offered Fulbright awards

his year, 10 University of Georgia students and alumni were offered grants to take their research and teaching to a global level through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. This marks the fourth straight year—and eighth time in the past nine years—that UGA has achieved a double-digit number of Fulbright offers. In addition to James, three other students and alumni received Fulbright academic grants. • Anna Forrester of Kingsport, Tennessee, will be studying Shakespearean performances in

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Turkey, exploring how Shakespeare has shaped the country’s national dramatic identity. She will be based in Istanbul. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in English literature at UGA. • John Esteban Rodriguez of Guyton will be conducting research on the intersection of race and LGBTQ identities while pursuing a master’s degree in gender, politics and sexuality in Paris. An Honors alumnus, he recently completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English at UGA. • Samuel Schaffer of Atlanta will be working as a binational business intern in Mexico City, Mexico.

He graduated from UGA this past May with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs. Two alumni received Fulbright English teaching assistantship awards. • Asad Delawalla of Lawrenceville will be teaching English classes in South Korea. He graduated from UGA in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and a minor in French. • Margaret Harney of Atlanta will be assisting English teachers in Spain. She graduated from UGA in 2016 with bachelor's degrees in Spanish and journalism.

Peter Frey

Andrew Davis Tucker

Morgan Gibbs & Mallory Harris: Honors students bring total number of UGA Goldwater Scholars to 53

his past spring, Honors students Morgan Gibbs and Mallory Harris were among 240 students from across the nation to be recognized as Barry Goldwater Scholars, earning the highest undergraduate award for the fields of the mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. Morgan, from Peachtree City, is majoring in chemistry and minoring in pharmaceutical sciences. Mallory, from Dunwoody, is pursuing a double major in computational biology and mathematics. Both are studying in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and plan to earn doctorates in their respective fields. Morgan plans to obtain a doctorate in medicinal chemistry and intends to pursue a career in the interdisciplinary field of drug discovery and design. Her interests span a wide variety of drug design techniques, and she wants to use these techniques to combat chronic diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. She currently conducts research in assistant professor Arthur Roberts’ laboratory in the College of Pharmacy, where they study drug-protein interactions with the multidrug resistance transporter protein P-glycoprotein. Her inspiration for her research is her grandmother. “When I came to UGA, I knew that I wanted a career in science, and my grandmother’s death gave me a question and a cause: How can we treat Alzheimer’s, the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S.?” Morgan said. “I decided to conduct research that would lead to the development of novel therapeutics for this and other chronic diseases. I think of my grandmother every day that I step into the lab.” Morgan is a trombonist in the Redcoat Marching Band, the UGA trombone choir, and the volleyball and basketball bands; vice president of the UGA chapter of the American Chemical Society; and a CURO Research Assistant. This past summer, she participated in the National Institutes of Health’s internship program. She also participated in the pediatric oncology education internship program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Mallory, a Foundation Fellow, plans to obtain a doctorate in computational biology and conduct research and teach at the intersection of mathematics and biology. After receiving a Ph.D., she hopes to study disease systems at both the biochemical and population levels. Specifically, she wants

to develop more accurate diagnostic tests and precisely targeted treatment strategies based on genetic indicators, supporting a shift from reactionary to preventive approaches to epidemiology. She is working with professor John Drake in the Odum School of Ecology studying vector-borne disease forecasting. In summer 2017, she was a research intern in the lab of Erin Mordecai—Foundation Fellow Class of 2007 who is now an assistant professor of biology at Stanford University—working to determine the effects of climate factors on Zika transmission based on time series incidence data. She has been motivated to excel and prove that gender and mathematical success are unlinked, she said. “To encourage inclusion, I volunteer with MathCounts Outreach and coach an all-girls math team,” Mallory said. “In addition to our weekly practices, I arrange activities including a summer book club where the girls served as beta readers for my forays into writing math fiction, providing feedback on the heroine’s mathematical adventures in my novel.” Harris is also a communications intern for Girlology; math and reading tutor at Barrow Elementary School; and a CURO Research Assistant. UGA also had one Goldwater Scholarship honorable mention. Ruth Schade, a Foundation Fellow from Marlborough, Massachusetts, majoring in nutritional science, plans to pursue a doctorate in immunology and research the immunological basis of inflammatory diseases. —Stephanie Schupska

Since 1995, 53 UGA students have received the Goldwater Scholarship, all of whom have been members of the Honors Program. The scholarship honoring Sen. Barry Goldwater was designed to encourage outstanding sophomores and juniors to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering. This year, awardees were selected from a field of 1,286 undergraduates and were nominated by campus representatives from among 2,000 colleges and universities nationwide. They will receive up to $7,500 toward the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Scholarships

