Miranda Zindel, a UAA junior majoring in Business Management, is a recipient of the Truman Scholarship, a national $30,000 merit-based grant to undergraduates to use to attend graduate or professional school. Zindel, a life-long Alaskan born in Soldotna, plans to pursue both a Law degree and a Masters in public affairs at Syracuse University’s prestigious Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and its highly regarded law school. With that degree combination she hopes to work as an administrator for a non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Miranda currently works with UAA's Center for Human Development, assisting with a program that advocates training for the disabled. During her time at UAA she has testified on legislation, organized activities and fundraisers, built Habitat for Humanity homes, addressed transportation issues, and become well known as a campus advocate for the disabled.
The Truman Scholarship Foundation recognizes college juniors who exhibit exceptional leadership potential and who have a commitment to a career in government, the non-profit or advocacy arena, education or other areas of public service. The grant provides for post-graduate financial support, leadership training and the fellowship of like-minded students who are interested in public service careers. Receiving this highly competitive and prestigious award clearly marks the winner as a member of a very select group of individuals anticipated to hold major leadership positions in the future.The nomination must go through the Truman Faculty Representative at each university prior to consideration by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. UAA’s Truman Faculty Representative is Dr. James Muller, professor of political science. For more information about the scholarship, contact him at 786-4740 or at afjwm@uaa.alaska.edu.
University Honors student Summer Engler has been awarded a Summer 2006 Alaska Undergraduate Student Research Experience (USRE) Award for her research project "Maintenance of Copper Homeostasis: Effects of Cup1p Overexpression Mac1p-dependent Gene Expression and Survival of S. Cerevisiae." This award will provide $500 for research expenses and supplies, plus a $4500 student stipend.
Congratulations to our 2005-06 University Honors Scholars: Ann Baxter (Psychology), Lindsay Eberhardt (Political Science), Laura Gardner (Psychology), Lisa Nelson (History), Ben Nolting (Mathematics), Ryan Riddle (History), Sterling Sears (Aviation Management), Quentin Simeon (English), and Loki Gale Tobin (Psychology)!
2005 University Honors Scholar Zeljka Jutric, currently attending the University of Nevada Medical School, has been awarded the Durward A. Huckabay, M.D. fellowship to cover a portion of her tuition costs.
2005 University Honors Scholars Ginny Cress and Erin Trimble were both recently accepted into the joint UAA-UAF Ph.D. Program in Clinical-Community Psychology. The Ph.D. Program integrates clinical and community psychology and focuses on rural, indigenous, and cultural psychology with an applied emphasis. The program uniquely combines the spirit of clinical and community psychology. As such, it places strong emphasis on non-traditional service delivery and social action, as well as clinical service delivery to individuals, groups, families, and communities.
University Honors student Kit Persson was selected as a summer field assistant for the UAA Department of Biology and ENRI's summer research projects in Northern Alaska and Greenland. Focus of this study will be on plant and ecosystem ecology research addressing the impacts of potential changes in climate on arctic ecosystems.
Congratulations to the following Honors students who graduated this spring with departmental honors: Nick Szymoniak (Economics), Ann Baxter (Psychology), and Laura Gardner (Psychology).
Congratulations to University Honors students Laura Gardner and Sterling Sears for earning leadership honors at UAA. These students have received this honor because they have had a positive impact on student life at UAA through leadership endeavors and support for student learning opportunities.
Congratulations to Quentin Simeon, who has been selected as the 2006 Commencement speaker! Quentin will graduate in May as a University Honors Scholar will a BA in English. Quentin was the 2002, 2003, 2004 winner of the oratory portion of the annual Alaska Native Oratory Society speech competition. Quentin also received the 2004 UAA Student Diversity Award. Quentin now works at the Alaska Native Heritage Center as the Cultural Programs Coordinator.
Congratulations to 2004 University Honors Scholar Carmen Dargis, who was recently accepted into the M.D. program at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities. Carmen will enter the program in the fall of 2006.
University Honors student and Biological Sciences major Summer Engler was selected as the recipient of the 2006 UAA Parasca Science Research Award. This award supports a significant undergraduate research project in any area of science or social science at the University of Alaska Anchorage with funding up to $4000 for project expenses plus a $1000 student stipend. Engler will research copper homeostasis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae under the supervision of her faculty mentor, Dr. Jocelyn Krebs, in the Biological Sciences Department. The proteins involved in regulating copper levels within the cell have been conserved throughout evolution and are therefore very similar between yeast and human.
Engler’s research may open the way to greater insights involving copper homeostasis. This, in turn, will foster a clearer understanding of copper homeostasis diseases in humans involving copper overload and copper deficiency, such as Wilson’s (http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/wilson/ ) and Menkes diseases. Her research will extend through the spring 2007 semester. The results of the project will be presented at the Spring 2007 Undergraduate Research and Discovery Symposium.
A photograph taken by UAA Honors student Linda Hardyman was selected for inclusion in the UAA 2-D Invitational, held in the Student Union Gallery March 2nd-15th. This show features the creative work of UAA students that has been selected for inclusion by UAA faculty.
University Honors student and Biological Sciences major Reem Sheikh, along with fellow student researchers Jose Diaz, Stefan Novotney, and Daniel Warnke, was awarded a UAA Discovery Grant by the Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarship to help fund the travel expenses associated with presenting their research project "What is the Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Popular Culture?" at the 2006 Pacific Sociological Association meeting in Hollywood, CA, April 20-23.
Honors student Ben Nolting was honored at the 2006 Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in San Antonio with the Mathematical Association of America Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research for his research poster.
Congratulations to Honors student Kristen Lee Hamerski who was selected to attend the Conference of Young Alaskans (COYA). COYA, to be held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks this January, brings together emerging leaders from across the state to discuss and make policy recommendations for Alaska's future.
Congratulations to Hilary Seeger, who was elected to serve as a USUAA Senator and to Loki Gale Tobin and Laura Murray Gardner, elected to the Concert Board.
University Honors student and Mathematical Sciences major Ben Nolting was awarded a Discovery Grant by the Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarship to help fund the travel expenses associated with presenting his research on "Quasipolynomial Differential Equation Modeling of Scavenger Populations" at the 2006 Joint Meeting of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in San Antonio January 10-15th.
Adrienne Eberhardt will play Alice More, wife of Sir Thomas More, in the upcoming production of “A Man for All Seasons.” Quite an honor for a freshman student!
University Honors student Reem Sheikh was awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant for her project "Fluorescent Analyses of Asthma Associated Mucin Protein Expression Exposure to Environmental Contaminants." Reem will be working closely with faculty mentor Dr. Carol Jones.
Honors student Nataliya Udovyk (Economics) will represent UAA at the 57th Annual Student Conference on United States Affairs held at the West Point Military Academy in New York November 13-16, 2005.
Honors Freshman Race Brunton advanced to the final round at the Hart House Invitational Debate and Public Speaking Tournament in Toronto, Ontario. Brunton was the only novice speaker to advance to the elimination round in the Public Speech division, beating out many varsity-level speakers.
Ben Nolting will be traveling this summer to Erie, PA to work with Drs. Joseph Previte and Joseph Paullet of Penn State University on research in biological population modeling. Ben's selection for the 2005 summer undergraduate research team was based on his extensive background in undergraduate mathematics research. The summer research team at Penn State-Erie is funded through the National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
Junior Summer Engler has been asked to speak to the National Business Leadership Network this July in Washington D.C. on the topics of myasthenia gravis and living/succeeding with a disability. Summer will also be presenting on the topic to the Mitsubishi Foundation in efforts to raise money for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America.
