Honors Perspective Fall 2006

ENGINEERING A BETTERTOMORROW

Enablement in Action. PAGE 2

REFLECTIONS ON FOOD AND POLITICS

Prof. Christopher Bosso helpsus understand why there isn'ta single thing about food thatisn't somehow political.PAGE 5

EVENTS AND CAMPUS LIFE

A 2005 photo essay. PAGE 8

NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIPS

Jennifer Noveck ‘04 receivesFulbright Award. PAGE 10

HonorsP E R S P E C T I V E

Volume 2 – Fall 2006

c a l e n d a r o f e v e n t sHonors moves toour new home inWest Village F!

08 .08

Class of 2011moves in

08 .30

Tracy Kidderspeaks to Class of 2011

09 .03

Junior/Senior ProjectProposals Due for Arts & Science studentsfor Spring 07 credit

10 .11

Honors StudentCouncil sponsoredStudy Break atafterHOURS

10 .27

Honors Fall AlumniNetwork Event

11 .02

NCHC NationalMeeting,Philadelphia

1 1 . 1 5 - 1 9

The Boston Ballet'sNutcracker

12 .07

for more events visitwww.honors.neu.edu

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Student ProfilesEngineering a Better Tomorrow:Enablement in Action.Daniel Iagatta III was training for a triathlon, when a car came out of aside street and struck him on his bicycle. The accident in April 2004 lefthim a C4/C5 quadriplegic. In the months that followed, Danny decidedthat he had only two choices: “I could become heavily depressed, have nomotivation and feel sorry for myself,” he said, “or I could say, OK, whereare we going from here.” Buoyed by his religious faith and the support of family and friends, the long-time Foxborough resident chose to live the way he did before his accident - full speed ahead. Despite Danny'soptimistic outlook, his accident left him with debilitating injuries whichcompletely altered his way of life and independence.

Erica Kemp, mechanical and industrial engineering '06, and MichaelJenkins, industrial engineering'06 were approached by their honors advisor Dr. Beverly Jaeger with the opportunity to work with Danny fortheir senior honors thesis. The team's focus was to give Danny some of his independence back and reduce the effects of an altered life style by designing and implementing enhancements for his wheelchair. Theproject began in the summer of 2005. Their journey is as follows:

When two college students, two semesters away from graduating are approached with an opportunity to do extra work it is usuallysomething they may shy away from, but we both saw the value incompleting our honors thesis and thought that it would be worththe extra effort and extra hours of work for that prestigious distinction.We knew working with Prof. Jaeger would mean that the projectwould be demanding but at the same time educational and rewarding.

We began by meeting with Danny at his home to discuss his needsand concerns. From the initial meeting, we felt that working withDanny was inspirational to say the least; to meet someone in his situation that remains upbeat and still has a positive ‘go get ‘em’outlook on life is something that inspires hope in any individual.Additionally we felt Danny really wanted to be involved in everyaspect of the project, which greatly helped us focus on the importantissues to him. The team decided in order to give Danny some of hisindependence back, we would focus on Danny's need to performregular weight shifts and his need to easily transport items.

With our goals outlined, we began the research phase. We began by performing research on wheelchair development specificationsand requirements, design of upper-body rehabilitation/exercise systems for wheelchair-bound individuals, neurological conditionsand disabilities, stress analysis and factors of safety for wheelchairs,and a search of existing hardware that may meet Danny's needs.After the initial research helped to define top level objectives, weset up several meetings to brainstorm possible solutions and gathermeasurements of Danny's wheelchair dimensions, his range ofmotion, and his strength.

Due to the frequency of required weight-shifts, our team first decidedto focus on the weight-shift bars. A weight shift is an activity thatDanny must perform every twenty minutes to ensure circulation inhis lower body by redistributing his weight in the wheelchair seat.In his pursuit to regain lost strength, Danny had opted to performmanual weight shifts under his own strength, rather than have hischair automatically pivot. This is performed by Danny using hisupper body to shift his weight utilizing bars mounted on his wheel-chair. The problem was that the shape of his weight-shift bars (atthat time) limited his mobility. The existing custom-made partsangled upward, which prevented him from being able position his

Erica, Mike, Danny with Jon Doughty

Danny with his new tray-table

Danny Iagatta III withMike Jenkins '06 andErica Kemp '06

3 www.honors.neu.edu

for a final fit check and functionality insurance. Once the final prototype proved to meet all of the design criteria and Danny'sneeds, we again met with Jon Doughty, to discuss manufacturabilityconcerns and materials compliance issues. After receiving the feed-back from Jon, we developed finalized drawings and purchased allof the required materials and the procurement process began.