Shreya Ganeshan & Elizabeth Wilkes: Udall Scholarship helps Honors students reach environmental policy goals

Wingate Downs

he University of Georgia added two new Udall Scholars to its ranks this year as third-year students Shreya Ganeshan and Elizabeth Wilkes were honored for their leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to the environment. Each year, the Udall Foundation awards about 60 scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for their efforts related to Native American nations or their work in environmental advocacy and policy. With the addition of Shreya and Elizabeth, UGA has had 11 Udall Scholars in the past seven years, all of whom were Honors students. Shreya, from Johns Creek, is majoring in economics and statistics and plans to pursue a doctorate in clean energy innovation and deployment. Elizabeth, from Atlanta, is majoring in geography and ecology and plans to pursue a master’s degree in either food policy or agricultural and environmental studies. Both are Honors students and Foundation Fellows. Shreya is a campus tour guide through the UGA Visitors Center, executive director of the Roosevelt Institute at UGA, director of UGAvotes, adviser for the Lunchbox Garden Project and an emerging fellow for energy and environment for Roosevelt Institute national. She was a research assistant on the UGA geography department’s Seattle Project and on a Leiden University aquaculture project in the Netherlands, a Vinson Institute policy fellow, an energy intern for the UGA Office of Sustainability and an Honors in Washington intern at the State Department’s Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change. She has been involved in the Energy Concept at UGA, RefUGA, the Student Government Association, and the Palladia Women’s and Dean William Tate honor societies. She has presented posters at the Stanford University Clean Energy Awards, the Harvard

University Research Conference and the Environmental Protection Agency Symposium. Since high school, Shreya has been a South Indian classical music vocalist and performer. After graduating from UGA, Shreya plans to study how weather-related disasters strain local and national infrastructure and aims to develop financial models for clean energy. Elizabeth is a research intern with the national Food and Water Watch and a national student representative on the Real Food Challenge steering committee. She mentored high school students through the Young Urban Farmers Program, volunteered on the UGA Office of Sustainability’s zero waste and compost teams, was executive director of the Lunchbox Garden Project, and presented at the Association of American Geographers meeting and the Mississippi Sustainable Food Summit. Her internships have included

positions with Food Tank: The Think Tank for Food and First Presbyterian Church of Athens through the Waddel Fellowship. Elizabeth has been involved as a member of the Roosevelt Institute, Society for Applied Anthropology, Palladia Women’s Honor Society, Presbyterian Student Center, and Students for Environmental Action. She also conducted undergraduate research in geography and political ecology and was a community organizer-in-training through the Sierra Student Coalition’s summer program. Along with her major in human geography, Elizabeth will be among the first UGA students to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Ecology. She plans to pursue a career as an advocate for food justice and hopes to transform food systems to promote environmental and social justice. —Stephanie Schupska

The Udall Scholarship provides up to $7,000 for eligible academic expenses and includes a four-day orientation in Tucson, Arizona, and access to the Udall Alumni Network, an extensive group of environmental and tribal leaders and public servants. The Udall Foundation was established in 1992 to honor Rep. Morris K. Udall for his 30 years of service to the U.S. Congress. Legislation in 2009 incorporated the name of his brother, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Nikhil on the

Hill

CURO Honors Scholar advocates for undergraduate research, presents at annual Posters on the Hill

