Firestone and Golden Medal recipients honored for academic achievement
Class of 1998 recipients of the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and the Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in Humanities and Creative Arts have been announced by John Shoven, dean of humanities and sciences, and Laura Selznick, director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities office.
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The Firestone award recognizes students undertaking honors projects in the social, physical and natural sciences, nominated by their academic programs or departments. The Golden award similarly distinguishes students completing honors projects in the humanities or creative projects in the fine arts.
The medalists each received an engraved bronze medal, citation and check at an awards ceremony June 13 in Campbell Recital Hall.
The awardees, their hometowns, departments or programs, projects and faculty sponsors follow:
Robert M. Golden Medals for Excellence in Humanites and Creative Arts
Prithika L. Balakrishnan; San Jose; history; "Perez v. Lippold The Historical Origin of Color-Blindness in Anti-Miscegenation Law"; George Fredrickson, history.
Cecilia Balli; Brownsville, Texas; American studies; "Staging Culture in Tejano Texas: The Public Performance of Identity in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley"; Ramón Saldívar, English and comparative literature.
Eric A. Beerbohm; Belmont; ethics in society; "Welfare Justice: A Rawlsian Response to the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996"; Mark Tunick, political science.
Chad J. Bennett; Huxley, Iowa; English; "Green/Hitchcock: Statements of Faith"; Jocelyn Lutz Marsh, English.
Sarah Emily Cathcart; Glenview, Ill.; drama; "Artistic Creation in Drama."
Catherine M. Chang; Los Angeles; English; "Oscar Wilde's Moral Presence in His Major Plays: A Study in Revisions"; Ronald Rebholz and John L'Heureux, English.
Anne Lewis Cunha; Loomis, Calif.; drama; "The Extraordinary and Subversive Power of the Dramatic Dream, from Shakespeare to the Contemporary Theatre: A Study of the Dream as a Dramatic Device"; Harry Elam, drama.
Tiffany M. Kuo; Claremont, Calif.; music; "Artistic Creation in Music."
Colin N. Milburn; Wrightwood, Calif.; comparative literature; "Bleeding Texts and Monstrous Authors: Theorizing Horror"; John Bender, English and comparative literature.
Connie E. North; Englewood, Colo.; humanities special programs; "Perceptions of Womanhood in Late 19th-Century Montana: A Comparative Exploration of a Crow and Pioneer Woman's Texts"; Estelle Freedman, history.
Aly Remtulla; Calgary, Alberta; anthropology; "(Dis)Placing Khojahs: Forging Identities, Revitalizing Islam and Crafting Global Ismailism"; Sylvia Yanagisako, anthropology.
Shawn C. Salmon; Atherton; history; "Destalinization and the Historian's Word: The Case of Aleksandr Nekrich"; Amir Weiner, history.
Gabriel S. Trop; Santa Monica, Calif; humanities special programs; "Tarrying with Translation: Language, Aesthetics and Human Emancipation in Walter Benjamin's The Task of the Translator"; Karen Kenkel, German studies.
Sierra Li'en Washington; Palo Alto; art; "Artistic Creation in Art."
Jake Otto Wobbrock; Lake Oswego, Ore.; symbolic systems; "The Law and Policy of Autonomous Software Agents"; Carey Heckman, law, and Thomas Wasow, philosophy and linguistics.
Jennifer C. Yu; Stanford,; linguistics; "He Re'o O Ta'a Poki Nei E Rangi Atu Ena: Language Shift on Rapanui"; Penelope Eckert, linguistics.
Firestone Medals for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Ajai A. Dandekar; Marion, Iowa; human biology; "Signaling Abilities of the Cytoplasmic Domain of the Insulin Receptor-Related Receptor"; Richard Roth, molecular pharmacology.
Sara Millie Ellis; Rapid City, S.D.; sociology; "The Grameen Bank: How Microcredit Empowers Women in Rural Bangladesh"; Cecilia Ridgeway, sociology.
Emily D. Gestrin; Glenview, Ill.; human biology; "A Second Form of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone in Mouse"; Russell Fernald, psychology.
Allison H. Hall; Denver; biological sciences; "Effects of Blocking Action Potential Activity on Axonal Pattern Formation in Slice Cultures of Ferret Cerebral Cortex"; Susan K. McConnell, biological sciences.