The day the tray-table was finally installed the team was filled withemotions. All of the hard work and effort was about to finish andeveryone wanted every aspect of the installation, functionality andusability to go smoothly. Some components on Danny's chair neededto be reconfigured due to the addition of the hardware. Thanks toJon Doughty and his vast machine shop, these obstacles only slightlydelayed the installation process. Once the final rivet was attachedand the installation completed, everyone was filled with joy andexcitement. Danny was thrilled with the table and had endlessthanks for the work that the team had put forth. So, with the tableinstalled, the final leg of the project was to apply for a provisionalpatent, per recommendation from Prof. Jaeger. We both saw what agreat benefit the tray table was to Danny and agreed that it could besomething all wheelchair - bound persons could value. As of todaywe have received positive feedback on the status of the patent andhave confidence that the concept will be approved.

We were happy that we were fulfilling a need and especially to seehow much Danny appreciated what we were doing; however, uponcompletion of each respective component was where we truly realizedwhat a difference we were making on Danny's quality of life. Thefeeling of gratitude that both of us get from Danny is indescribableto say the least. He continually sends us emails reminding us howthankful he is and how he feels just so much more normal thanksto the work that we've done for him. Though Danny has much gratitude towards us, we feel extremely lucky to have had theexperience to work with such an enthusiastic and intelligent man.

In our five years at Northeastern, completing countless projects andco-op assignments none of them have even come close to being aspersonally rewarding as our senior honors thesis. Prof. Jaeger gaveus the opportunity to work with Danny (and we are thankful forthat), Northeastern engineering gave us the knowledge and skills tomeet his needs, and Danny gave us the reward and opportunity totruly grow as people and make an impact on the quality of life ofone very inspirational individual.

-Erica Kemp, mechanical and industrial engineering ‘06, and Michael Jenkins, industrial engineering ‘06

wheelchair underneath a table. This may not seem like much of aconcern at first glance. Danny, however, quickly explained to us howthis restricted his ability to dine at a restaurant and how embarrassingit was to eat at a friend’s house, since he would frequently drop foodon his lap due to the distance between his mouth and the table.

After the bars' profile was defined through measurements, data collection, and theoretical applications, we focused on selecting anappropriate material that could withstand the weight and frequencyof use by Danny, be easily manufactured, and be readily available.We utilized ANSYS and Solidworks to create the initial hardwaredesign and to perform finite element analysis. Once we found aprofile that met all of the requirements, drawings were taken to themanufacturing technician, Jon Doughty, for his input and procurementof the weight-shift bars.

After the weight-shift bars where undergoing procurement, wefocused on regaining some of Danny's independence. As a result of his injury, he has no feeling or mobility in his legs and limitedsensory sensation and mobility in his hands. This made it difficultfor him to carry, move, or transfer anything around without the risk of it falling from his lap or his hands. To improve upon this situation, we began to develop a tray-table that must meet the following criteria: remain fixed on his wheelchair in order for it toalways be accessible, have the ability to be stowed away while not inuse, have no effect on his mobility or go beyond framework of hiswheel chair, and must be easy for Danny to operate.

This effort took many meetings and brainstorming activities todevelop a preliminary concept. Here, Danny's inner engineer beganto show; he was a vital part in deciding required support locationsand functional constraints. Once the preliminary concepts wereestablished, we developed several prototypes beginning with highlevel functionality and refined into detail oriented functionality.This was done by continually improving each prototype throughbrainstorming, discussing possible risks and problems, performingtolerance studies, finite element analysis calculations, and functionaltesting- all the while ensuring that Danny was involved in the designprocess and agreed with each decision. After multiple revisions, atemporary finalized prototype was installed on Danny's wheelchair

From left to right, Michael Jenkins, Dr. Beverly Jaeeger, Jon Doughty,

Daniel Iagatta III, Faith Crisley, Erica Kemp

Working with Danny was inspirationalto say the least; to meet someone

in his situation that remains upbeatand still has a positive ‘go get ‘em’

outlook on life is something that inspireshope in any individual.

-Erica Kemp '06, Mechanical and Industrial engineering

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10 Winter Weeks in Moscow

Having been fortunate enough to receive a Matthews UndergraduateAward for 2006, I was able to expand greatly on my Honors projectwith immersion and research in Moscow this past winter. My project,“Speaking in Tongues: Vladimir Nabokov as a Multilingual Writer”, isa study of the remarkable author's prolific achievements as a writer inboth Russian and English. Most famous for the scandal surroundinghis American novel, Lolita, Nabokov has long been somewhat of anenigma and difficult author for audiences ranging from Russian Post-Revolution expatriates in Europe to the American public he assimilatedinto in after the outbreak of World War II. The phenomenon of awriter talented in more than one language is unique in literature,and Nabokov represents the best of a rare and elite lot.