his past spring, Nikhil Gangasani, a fourth-year nutritional National Institutes of Health—the federal agency which provides sciences major and Spanish minor, presented his research grants that fund his research. on a unique means of combating a bacterial pathogen at Nikhil’s research was guided by his faculty mentor, Fikri Avci, the 21st annual Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C. an assistant professor who specializes in glycoimmunology Each April, Posters on the Hill gives students the opportunity and vaccinology in UGA’s Center for Molecular Medicine. The to showcase their research to congressional members, learn lab explores the interaction between the immune system and about advocacy for undergraduate research, and meet with carbohydrate antigens and the role this interaction plays in their representatives. Hosted by the national Council on treating and protecting populations from infectious diseases. Undergraduate Research, approximately 60 students are selected “At first, I felt a disconnect between studying nutritional out of a pool of nearly 600 applicants from all over the country. sciences and conducting research in a lab focusing on Nikhil was the only student from a Georgia university to biochemistry and molecular biology,” he said. “However, I have present. “Presenters were all from different states of the USA, so I enjoyed discussing how undergraduate experiences both with research and overall were similar and different to my own experience,” said Nikhil, an Honors student and a CURO Honors Scholar. “I met with presenters doing research ranging from isolating bacteria found in caves to analyzing perceptions of refugee populations.” Nikhil’s poster, “Enzymatic Degradation of Pn3 Capsular Polysaccharide: Battling a Pathogenic Bacterium,” explored how an understanding of an enzyme’s ability to break down carbohydrates on the surface of a pathogenic bacterium can help further research in finding alternatives to antibiotics in fighting pathogenic bacteria. His research focuses primarily on the interactions between an enzyme and carbohydrates on the surface of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype III (Pn3), a strain of pneumonia-causing bacteria. Pneumococcal diseases like pneumonia are currently a major global health issue. Caused by S. pneumoniae bacteria, these diseases are responsible for up to 1.6 million deaths globally each year, according to a World Nikhil Gangasani, left, meets with Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA) to advocate for increased National Institutes of Health funding, along with his father, Dr. Sreeni Gangasani. Health Organization estimate. Pn3 in particular victimizes children under the age of five, who represent about half of the annual deaths. learned in classes like ‘Optimal Nutrition for the Lifecycle’ By presenting at Posters on the Hill, Nikhil was able to with Dr. Alex Anderson that the reciprocal interaction between advocate for additional funding for this type of research. adverse nutritional conditions like protein energy malnutrition “When Rep. Jody Hice made a surprise visit to my poster, and infectious diseases like pneumonia are responsible for I explained to him an aspect of my project by using one of the majority of deaths and morbidities in young children. his arms,” Nikhil said. “I asked Rep. Hice to imagine that his Gaining knowledge of nutrition and infectious disease through body was the pathogenic bacterium, with his arms serving as academics and research respectively at UGA is preparing me well capsular polysaccharide—a type of sugar found on the surface for a future career in medicine. of the pathogenic bacterium I am studying. I emulated Pac Man “The entire Avci Lab has always been supportive of my with my hand, chomping away at his sugary arms to illustrate research endeavors, and I would not have made much progress enzymatic hydrolysis of capsular polysaccharide.” without their patience and eagerness to help me learn new Nikhil met other members of Congress and their staff, techniques and concepts. The familial ambiance of the Avci including Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Rep. Rob Woodall Lab has contributed memorable moments to my undergraduate (R-GA), to advocate for funding and discuss his research. He experience—from chasing thrills at Six Flags together to feasting also met with members of organizations such as the American at lab potlucks and playing soccer at Dr. Avci’s house.” Chemical Society and the National Science Foundation and was In addition to his research and academics, Nikhil serves as able to share experiences with other undergraduate researchers. executive director of Red Cross at UGA and sings and beatboxes He attended an advocacy seminar at the American Chemical in the co-ed South Asian fusion a cappella group UGA Kalakaar. Society’s headquarters and toured the main campus of the —Melissa Campbell and Marlow Greer

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

A summer spent in life-changing

commitment to service By Melissa Campbell

ith the help of the Ash Service Award, this summer three Honors students were able to combine their career goals with their dedication to community service through internships at non-profit organizations across the state of Georgia. Alexandra Case, Robert Frantz, and Shivani Rangaswamy stood out in the competitive application process because of their work with various service organizations, and each received a $3,000 stipend through the Ash Service Award. Kathryn and Darren Ash, UGA alumni who now live in Charlotte, North Carolina, established the Ash Service Award to foster a culture of locally focused community service within the Honors Program. Kathryn, an Honors alumna and former member of the Honors Program Advisory Board, now serves as a University of Georgia Foundation Trustee. “We are so grateful to Kathryn and Darren, who are making it possible not only for Honors students to gain important experience conducting community service, but also for them to make meaningful impacts on human lives in the process,” said David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program. “I know that Kathryn and Darren are themselves very dedicated to service, so it is most appropriate that they are supporting Honors students and Georgians in this way.”

Alexandra Case worked on several social media campaigns this summer, including the examples at right.

Alexandra Case Alexandra Case, a fourth-year student majoring in consumer journalism, put her communication skills to use while interning at the Atlanta-based Focused Community Strategies. By the end of the summer, she had become a one-stop shop for communications and marketing at the organization, which empowers under-resourced metro communities through