Allison S. Hileman; La Grange, Ill.; international relations; "Politics of Performances and Performances of Politics: South African Theater for Development and Its Effect on the Dismantling of Apartheid"; Harry Elam, drama.
Allison M. Himmel; Darien, Conn.; biological sciences; "An Electrophysiological Investigation of Anesthetic Effects at Excitatory and Inhibitory Synapses in the Mammalian Brain"; M. Bruce MacIver, anesthesia.
Pieter T. Johnson; Claremont, Calif.; biological sciences; "An Investigation of Abnormalities in Amphibian Communities: Evidence for Parasite Invection as a Cause of Supernumerary Limbs and other Limb Deformities in Hyla regilla"; Paul R. Ehrlich, biological sciences.
Jennifer A. Jolley; Princeton, N.J.; human biology; "Development of a Broad-Range Fungal 18S rDNA PCR Assay for Use in Determining the Phylogeny of Rhinosporidium seeberi, a Human Pathogen"; David Fredricks, medicine.
Daniel Jay Kao; San Marino, Calif.; public policy; "Does Hospital Ownership Structure Influence Staffing Levels?"; Daniel Kessler, business, and Mark McClellan, economics.
Sulggi A. Lee; Lafayette; human biology; "The Effects of Fine Particulate Matter Air Contamination (PM 2.5) on Lower Acute Respiratory Infections in Santiago, Chile"; Ware G. Kuschner, medicine.
Solomon S. Lefler; Turlock; political science; "The Politics of Cultural Values in Singapore: Explaining the PAP's East/West Dichotomy"; Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution.
Jessa M. Lewis; La Jolla, Calif.; Institute for International Studies Goldman Honors Program; "Alternatives to Intensified Coffee Production in Costa Rica: An Analysis of Three More Sustainable Production Systems"; Roz Naylor, Institute for International Studies.
Shahla F. Maghzi; San Francisco; international relations; "Approaching the Middle Way: The Relative Decline of Mediation and Rise of Litigation in Contemporary China"; Michel Oksenberg, political science.
Janet Lynn Maldonado; Menlo Park; human biology; "A Small Battle Won in the War Against Autoimmunity; PKA Antagonizes Calcineurin Induced Nuclear Translocation of NF-ATp"; Phyllis Gardner, molecular pharmacology and medicine.
Margaret W. Mann; Huntington Beach, Calif.; biological sciences; "The Nature of Signaling through the T Cell Receptor Affects the Regulation of T Helper 1 (Th1)/ Th2 Cytokine Profile by CYTRF"; Patricia Jones, biological sciences.
Rachel K. Marshak; St. Louis Park, Minn.; political science; "Restraining the Sovereign: An Integration of the Democracy and the Democratization Literature"; Michael McFaul, political science.
Amori Yee Mikami; Rolling Hills, Calif.; psychology; "The Effect of Dieting on the Persistence of Dysphoria Among Early Adolescent Females"; Ian Gotlib, psychology.
Biren P. Modi; Rocky Face, Ga.; biological sciences; "Chemical Analyses of Biological Nanoenvironments"; Richard N. Zare, chemistry.
Leif D. Nelson; Santa Cruz; psychology; "The Reversal of Defensive Processing Through Self-Affirmation"; Claude M. Steele, psychology.
Beau Robert Peelle; Locust Valley, N.Y.; biological sciences; "Development of Systems for Studying Molecular Interactions Between Short Peptide Sequences and Screening of Retrovirus Expressed Peptide Libraries for Novel Dimerizing Peptides in Mammalian Cells"; Garry P. Nolan, molecular pharmacology.
Daniel Podolsky; Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico; physics; "Dalitz Plot Analysis of the Decay D+ 'K- p+p+"; Patricia Burchat, physics.
Brian R. Potts; Moraga,; biological sciences; "The Mechanisms for Vascular Wound Repair In Vitro Using Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells"; Marvin A. Karasek, dermatology.
Beth Ann Ripley; Beaverton, Ore.; biological sciences; "The Effects of Temperature on the Jet-Escape Response of the Squid Loligo opalescens"; William Gilly, biological sciences.
Dana Lyn Silverstein;
Phoenix, Ariz.; economics; "The Paradox of Cooperation in
Prisoner's Dilemma Experiments"; Michael Horvath, economics.
SR