The Matthews Award provided financial support for me to live inMoscow, where I conducted research and study of Nabokov as aRussian author, and benefited greatly from an immersion into theRussian language and culture. I read Nabokov in the original in one-on-one tutorials with a Moscow State University graduate student, interviewed Russian Nabokov specialists, and explored the latest critical studies on Nabokov being done in Russia’s academies—especially revealing as Nabokov's works were banned in the Soviet Union until the late 1980s. Topics in my projectinclude how multilingualism is manifest in characters, narrators,and authorial voice; issues of translation within a text (i.e., for thecharacters in, and readers of, a multilingual novel); and how a highlyindividual style can transcend languages for an author.

-Chris Yarsawich '07

Student Profiles continued

Chika Uchiyama Reports From Cambodia As an international student from Japan, I have always been interestedin working in a developing country where people cannot get the highquality health care like we do in the United States. My internationalinterests as well as my co-op experience have helped to spark myinterests in health care.

In my first co-op, I worked as a phlebotomist in the Department ofLaboratory Medicine in Children's Hospital Boston at the BloodDrawing Laboratory. Performing a blood drawing for toddlers andyoung children was not the easiest thing and sometimes could get stressful as you could imagine. However, I worked to appear confident and professional so that the patients and their parentscould feel comfortable.

With this experience behind me, I knew I was ready for another journey to gain more hands-on experience. I accepted a volunteerposition at the Angkor Hospital in Siem Reap, Cambodia this summer as a laboratory scientist. I spent four unforgettable weeksthere. The hospital is a teaching hospital funded by Friends withouta Border, an international Non-Government Organization. Takingmy laboratory experience in the United States as my background, Iwas able to observe how the laboratory is conducted differently inCambodia where there are less financial resources. At the AngkorHospital I was also able to consider what we, in the developed country,can do to help fill the gap in laboratory technology in Cambodia.

My experience in Cambodia was wonderful. While volunteering atthe Hospital what struck me the most was the status of HIV homehealth care. I accompanied several home health care workers andmet patients. Most of the patients who are 2-4 years old are HIVpositive, they have lost their parents to HIV and are living with theirgrandparents. It was sad to see such young patients suffering fromthe disease and loss.

Now that I have seen this, I know I want to devote myself to HIVprevention education programs. Upon my return to the UnitedStates, I have started to look for places in Boston where I can volun-teer, and possibly will try one more developing country placementbefore graduation in 2008. For more information about FriendsWithout a Border go to www.fwab.org.

-Chika Uchiyama '08

“The Matthews Award provided financialsupport for me to live in Moscow, where I conducted research and study of Nabokovas a Russian author, benefiting greatlyfrom an immersion into the Russian language and culture.” -Chris Yarsawich '07

Chris Yarsawich ‘07


Reflections on Food and PoliticsHonors Seminar: HNR U342 - Food, Politics and Policy

Where does your food come from? The answermay surprise you since, thanks to modernproduction techniques and modes of transportation,even the most perishable ingredients on yourplate can and do come from anywhere in the world.

Now think for a moment the possible politicaland public policy dimensions of that reality, andyou can see how a course on the politics of foodcan offer insights into a broader set of questions.There isn't a single thing about food that isn'tsomehow political, whether we talk about government subsidies, suburban sprawl and itsimpacts on farmland, the dependence of the fastfood industry on low-wage labor, global trade and its impacts on farmers in developing nations,the energy costs of food production and trans-portation, the environmental effects of industrialagriculture, and, above all, the tensions inherentin societal demands for cheap and pure food.

Northeastern is a typical large eastern urbanAmerican university. Few of its students or facultyhave any connection to agriculture or food production. There is little if any connection to the land—or, for that matter, the sea that was somuch a part of Boston's maritime heritage. But it is the consumer who must better understandhow food is produced, processed, and delivered,as well as the public policy dimensions of food, if Americans generally are to develop a fullerunderstanding of the impacts of food productionon the society, human health, and the environment.

For example, we tried to see how those who produce our food often find themselves caught in the crossfire between the dictates of a globalmarket for agricultural commodities and critics of modern agriculture who see the current system as unsustainable. We also examined the policydimensions of eating and nutrition, looking atcultural and societal influences on consumption,the interplay of factors such as work and commuting on how we eat, and, finally, how suchconsumption patterns shape the food productionsystem. We thought about alternatives to the system, including what it would take to promotemore reliance on locally produced foods. In short,we explored a wide range of topics, and ended upwith more questions than answers. But, I hope,the students came away with an appreciation forthe complexity and political ramifications of thefood system.