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

neighborhood engagement programs and works with community members to create holistic solutions to ongoing poverty issues. From designing social media campaigns and marketing products to acquiring billboards and organizing fundraising efforts, Alexandra used all she had learned in the classroom to develop new communications strategies for FCS. “The product marketing was incredible to work on because it was completely in my control from idea to implementation,” she said. “It was extremely satisfying to invest so much into a product and design and see it completed and in the store.” Before interning with FCS, Alexandra worked with ServeUGA and First Book UGA. ServeUGA connects UGA students with service opportunities in the Athens area, while First Book UGA encourages reading by providing free books to low-income students. “Service has always been important to me,” Alexandra said, “so when I saw the effects of poverty, food insecurity, illiteracy, domestic violence, and homelessness right here in Athens, I swore that I wouldn’t get trapped in the ‘college bubble.’” Pleased with her work as a summer intern, FCS decided to hire Alexandra on contract until December. Working with this organization has allowed her “to provide service in a way that provides a hand up rather than a hand out,” she said. Robert Frantz When fourth-year biochemistry and molecular biology major Robert Frantz stepped through the doors of Mercy Health Center this summer, he was a familiar face to many of the staff. Prior to his Ash Service Award internship, he volunteered at Mercy—a free health clinic in Athens that serves uninsured low-income patients—by checking patients in, keeping records, and assisting in the pharmacy. As a summer intern, Robert took on a much larger role. He researched patient visits in order to help the clinic receive grant funding and expand its client outreach. The research component of Robert’s internship was used to determine how many Mercy patients had undergone emergency care. By understanding these numbers, the clinic was able to begin to see the amount of money it could save local hospitals by preventing emergency visits. The results of this research demonstrated the ability for Mercy to lower hospitals’ financial burdens as they take on uninsured patients. In addition to diving into research and data analysis, Robert developed leadership skills by working as a clinic manager. He oversaw operations and communication between staff members and served as the primary contact for patient inquiries about Mercy, its policies, and patient care. “As an aspiring physician, this role allowed me to gain experience and observe a doctor’s interaction with patients,” Robert said. “I have learned a number of strategies doctors use to really connect with their patients, such as sitting down to be on the same level as a patient and asking simple questions to learn more about them as a person. The medicine is interesting, but my biggest takeaway from this role was how to interact with patients.”

Shannah Montgomery

Shivani Rangaswamy gets feedback on her resource booklet from a pregnant patient in rural Georgia.

Shivani Rangaswamy Third-year biology and anthropology major Shivani Rangaswamy gained major research and project management experience while interning with Archway Partnership with the help of the UGA Public Service and Outreach Scholars Program this past spring and the Ash Service Award this summer. Archway Partnership, a UGA Public Service and Outreach unit, connects Georgia communities to university resources to address critical locally identified needs and opportunities. In spring 2017, Shivani was an Archway research intern and developed a comprehensive policy proposal to address low birth weight rates in Georgia. “Through my research, I found the proportion of pregnant mothers who qualify for government and nonprofit aid is

much higher than the proportion of mothers who actually take advantage of these resources,” Shivani said. “Many women may not be aware of the resources available or their eligibility” to receive help. Shivani developed a resource booklet for pregnant women that includes service costs, eligibility and contact information, and various county locations that offer prenatal help. After completing her spring internship, this summer Shivani was able to travel to and live in several of the Archway counties with the assistance of the Ash Service Award. Within these communities, she worked with locally affected women, physicians, medical staff, government officials, and hospital directors who could help increase the scope of her resource guide. Shivani’s immersive summer internship gave her invaluable experience in working with underrepresented populations, combining her career goals with community service, and ultimately developing a tool that would help women across the state, she said. “I had the opportunity to present my project at county executive committee meetings to primary stakeholders in all areas of the community,” Shivani said. “I also spoke to OBGYNs, non-profit organizations, and health departments and distributed copies and digital access of the guide to leaders in these communities who are working toward improving maternal and fetal health.” Robert Frantz, in blue shirt, celebrates with other Mercy interns at the summer’s end.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Prestigious

Students honored with UGA’s top academic scholarships

his fall, the Honors Program welcomed 47 of the top incoming first-year students from around the nation as 23 Foundation Fellows, 14 Ramsey Honors Scholars, and 10 CURO Honors Scholars joined their respective programs at the University of Georgia. The Honors Program administers UGA’s top three academic scholarships—the Foundation Fellowship, UGA’s premier academic scholarship; the Ramsey Honors Scholarship, one of the highest merit-based awards; and the CURO Honors Scholarship, the top undergraduate research scholarship. The Foundation Fellowship was created in 1972 by UGA Foundation trustees to enrich the educational experience of outstanding undergraduates. The incoming class had an average SAT score of 1513 (math and verbal), an average ACT of 35, and an average high school grade point average of 4.33 on a 4.0 scale. Extra points indicate advanced placement courses. Foundation Fellows receive an annual stipend that approximates the cost of attendance—$12,000 plus the Zell Miller Scholarship for in-state students and $19,760 plus an out-of-state tuition waiver for out-of-state students—research and academic conference grants, and individual travel-study grants up to $9,000. Fellows participate in a post first-year Maymester at the University of Oxford, spring group travelstudy, discussions and workshops with UGA and visiting professors, and mentoring from professors who have matched

