Graduating seniors receive awards for theses, research and arts projects
Winners of Firestone, Golden and Kennedy honors recognized during Commencement weekend.
Firestone, Golden and Kennedy awards were presented to 37 graduating seniors during Stanford's 2013 Commencement weekend.
Thirty-seven graduating seniors recently received awards for their undergraduate thesis or honors projects. They are the 2013 recipients of the Firestone Medals for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, the Robert M. Golden Medals for Excellence in Humanities and Creative Arts and the David M. Kennedy Honors Thesis Prizes.
The Firestone Medal recognizes graduating seniors nominated by their academic programs or departments for undertaking honors projects in engineering and the social, physical and natural sciences. Twenty-six recipients were chosen for that award this year.
Eleven seniors received the Golden Medal, which similarly distinguishes students completing honors projects in the humanities or creative projects in the fine arts.
Four students received Kennedy Prizes, awarded annually for outstanding honors theses in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. Recipients of this award have accomplished significantly advanced research in the field and have demonstrated strong potential for publication in peer-reviewed scholarly works.
The prize was established in recognition of David M. Kennedy, professor emeritus of history and faculty co-director of Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West, and his longstanding commitment to mentoring undergraduate writers.
Harry J. Elam Jr., the Freeman-Thornton Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, hosted an awards ceremony honoring the winners of the Firestone and Golden medals and the Kennedy Prize during Commencement weekend.
Each winner received an engraved bronze medal, citation and check. David M. Kennedy presented the Kennedy Prizes.
The awardees, their majors, honors projects and faculty sponsors follow:
Firestone Medal
Cody Aros, biology, "Novel long noncoding RNA SMRT-2 modulates epidermal homeostasis through ZNF750-KLF4 axis-dependent mechanisms," Paul Khavari, dermatology.
Bryce Cronkite-Ratcliff, computer science, "The Development of Automatically Verifiable Systems using Data Representation Synthesis," Alex Aiken, computer science.
Michael Diaz, human biology, "Analyzing the psychophysiological correlates of posttraumatic growth in metastatic breast cancer patients," David Spiegel, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Firdaus Dhabhar, psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Elizabeth Knudson Dekeyser, international relations, "National and Ethnic Identity in Africa," Jeremy Weinstein, political science.
Eric Dunn, political science, "Legislators in Suits: Analyzing How Lawyers Make Their Case to the Supreme Court," Justin Grimmer, political science.
Ernestine Fu, individually designed major in engineering, "Is Adaptation Sustainable? A Method to Estimate Climate-Critical Construction Resource Capacity," Michael Lepech, civil and environmental engineering, and John Weyant, management science and engineering.
Elise Geithner, human biology, "Medical Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Pediatric Intensive Care Patients at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital," Lisa Medoff, human biology, and Richard Shaw, psychiatry.
Eric Gomez, psychology, "Beliefs about Sexual Etiology and Their Consequences for Homophobic Bullying," Jennifer Eberhardt, psychology, and Rebecca Hetey, psychology.
Margaret Hayden, ethics in society, "The Ethics of Conceptualizing Serious Mental Illness: Schizophrenia and the Limitations of a Brain-Based Model," Tanya Luhrmann, anthropology, and Mark Budolfson, philosophy.
Caroline Hodge, psychology, "The Nature of Nature: How thinking of Nature as separate from or interdependent with humans impacts concern about environmental issues," Greg Walton, psychology, and Lee Ross, psychology.
Kee Wui Huang, biology, "Differences in cocaine-induced structural plasticity between neurons projecting to D1 and D2 medium spiny neurons in the nucleus accumbens," Rob Malenka, psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Minsuk Hyun, biology, "Expanding optogenetic targeting strategies and redefining optogenetic targeting resolution using multiple recombinases," Karl Deisseroth, bioengineering.
Jennifer Jenks, biology, "Differentiating the roles of STAT5B and STAT5A in human CD4+ T cells," Kari Nadeau, pediatrics.
Daniel Khalessi, Center for International Security and Cooperation, "The Ambiguity of Nuclear Commitments: The Effect of NATO's Nuclear Sharing Arrangements on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," Scott Sagan, political science.