The course ended with a poster session at whichstudents presented their research on topics suchas the New England fisheries, crop subsidies, the USDA nutrition pyramid, and geneticallymodified organisms.

It also ended, fittingly, with a communal meal.After all, one must eat.

-Christopher J. Bosso is a Professor of Political Science

In The Classroom

“There isn't a singlething about food that

isn't somehow political,whether we talk about government subsidies,

suburban sprawl and itsimpacts on farmland,the dependence of thefast food industry on

low-wage labor,...”

-Prof. Christopher Bosso

Honors seminar studentspresent research on food politics

Students feast in Prof. Bosso's honors seminar, The Politics of Food

Events and Campus Life

2006 graduation ceremonies.

President Richard M. Freeland awardsthe presidential scholars for 2006.

Kennedy Hall hostsan evening at theImprov Asylum.

Students present their junior/seniorprojects at the Annual Honors Evening

Annual Alumni Networking Event at the faculty club.

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What’s Happening?Students Network withHonors AlumThe 2nd Annual Alumni Networking Event held atthe Faculty club in Kerr Hall was a huge success.Nine alumni shared experiences and gave adviceand guidance while socializing with honors middlers, juniors and seniors on March 30th.

Special thanks to the Alumni who were able toparticipate including Alyssa Meritt, BA '98, AriBessendorf, BS '01, Doug Tillberg, BS '00, LeslieSutro, BS '96, Tim O'Rourke, BS '90, GeorgeProakis, BS '95, Rindge Leaphart, BS '91, PaulinaMirenkova, BS '01 and Sabrina Woods, BA '93.

Honors Students Participatingin International Co-ops July - December 2006L A R RY G A L B R A I T H

‘08 chemical engineeringLoctite Corporation, Henkel Industries, Dublin, Ireland

B R I T TA N Y L E I B

‘07 music industryPolydor Records, London, England

CATHER INE MCGIVNEY

‘07 human resources managementBank of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

J IMMY WENG

‘07 business administrationMorgan Stanley, Hong Kong, China

New Officers Elected to the Honors Student Council for 2006-2007President – Andrew Cabasso ‘09

Vice-President – Jimmy Weng ‘07

Co-Treasurers – Chris Herrmann ‘07 & Michael Grant ‘09

Academic Chairperson – Christopher Yarsawich ‘07

Co-Events Coordinators – Lauren Kling ‘09 & Carolyn Andrews ‘08

For more information on the Honors Student council, please contact President Andrew Cabasso at [email protected].

Cynthia Gillham '06 andPaulina Mirenkova '01

left: Brad Francis '08

center left: Danielle Chaplick'06, ChrisitnaPampoukidis '06,Rachel Gordon '06

center right: Nicholas Sturm '07

right: Lisa Li '07, Liz Fang '07,

Alums Sabrina Woods '93, Tim O'Rourke '90

Honors Alum at the Faculty Club in March


Honors Evening a SuccessThe 3rd Annual Honors Evening took place in the Curry Student Center on April 5, 2006. Distinguished Prof. David Rochefort of thePolitical Science Department was the keynote speaker as a record number of students presented their Junior Senior Projects this spring.Over 150 Honors students participated in the evening's activities. Students presented the following projects:

Sarah Angell ‘06, nursing“Sexual Decision Making”

David Baldwin ‘06, computer science & cognitive psychology“Shallow Acquisition ofDomain Concepts by NaïveLearners”

Danielle Chaplick ‘06, political science“Social and Fiscal ChallengesFacing Medicaid System”

Cynthia Gillham ‘06, economics“Development Policy of South America: Its Success and Failures”

Megan Healy ‘06, nursing“Neuropsychological Sequlae ofMild Traumatic Brain Injury”

Ben Jacobs ‘06, mechanical engineering“Combustion Lab”

Erica Kemp, mechanical andindustrial engineering ‘06,and Michael Jenkins, industrialengineering ‘06“Engineering a BetterTomorrow: Enablement in Action”

Daniel Knudsen ‘06, behavioral neuroscience“Creating Functional NeuralControl Circuits IncorporatingBoth Discrete-time, map basedneurons and Hindmarsh RoseElectronic Neurons”

Ilya Luvish ‘06, history“Post War Pogroms in EasternEurope: An Analysis”

Liane Marquis ‘06, English“Marlowe, Tamburlaine and theDemise of TraditionalElizabethan Monarchy”

Tracie Munzert ‘06, nursing“Messages in Gestures: Voicesof 11-14 Year Old AfricanAmerican Girls and TheirMothers in Regard to TalkingAbout Sex”