interests. With the addition of the Class of 2021, the current number of Fellows is 92. The Ramsey Honors Scholarship was created in 2000 by UGA Foundation trustees under the name of the university’s most generous individual benefactor, the late Bernard Ramsey (BS ’37). Ramsey Scholars are selected through the Foundation Fellowship application process. The incoming class had an average SAT score of 1538, an average ACT of 35.1, and an average high school GPA of 4.35 on a 4.0 scale. Ramsey Scholars receive an annual stipend of $6,000 for in-state students along with the Zell Miller Scholarship, and $9,880 plus an out-of-state tuition waiver for out-of-state students. They receive individual travel-study grants of $3,000 and participate in domestic spring break service trips. The current number of Ramsey Scholars totals 35. The CURO Honors Scholarship, founded in the early 2000s, is the top research opportunity offered by the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, which is administered by the Honors Program. This year’s incoming class had an average SAT score of 1425, an average ACT score of 31.1, and an average high school GPA of 4.25 on a 4.0 scale. CURO Honors Scholars receive $3,000 annually for up to four years, continuous research mentoring, and the opportunity to attend special seminars, workshops, and events. The current number of CURO Honors Scholars is 36.

RAMSEY SCHOLARS David Harry Bekore, Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick, New York Erica Kaila Glorianna Bressner, Douglas County High School, Winston, Georgia Elijah David Solomon Courtney, Home School, Gainesville George Branham Culpepper, Westfield School, Perry Samantha Jane Daly, Dunwoody High School, Dunwoody Hannah Yongxian Huang, John S. Davidson Fine Arts School, Augusta Ashley Catherine Martin, Home School, Owens Cross Roads, Alabama Zane G. Placie, Kennesaw Mountain High School, Kennesaw Karan A. Pol, Campbell High School, Smyrna Margaret Frances Schrayer, Princeton High School, Princeton, New Jersey Meredith Elaine Van De Velde, Glynn

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

Front row: Erica Bressner, Ashley Martin, Margaret Schrayer, Hannah Huang, Meredith Van De Velde, and Samantha Daly. Back row: Hayes Way, Branham Culpepper, Karan Pol, Elijah Courtney, Zane Placie, David Bekore, James West, and Teddy Vincent.

Academy, St. Simons Island Theodore Jacob Vincent, Ladue Horton Watkins High School, Creve Coeur, Missouri

Winston Hayes Way, Westfield School, Hawkinsville James Herbert West, Notre Dame High School, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Front row: Phaidra Buchanan, Satya Jella, Angela Tsao, Nitin Ankisetty, Kunho Kim, Asim Ahmed, Brian Woolfolk. Back row: Victoria Fonzi, Zoë Andrews, Avery Warner, Nina Howard, Arden Farr, Isabelle Riddle, Manav Mathews, Kyle Patel, Fiachra Rottinghaus, Rachel Yuan, Zakiyya Ellington, Emma Tucker, Tarun Ramesh, Divya Ghoshal, Katherine Christie, and Anthony VanDieren

FOUNDATION FELLOWS Asim Ahmed, Brookstone School, Columbus, Georgia Zoë Lorene Andrews, Charles R. Drew Charter School, Atlanta Nitin Sai Prasad Ankisetty, Oxford High School, Oxford, Mississippi Phaidra S. Buchanan, Sandy Creek High School, Tyrone Katherine Fredrica Christie, Boca Raton Community High School, Boca Raton, Florida Zakiyya Nzinga Ellington, Allen High School, Allen, Texas Arden Anne Farr, Hutchison School, Memphis, Tennessee Victoria Christine Fonzi, North Gwinnett High School, Suwanee

Divya Ghoshal, Del Norte High School, San Diego, California Nina Grace Howard, Academic Magnet High School, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina Satya Amritsai Jella, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science & Technology, Lawrenceville Anderson Kunho Kim, Oconee County High School, Watkinsville Manav Cherian Mathews, Chamblee High School, Dunwoody Kyle Pishunjay Patel, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science & Technology, Duluth Tarun Neel Ramesh, Northview High School, Johns Creek

Isabelle Olivia Riddle, Sequoyah High School, Canton Fiachra Eileen Rottinghaus, Home School, Lander, Wyoming Angela Lily Tsao, Parkway West High School, Manchester, Missouri Emma Grace Tucker, The Paideia School, Decatur Anthony J. VanDieren, Notre Dame Preparatory, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Avery Elise Warner, Clarke Central High School, Athens Brian Jay Woolfolk, Westlake High School, Atlanta Rachel Janeyee Yuan, Orange County School of the Arts, Fountain Valley, California