Cynthia Liu, economics, "Using Empirically Estimated Efficiency Frontiers to Gauge Central Bank Performance and Effectiveness," John Taylor, economics.
Stephen Matzat, human biology, "Quantitative MR assessment of hip articular cartilage damage in patients with femoroacetabular impingement," Garry Gold, radiology, and Marc Safran, orthopaedic surgery.
Tess Morgridge, biology, "The effects of non-trophic herbivory by vertebrates on understory plants in temperate and tropical ecosystems," Rodolfo Dirzo, biology.
Anna Ponting, urban studies, "High Tech Urbanism: The Political and Economic Implications of the Smart City," Doug McAdam, sociology and urban studies.
Hannah Rich, education, "Seeding Survival: The Value of School Gardens in Under-Resourced Communities in Cape Town," Nicole Ardoin, education.
Hayden Rodarte, Latin American Studies, "Instances of Quechua in Metropolitan Lima, Peru: Constructing a Diglossic Lexicon," James Fox, anthropology.
Richie Sapp, biology, "Acutely disrupting the function of PirB enhances ocular dominance plasticity," Carla Shatz, biology.
Anna Schickele, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, "One Drop at a Time: Diffusion of Modern Irrigation Technology in the Lurin Valley, Peru," Martin Carnoy, education, and Rosamond Naylor, environmental Earth system science.
Seth Shelley-Abrahamson, mathematics, "Hopf Modules and Representations of Finite Groups of Lie Type," Daniel Bump, mathematics.
Evan Storms, economics, "Incentives and Manipulation in Large Market Matching with Substitutes," Fuhito Kojima, economics, and Paul Milgrom, economics.
Michael Tayag, comparative studies in race and ethnicity; "By the People, For the People: The Role of Community-Based Participatory Research in Building Leadership and Capacity of Workers," Donald Barr, pediatrics, and Kathleen Coll, anthropology.
Daniel Trugman, geophysics, "A Pseudo-Dynamic Rupture Model Generator for Earthquakes on Geometrically Complex Faults," Eric Dunham, geophysics.
Robert M. Golden Medal
Mari Amend, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages (DLCL), "Tales from Grandmother: Depictions of Oral Traditions across Literary Genres in France, 1840s-1890s," Roland Greene, DLCL, and Gabriella Safran, DLCL.
Chloe English, art and art history, "Performance in Art Practice," Gail Wight, art and art history, and Xiaoze Xie, art and art history.
Holst Katsma, English, "Problems of Loudness in the Novel," Franco Moretti, English, and Sianne Ngai, English.
Healy Ko, comparative studies in race and ethnicity, "Prostitutes, Murder, and National Identity: The Death of Yoon Geum-Yi in U.S.-Korea Relations," Gordon Chang, history, and Carol McKibben, history.
Anne Kramer, American studies, "A L'Aube de l'Age Atomique, 'Entre L'Enfer et La Raison' [At the Dawn of the Atomic Age, 'Between Hell and Reason']," Barton Bernstein, history, and Richard Gillam, American studies.
Brendon Martin, theater and performance studies, "Directing Spring Awakening," Michael Ramsaur, theater and performance studies.
Layne Novak, history, "Knowing & Being: The Imagination in British Empiricism, 1650-1750," Keith Baker, history, and Arie Dubnov, history.
Ben Radcliffe, classics, "Texture, Practice, Type Scene: A Study of Iconicity in Homeric Sacrifice," Richard Martin, classics.
John Steinbach, history, "The Long Shadow of Nuremberg: The Evolving Wartime Jurisprudence of Justice Robert H. Jackson," Jack Rakove, history, and Carolyn Lougee Chappell, history.
Eric Tran, music, "Performance of Chopin's Scherzo No. 4," Thomas Schultz, music.
Alok Vaid-Menon, feminist studies, "Rainbows Are Just Refracted White Light: Settler Homonationalism in Neo-Apartheid South Africa," Jisha Menon, theater and performance studies.
David M. Kennedy Honors Thesis Prize
Ernestine Fu, individually designed major in engineering.
Elise Geithner, human biology.
Holst Katsma, English.
Daniel Trugman, geophysics.
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