Heidi Nelson ‘06, theatre“Confronting the Tragic Flaw:Dramaturgy, A View from theBridge, and the AmericanCitizen”

Cristin O'Leary ‘06, political science“Lessons from FemaleMassachusetts Elected Officials:How Women can beEncouraged to Run for Political Office”

Vanessa Russo ‘06, nursing“Parents of Chronically IllChildren: Exploring theCoping Styles of Partnered andUn-Partnered Parents”

Rebekah Sherman ‘06, pharmacy“Knowledge and Attitudes ofMassachusetts PharmacistsRegarding MMA 2006: ANeeds Assessment”

Angela Sparrow ‘06, behavioral neuroscience“Kappa Opioid Activation of theMAPK Pathway and ItsInvolvement in CocaineLocomotor Sensitization andDrug Reward”

Elizabeth Vivanco ‘06, international affairs“Socio Economic Impacts of Micro Credit: Case of Rural Mexico”

Paula Weinberger ‘06, criminal justice“Evaluations of Boston’sDelinquency PreventionPrograms”

Christopher Yarsawich ‘07, independent major—russian studies“Vladimir Nabokov as aMultilingual Writer”

Theresa M. Young ‘06, criminal justice“Validity of the FBI’s Profiling Typology”

Angelica Zatorski ‘07, nursing“Voices of Parents on theirChild's DisorderNeurofibromatosis 1”

Sophomore Abeba Attles, international affairs also presented her paper “Exploring the AfricanImmigrant Community in Boston” and plans to complete a Junior/SeniorProject in the future.

Prof. David Rochefort and Heidi Nelson, Theatre 06

Interim Dean for PharmacyJohn R. (Jack) Reynolds

Dean James Stellar, College ofArts and Sciences and Daniel

Knudsen ‘06 and Kara Bliss ‘06

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Fellowships, Scholarships and AwardsHonors Alumni Jennifer Noveck, internationalaffairs '04, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S.Student scholarship to China in Women’sStudies. Noveck is one of over 1,200 U.S. citizenswho will travel abroad for the 2006-2007 academicyear through the Fulbright Student Program.Established in 1946 under legislation introducedby the late Senator J. William Fulbright ofArkansas, the Program's purpose is to buildmutual understanding between the people of theUnited States and the rest of the world.

The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, issponsored by the United States Department ofState, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.Since its inception, the Fulbright Program hasexchanged approximately 273,500 people - 102,900Americans who have studied, taught or researchedabroad and 170,600 students, scholars and teachers from other countries who have engagedin similar activities in the United States. TheProgram operates in over 150 countries worldwide.

During her four years at Northeastern, Noveck'sprimary focus was China and East Asia. Shereceived the Amelia Peabody Scholarship and later,as a middler, Noveck was awarded NortheasternUniversity's Presidential Scholarship for her academic work and her co-op experience at theNational Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls,New York.

A team organized by the Honors Program helpedfacilitate her Fulbright application. This processincluded consulting with campus scholars withties to China including Professor GordanaRabrenovic in Sociology and Dr. Lihua Wang inWomen's Studies. Their help ranged from readingher proposal, establishing contacts in China, andtranslating letters of interest and invitation.

The Fulbright proposal was not her first attemptto travel and study in China. In the Spring of2003 she applied to do study abroad in Beijingand was accepted. However, at that time theSARS scare was at its height and the program wascancelled for the Fall semester. As study abroadis a requirement for International Affairs majors,she made the decision to go to Tokyo instead inorder to gain another perspective on East Asianrelations. Upon her return she graduated summacum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in InternationalAffairs and a minor in Asian Studies.

Noveck will continue her work in Women’s Studiesand International Affairs in China by doingresearch on how rapid economic developmentand the reemergence of traditional cultural beliefs are currently affecting Chinese women'semployment opportunities. She will also beresearching the social policies that have been createdto combat cultural values that have been difficultto change. While in China Noveck will maintainand photoblog and blog, www.nurenxintan.com,which is currently under construction. She will beleaving for Shanghai on September 19th.

Jennifer Noveck Receives U.S. Student Fulbright Award

Noveck will continueher work in Women's

Studies andInternational Affairs

in China by doingresearch on how rapideconomic developmentand the reemergence of

traditional culturalbeliefs are currently

affecting Chinesewomen's employment

opportunities.

Jennifer Noveck ‘04


s and AwardsMatthew H. Daniels, chemistry '08, from EastLyme Connecticut, was awarded the Barry M.Goldwater Scholarship for the year 2006 for hisexcellence as an undergraduate in Chemistrywhile at Northeastern University.