CURO HONORS SCHOLARS Courtney Cameron, Lowndes High School, Valdosta Landon Clark, Lee County High School, Leesburg Emma Dickinson, Chamblee Charter High School, Decatur Galilea Garcia, Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology, Conyers Emma McMorran, The Westminster Schools, Marietta

Anthony Potts, North Oconee High School, Watkinsville Aly Shakoor, Woodward Academy, Decatur Joshua Thedford, Woodland High School, Ellenwood Jessica Thompson, Lakeside High School, Atlanta Lauryn Waters, Clarke Central High School, Athens

Front row: Galilea Garcia, Jessica Thompson, Courtney Cameron, Emma McMorran, and Lauryn Waters. Back row: Aly Shakoor, Emma Dickinson, Landon Clark, Joshua Thedford, and Anthony Potts

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

On the edge of South Africa Haidi Al-Shabrawey and Abigail Walker share details of a spring spent near the southwestern coast of a continent

Maymester spent in Stellenbosch, South Africa, became a defining experience for two Honors students this past spring. Third-year political science and international affairs major Haidi Al-Shabrawey and fourth-year history and international affairs major Abigail Walker traveled through time zones and across hemispheres to experience four weeks of community engagement and classroom learning topped off by a few days of wildlife viewing. Through funding from the Honors International Scholars Program, Haidi and Abigail earned six hours of UGA credit and tutored students between the ages of seven and 18 in the Kayamandi community through Vision Afrika, a youth and child development nonprofit organization that operates in lowincome areas on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. The program is directed by UGA’s Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) and is hosted by Stellenbosch University. On the next few pages, Haidi and Abigail share insights into what they learned. Describe Stellenbosch and Kayamandi. › Haidi: Kayamandi, like most townships in South Africa, is extremely poverty-stricken, a clear reflection of the legacy of apartheid that prevented the black population from achieving economic success. The government provides fee-free education in areas such as townships, but due to the inadequate funding these schools receive from the government, the education is sub-par. Resources are scarce, and it is not unusual for a teacher to simply not show up. › Abigail: The first two days I spent in South Africa felt surprisingly “normal.” In a way, Stellenbosch is reminiscent of Athens: The students dress the same, there is a wide and readily available variety of food, and everyone speaks English. This all changes drastically with the simple crossing of a bridge into Kayamandi. I remember our entire bus fell silent as we approached a hill cluttered with metal shacks, so

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

tightly packed together they appeared precariously stacked on one another. Most Americans have never been exposed to poverty at this level, myself included. It was jarring to see entire families crammed into metal shacks not much larger than my own bedroom. A colleague of mine described it as “necessary uncomfortableness,” and I think there is no better term, especially for students like myself pursuing careers in the humanitarian sector. What is life like for the students you worked with? › Haidi: I spent my time at Vision Afrika primarily with high school students in an incredibly rewarding and eye-opening experience. Working with the students in Kayamandi, it became clear there is so much potential. The obstacles standing in their way are predominately as a result of their economic status. Many of them live in shacks and lack basic hygiene, nutrition, and familial support. Despite their circumstances, they are motivated and hopeful, but without the proper education that potential is unlikely to be fulfilled. › Abigail: Not only did we gain valuable insights into the challenges faced in education by Kayamandi students by tutoring them in homework, but their daily lives as well. They have a love for playing, learning, interacting, and receiving attention; the degree to which they receive these things varies and is often wanting, especially in receiving attention. Being able to provide the students with attention, even for one month, was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had. What did you learn through your coursework? › Haidi: Mondays through Thursdays we attended class with Dr. Markus Crepaz and Dr. William Finlay in the mornings learning about South African society and political development. In the afternoons, we saw the combination of the two in Kayamandi. What we learned in the classroom setting was being experienced and understood in a clearer and deeper way.

› Abigail: The classes we took were essential to our work at Vision Afrika. “South African Society,” taught by Dr. Finlay, a sociology professor and South African native, helped us understand modern day South Africa in its historical, racial, and socioeconomic context. “Politics of Development” with Dr. Crepaz, a leading researcher and professor in comparative politics, helped us learn how to practice positive development, helping communities through relationships founded on partnering in innovation, rather than playing the “Western-savior” role. How did your time in South Africa shape your career path? › Haidi: The work we did, knowledge we accumulated, and experiences we had validated my desire to work in sustainable development. The importance of development became increasingly clear as we delved into the academic literature and saw the necessity on the ground. Working in Kayamandi clarified the kind of work I hope to do. While I recognize the necessity of the efforts of those working on the ground, I am primarily interested in the policymaking side of sustainable development. I hope to work for an international institution in consulting with governments in order to help bridge the gap between NGOs and nonprofits and the policy realm to tackle the issues of political obstacles. I want to help ensure development is catered to the country or region at hand according to culture and history. Development is most successful when it’s done with the cooperation and support of the population, which is achieved with cultural awareness, respect, and understanding. › Abigail: Being someone who wants to go into law, I realized the career path I want to take is not as apparently rewarding as other legal jobs, and I am pleased to find I feel indifferent to that. This experience taught me that not only do I love figuring out the practical details associated with non-governmental organization work, but I also love the personal relationships and connections essential to making development meaningful. I know laws are capable of changing to reflect our values and attitudes, and I will strive to make that process efficient and beneficial. What is your takeaway from this study abroad experience? › Haidi: South Africa is a beautiful and immensely diverse country. As a result, its government and the NGOs and nonprofits that work there have recognized the importance of cultural preservation in the development process. Witnessing that firsthand was encouraging. South Africa gave me the experience I needed to confirm my dreams and see the reality of the concepts I read about in class. It was a life changing and eye-opening. › Abigail: I am so grateful to the Honors International Scholars Program for making this trip possible for me. The experience was completely outside of my comfort zone in the sense that I had never planned to go to South Africa, but something about this trip compelled me to take a leap of faith. Working in the township was simultaneously painful, hopeful, and transformative, and I cannot wait to pursue a career that provides me with similar opportunities in the near future.

Director’s Circle funds first student Haidi Al-Shabrawey became the first student to receive financial support from the new Director’s Circle fund through the Honors International Scholars Program. The Director’s Circle was created for young alumni and donors to provide support for stellar Honors students as they pursue worthy experiential learning activities. These can include travel-study, undergraduate research, and internship opportunities. “Through the generosity of donors who contributed to the Director’s Circle at the $1,000 level or above, we are able to provide life-changing experiences that enrich the lives of our students,” said David S. Williams, associate provost and director of the Honors Program. “We are so thankful for our donors and so excited to be able to provide funds for our students.” For more information on the Director’s Circle, contact Dorothé Otemann at dotemann@uga.edu or 706-583-0698.

Top: Haidi Al-Shabrawey stands in front of a vineyard near Stellenbosch, which is one of the most famous wine-producing regions in South Africa. Right: Abigail Walker enjoys 7:30 a.m. tea and biscuits in the bush during their safari. Below: Abigail takes a selfie with one of the girls she tutored through Vision Afrika. Bottom: Haidi rushes through the air during a tandem paragliding flight over Cape Town.

CURO Honors Scholar Nivita Sharma, in purple scrubs at far left, unloads boxes with the doctors and nurses at Sigatoka Hospital along with Peter Hopgood, second from left, the general manager of Outrigger Resort, who helped coordinate supply distribution.

Equipped to care

Honors student starts nonprofit to bring needed medical supplies to Fiji

or Nivita Sharma, an Honors student and CURO Honors Scholar, traveling to Fiji this summer was the chance to visit the country her family calls home. Her family is originally from Sigatoka, on the island of Viti Levu, and the fourth-year biology major and global health minor was eager to learn from and give back to the island nation. Her time there included an internship at Diabetes Fiji funded through the Honors International Scholars Program. She then spent several weeks distributing medical supplies to hospitals and health centers, first aid kits to local schools, and reading glasses to villagers through EqualMed, the nonprofit she founded in 2013 (in 2016, EqualMed was officially registered as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity with the IRS and within a year reached silver status with GuideStar). Through donations from various individuals and organizations, Nivita and volunteers loaded a 20-foot cargo container with 739 boxes of medical supplies worth about $200,000 and weighing in at 8,339 pounds. The supplies—including four stretchers, 40 blood pressure machines, 144 bandage scissors, 15 laryngoscopes, 49 pairs of crutches, three infant scales, numerous first aid kits, and boxes upon boxes of Band-Aids, gauze, gloves, scalpels, sheets, towels, and surgical tape—traveled 60 days on a cargo ship that departed from Illinois and traveled down the Atlantic coast, through the Panama Canal, up past New Zealand, to a port in Fiji, and then into the hands of health professionals in various parts and on various islands that make up Fiji. She also flew five boxes of supplies over from the U.S. and in her luggage carried an otoscope, a medical device used to look into the ears. Nivita’s trips to Fiji started in 2013 with 200 pounds of medical supplies packed into five large boxes. Earlier that year, Nivita's paternal grandmother had passed away. Her