As an undergraduate honors student atNortheastern University, Matt has been workingwith Professor Rein Kirss over the course of twoyears investigating the kinetics of phosphineexchange on organoruthenium compounds.

Matt spent six months at Novartis Institute forBiomedical Research with the chemogeneticsgroup during co-op. During that time he workedon two major projects one dealing with affinitychromatography and one involving organic synthesis. In addition to receiving the GoldwaterScholarship, Matt is a Carl S. Ell scholar and hasreceived the Niantic Rotary Club CommunityService Scholarship as well as the Carole J. Ulrich-Shapazian award. After graduating fromNortheastern Matt plans to pursue a Ph.D. inOrganic Chemistry and conduct academicresearch or work in the field of pharmaceuticalmedicinal chemistry.

The Goldwater Scholars were selected on thebasis of academic merit from a field of 1,081mathematics, science, and engineering studentswho were nominated by the faculties of collegesand universities nationwide. One hundred eighty-two of the Scholars are men, 141 arewomen, and virtually all intend to obtain a Ph.D.as their degree objective. Thirty-two Scholars aremathematics majors, 234 are science majors, 47are majoring in engineering, and 10 are computerscience related majors. Many of the Scholars havedual majors in a variety of mathematics, science,engineering, and computer disciplines.

The one and two year scholarships will cover thecost of tuition, fees, books, and room and boardup to a maximum of $7,500 per year.

Goldwater Scholars have very impressive academicqualifications that have garnered the attention ofprestigious post-graduate fellowship programs.Recent Goldwater Scholars have been awarded 63Rhodes Scholarships (5 of the 42 awarded in theUnited States in 2006), 80 Marshall Awards (8 ofthe 40 awarded in the United States in 2006),and numerous other distinguished fellowships.

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowedagency. The Scholarship Program honoringSenator Barry M. Goldwater was designed tofoster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, thenatural sciences, and engineering. The GoldwaterScholarship is the premier undergraduate awardof its type in these fields.

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Awarded to Matthew H. Daniels

Matt spent six months at Novartis Institute forBiomedical Research with the chemogenetics groupduring co-op. During that time he worked on two major projects one dealing with affinitychromatography and one involving organic synthesis.

Matthew Daniels ‘08

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Two Honors History majors were elected to takepart in the Phi Alpha Theta New England conference on historical research at YaleUniversity on 22 April 2006. Phi Alpha Theta is the History Honors society, requiring a B+ average or above for admission in the final twoyears of undergraduate study.

In 2005, graduating history major, Ilya Luvishwon a Gladys Brooks Award to study anti-Jewishviolence in Eastern Europe after World War II.For his senior Honors thesis, Luvish worked forseven months in Russian and Hebrew archivalmaterials in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, the world'spremiere research collection for Jewish History.

Junior History major Alice Saunders won theRobinson Writing Award in April 2005 for heroriginal research paper on the ClarksvilleTennessee Coffee House, a study of Vietnam veterans' opposition to the Vietnam war. Inautumn 2005, Saunders received a ProvostUndergraduate Research Grant to continue herresearch on the Vietnam veterans' movementagainst the Vietnam war, 1965-1971, which is thefocus of her research for a senior Honors’ Thesisin History in 2006-2007.

In all, 36 students took part in the conference,from regional colleges and universities thatincluded Yale University, the U.S. Military Academyat West Point, the University of Michigan, amongothers. Papers were reviewed by panels of experts,

judged on the basis of research, analysis, style,and presentation. Both Northeastern studentsranked in the top six of all participants at the conference, while the other four slots were sharedby students from Yale University and QuinnipiacUniversity. Alice Saunders received the award for“Best Paper” in the conference.

Associate Professor of History Jeffrey Burdsaccompanied the students to Yale, and took partin the reviews. “This conference has sent a clearsignal to the rest of the world that NU History is second to none in training our students inundergraduate research.” Burds added that Luvish and Saunders were the only students to do research in archives; all the others relied onlibrary research of published primary and secondarymaterials alone. “The quality of NU studentresearch was well beyond the work I saw in anyother paper,” Burds added. “We are enormouslyproud of what our students have accomplished.”

“This is exceptionally high-quality work,” statedTim Brown, Assistant Professor in the Historydepartment, and Faculty Advisor in the Phi AlphaTheta program. “Alice Saunders has come upwith a real treasure trove of source materials onthe GI Coffee House movement. Ilya Luvish haslikewise done research and writing of unusualdepth and skill. These accomplishments reflectwell on the History department at Northeastern.”

Northeastern Honors History Students Enter National Spotlightfor Undergraduate Research

Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards (cont.)

History majors senior Ilya Luvish ‘06 andjunior Alice Saunders ‘07 took part in the PhiAlpha Theta conference on UndergraduateHistory research at Yale University.

“Alice Saunders has come up with a real treasure troveof source materials on the GI Coffee House movement.-Tim Brown, Assistant Professor in the History Department, and Faculty Advisor in the Phi Alpha Theta program


Steamboat FoundationScholarship Kristen Daley, a middler nursing major fromMedfield, Massachusetts has received theSteamboat Foundation Summer Scholar awardfor 2006 to do summer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The Steamboat Foundation Scholarship wasfounded in 2003 by Peer Pedersen and AndrewWalter, managing partners of Blue Orchid Capital, LLC. The award includes a significantfinancial grant, and the opportunity to work withacknowledged leaders in their field of focus.

Kristen is in her fourth year as a nursing studentat Northeastern University. She is active on campus, serving on both the Dean's StudentCouncil and the Interdisciplinary StudentAdvisory Council for Bouvé College of HealthSciences. She is a member of OSCCR's JudicialHearing Board as well. Kristen is a member ofthe National Organization for Albinism andHypopigmentation where she serves as the TeenSpecial Interest Group Chairperson. As chair,Kristen speaks at national conferences, and she hascreated a nationwide mentoring program for youngchildren and teenagers with albinism. Kristencompleted her first co-op at Beth Israel DeaconessMedical Center, working as a patient care technicianon a surgical/trauma step down unit.

Matthews Award for 2006-2007 Each year, a Matthews Honors UndergraduateAward is given to two honors students working aJunior/Senior Honors Project. Named for GeorgeMatthews, chairman emeritus of the Board ofTrustees, the award is granted by a committeecomposed of Matthews distinguished universityprofessors. Each student is awarded a researchstipend of $10,000 to complete their project.This year the award has been given to two honorsstudents in the College of Arts and Sciences.

J ENNEL LE YOPCHICK psychology '07“Drug Therapy Versus Psychotherapy, WhichWould You Choose?”

E L I SE LAF LAMME biology '08“Maternal Hemoglobin Concentration andPregnancy Outcome: A Study of the Effects ofElevation in La Paz, Bolivia”

Phi Kappa Phi Award ofExcellence 2006-2007Jared McBride '04, history, was one of 40 stu-dents who received Awards of Excellence valuedat $2,000 each to support first-year graduatestudy at institutions of their choice by the HonorsSociety of Phi Kappa Phi for 2006-2007. Jaredwas a recipient of the Matthews UndergraduateAward as an honors student at Northeastern.

This spring, Jared received equal offers fromStanford and UCLA, and selected UCLA for aPhD program in Soviet history. He will be working with J. Arch Getty, a respected historianof the Soviet Union in the Stalin era. His fullscholarship stipend will support his classworkand summer research and travel.

s and Awards (cont.)

Kristen is in her fourth year as a nursing student atNortheastern University. She is active on campus, serving on both the Dean's Student Council and theInterdisciplinary Student Advisory Council for BouvéCollege of Health Sciences.

Kristen Daley ‘08

Jared McBride ‘04

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Gladys Brooks Award for 2006-2007 The Gladys Brooks Award was establishedthrough an endowment from the Gladys BrooksFoundation. The Award provides financial support to a student who is working on his or her Junior/Senior Honors Project. The awardfunds one student with a research stipend of$10,000. Congratulations to Margot Morse, communications '07. She is completing her project on the Paris Riots of 2005. Her paper is titled, “Is Paris Burning? Media Coverage ofthe Crisis of the French National Identity duringthe Paris Riots of 2005”

2006 Presidential Scholars This year, 9 of the 12 Presidential Scholarshipawards to middlers were given to Honors stu-dents. To be awarded a Presidential Scholarshipstudents must have completed their sophomoreyear, participated in co-op, and demonstratedexcellence in their major, their liberal artscourse(s), and their cooperative work placement.Candidates must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. Presidential Scholars receive fulltuition for the remainder of their undergraduateprogram at Northeastern. Congratulations to thefollowing students:

Kate Allstadt, environmental geology '08

Matthew Bouchard, chemical engineering '08

Si Chen, biochemistry '08

Kristen Daley, nursing '08

Kristen Flowers, physics '08

Stacey Markovic, electrical engineering '08

Megan McKee, journalism '08

Armine Nalbandian, communication studies '08

Allison Wyman, criminal justice '08

Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards (cont.)