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

undiagnosed rheumatic fever had led to heart disease, and by the time she moved from Fiji to the U.S., her disease had progressed past the point of treatment. “I’m really close to my family, not just to my mom and my dad, but to my extended family, and that’s the culture I grew up in,” Nivita said. “What was extremely heartbreaking was that my grandma could be alive today if they could have detected what was wrong.” After Nivita’s first successful medical supply trip in 2013, she followed up with a second journey in 2014. “This time, I was able to take things I knew they needed, because I was able to do a needs assessment in 2013,” she said. “I knew certain health centers needed stethoscopes, some needed scalpels and scissors. ” Due to other commitments, she was not able to return to Fiji until this year. “Because I’m not trained medically and don’t have any professional clinical experience, I thought I could at least start with donating medical supplies,” Nivita said. “And they’re just simple items like gauze, Band-Aids, stethoscopes, and urinary catheters.” She had heard stories of patients’ lives slipping away because health care facilities in Fiji did not have these simple items, often taken for granted in more developed nations. Because supplies are limited in Fiji, hospitals and health centers often reuse urinary catheters after soaking them in cleaning solution, she explained. They also use the same scissors for multiple purposes, cleaning them but lacking the means to sterilize them between procedures. Nivita would like to do more to help in the future, but for now, "at least I can help improve the state of health care in Fiji through medical supplies,” she said. —Stephanie Schupska

Committing to Honors: Parent Society celebrates its largest membership; father shares why he gives

Jason Thrasher

Courtesy of James McEachin

his summer, the Honors Program’s Parent Society added 30 families through its newly implemented 1960 Club, named for the year the Honors Program was founded. The recordbreaking class of parent givers brings total membership to 51. The Parent Society offers parents the opportunity to connect more deeply with the Honors Program and to stay engaged with their students. James McEachin from Glen Allen, Virginia, is one of those parents. A 27-year veteran of the pharmaceuticals industry, his connection to Honors is through his daughter Samia. Now a fourth-year Honors student studying health promotion and behavior, she chose to attend UGA through the Foundation Fellowship. “In conversations with my daughter, Samia, and her classmates, I’ve gotten a firsthand account of how the program has enhanced their undergraduate experience, especially through the research and travel-study opportunities,” James said. Using Parent Society gifts, the Honors Program is able to grant additional learning opportunities for students through stipends for undergraduate research, internships around the country, and travel-study programs. “Seeing the impact of the Honors Program on Samia’s growth as a young adult has been amazing,” James said. “The travel-abroad experiences, especially, have really given her more of a genuine global perspective, and continue to shape her decisions about her education and her career goals. So, indirectly, the Honors Program has had an impact on me via the

James and Samia McEachin sport red and black in support of the Bulldogs. Bottom: Samia discusses coursework with Katie Hein, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health.

positive impact it has had on her.” This summer, Samia participated in the Honors in New York program, interning at the Greater New York Hospital Association under the guidance of Susan Waltman, a UGA alumna and GNYHA’s executive vice president for legal, regulatory, and professional affairs and general counsel as well as a UGA Foundation Trustee. Samia is currently furthering her studies with a semester spent in medical shadowing in Argentina and other parts of South America. “The opportunities afforded UGA students through the Honors Program deserve our support,” James said. “We all want to see our students reach their full potential, and I feel that the Honors Program and UGA are helping Samia and her classmates do just that.”

James was especially impressed by the dedication Honors Program staff members have for their students. “When you talk to Dr. Williams, Jessica Hunt, and Dorothé Otemann, you can see how emotionally invested they are in the development and well-being of these students and the Honors Program,” he said. “So, I just wanted to contribute in some way.” In addition to Parent Society membership, the Honors Program also has a large number of donors who give to its Annual Fund. The fund accepts gifts of all sizes and goes toward Honors programming like book discussions, where students receive a free book, meal, and discussion with a faculty member; Lunchbox Lectures, which provide students a meal and contact with faculty from across campus; and Alumni Connections, where students network with leaders from a variety of fields. These gifts also support students by enabling them to attend research conferences, receive CURO Summer Fellowships, and gain experience through various Honors internships in Washington, New York, or Savannah. For more information on the Parent Society and other giving opportunities, visit give.uga.edu/honors or contact Dorothé Otemann at dotemann@uga.edu or 706-583-0698. UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2017

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Maymester Adventure

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Third-year Honors cellular biology and sociology major Naomi Siddiquee plays with an elephant during her three weeks in Thailand this past May. Through the Friends for Asia medical internship program and Honors International Scholars Program support, she observed hospital procedures in emergency, surgery, and orthopedic medicine.