Megan McKee,journalism ‘08

Prof. Philip Serafim withStacey Markovic, electricalengineering '08

Kristen Daley, nursing '08and Armine Nalbandian,communication studies '08

President Richard Freeland awards the 2006-2007 Presidential Scholars

Allison Wyman, criminal justice '08


Junior Senior Honors Grants2006-2007 For the first time this year, students with outstanding Junior/Senior Honors Projects wereawarded a Junior Senior Honors Grant to helpthem complete their research. Each student will be presenting their projects at the AnnualHonors Evening in April 2007.

K IM GAL IONE criminal justice ‘07The Effect of Incarceration on Prisoner’s Children

PAUL CARLETON English ‘07Visual Design in Contemporary Fiction

A LYONA MICHEL economics ‘07The Moscow Art Market

PATR ICK ARMSTRONG political science ‘07Effects of US and EU Agricultural Subsidies onGrowth in sub-Saharan Africa

AL ICE SAUNDERS history ‘07Vietnam Vets Against the Vietnam War: The People’sHouse in Clarksville, Tennessee (1970-1971)

TOBY SHEPHERD political science ‘07Corporate Welfare and the Mass E.D.I.P.

GEORGE PROAK IS BS '95 civil engineering

George Proakis is the Chief Planner for the City ofLowell Massachusetts, an innovative historic mill city.He has focused his work in Lowell on addressingredevelopment in Lowell's traditional neighborhoodsand downtown. He has six years of experience working on strategies for economic development inagricultural communities in Upstate New York. Hereceived a Bachelor of Science degree in CivilEngineering from Northeastern University, a Masterof Public Administration Degree from the MaxwellSchool at Syracuse University, and a Master of CityPlanning Degree from MIT.

A LYSSA MER I T T BA '98 English

Highlights of Alyssa's career include a stint at TheHay Group, a management consultancy, writing atravel column for a local paper, and leading the marketing and PR efforts for a travel dotcom. She has also worked with major corporations such asOrbitz, Travelocity, Virgin Atlantic and MTV on marketing initiatives. Alyssa now works atNortheastern as Associate Director of InteractiveMarketing. She's leading a University wide websiteredesign and the implementation of a content management system.

R INDGE L EAPHART BS '91 finance/international business

A native of neighboring Roxbury, Rindge is currentlythe General Manager for a $45M division of AveryDennison, based in Buffalo, NY. He previously workedat B/E Aerospace in various roles: VP Sales &Marketing, VP of Operations, Director of Operations andMarketing Director. He has also worked at Siemens asProduct Planning Manager, Arthur Andersen as SeniorConsultant, and Bull Information Systems as a CostAccountant and Financial Planning Analyst. He is a1997 graduate of Harvard Business School.

Where Are They Now?

s and Awards (cont.)

President Freeland withKristen Flowers, physics ‘08

Northeastern Universtiy Honors Program360 Huntington Avenue150 West Village FBoston, Massachusetts 02115

tel: 617.373.2333fax: 617.373.5300e-mail: [email protected]

w w w. h o n o r s . n e u . e d u

Honors PERSPECTIVE Volume 2 – Fall 2006

Welcome to the Honors Perspective!We are busy at work preparing for your return to campus this fall. Since our last issue we have relocated to our new campus home in West Village F. The space is beautiful and we know that you will enjoy taking advantage of the great student lounge and seminar room.

During the past spring, we held our second annual Honors Networking Event. Alums from various professional backgrounds worked with us to present strategiesfor both employment and graduate school applications. In addition, we held the most successful to date Honors Evening at the end of the spring term. Studentscompleting their Junior/Senior Project, together with their faculty mentors presented their work to other Honors students, faculty and administrators includingthe Provost Abdelal and Vice Provost Hill. Our guest speaker was Professor Rochefort from Political Science, one of our Honors Seminars faculty. Finally, we had consultants from the National Collegiate Honors Council visit our program during the spring. They met with a number of faculty, administrators andstudents and made suggestions that will help us move toward national “best practices” in honors programming.

As always, the spring required a flurry of meetings between the Honors Program and the Office of Admissions.At the end of the day we were all excited by the students who have decided to join us here on campus this fall.We have a special inaugural program for them which includes moving on to campus on August 30th. In conjunction with their arrival, we are initiating the Honors First Year Reading Program and all new studentsare reading Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains and will hear him speak on September 3rd.

We are all geared up for the fall. Lots of student committees are in the process of setting up and as always weare looking for your good ideas and your energy to help make the fall move along. Thanks go to the officers ofthe Honors Student Council and their countless hours of effort in helping to host spring events. And of coursethanks to all of you who have shared your accomplishments and adventures that we have been able to feature in this edition of the Perspective and on our web pages. Be sure to visit us in our new location in West Village Fand don't hesitate to contact me about both program ideas and concerns.

Prof. Maureen Kelleher -Director

Documents

Honors Perspective Fall 2006