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TO WEB VERSION
SUMMER/FALL
2003
Dawgs
of Distinction
by
Larry Dendy and Kathleen Cason
For the first time ever, the University
of Georgia has hit an academic grand slam by capturing
some of the most prestigious scholarships awarded
to American undergraduates.
UGA students won Rhodes, Marshall, Goldwater and
Truman scholarships. This year only Harvard, Yale
and Brown enjoyed similar success. Other top scholarships
awarded to UGA undergraduates include a Morris
K. Udall Scholarship.
The six scholarship winners — all students
in the UGA Honors Program — have participated
in research as part of their undergraduate education.
Virginia L. Barton (class of 2004) received the
Truman Scholarship, which will help pay graduate
school expenses. Barton plans to earn graduate
degrees in law and public health to prepare her
for a career in women’s health advocacy.
She spent the past summer in Tanzania studying
healthcare delivery issues related to HIV and AIDS
as well as religious and cultural factors that
affect women’s health. Barton said that “independent
work of any nature is essential for teaching life-long
skills like self- discipline and cooperation.”
Amanda
M. Casto (class of 2004), a Goldwater Scholarship
winner, aims to earn a doctorate in human genetics.
Her undergraduate research took her to Panama where
she studied genetic diversity in tropical tree
species and to Germany where she investigated the
genetic heritage of Polynesian people. At UGA,
she has looked at aspects of molecular biology
of the E. coli bacterium and now is sequencing
the genome of a bacterial virus. She said her undergraduate
research experience will help her pursue a research
career.
Adam
Cureton (class of 2003), the Rhodes Scholarship
winner, concurrently completed bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in philosophy along
with bachelor’s degrees in political theory
and evolutionary theory this past spring. The scholarship
will enable him to pursue a doctorate in philosophy
at Oxford University, England. For Cureton’s
undergraduate and master’s research he studied
social justice as well as privacy and relativism.
He noted that research opportunities “enticed
me to move beyond the classroom” and credited “exceptional
faculty and an intellectual atmosphere that encourages
undergraduate research.”
Laura
Ellen Downs (class of 2004), a Goldwater
Scholarship winner, is a chemistry major who hopes
to develop new medicines someday. So far Downs
has investigated metal-metal bonding and looked
for environmentally friendly catalysts to speed
up an important reaction in organic chemistry. “Research
satiates my desire to know more than books explain,” she
said. “The really interesting things happen
when you actually enter the lab.”
Kacie D. Moreno-Schoen (class of 2005), the Udall
Scholarship winner, is an ecology major. She took
part in two projects at the Maquipicuna Biological
Reserve in Ecuador: one on water quality in local
streams and a second on bird habitats. She spent
the past summer at the New York Institute for Ecosystem
Studies investigating how altered habitat changes
salamander behavior. Undergraduate research has
given her the chance to experience the ups and
downs of research — the thrill of adding
to world knowledge and the reality of “hundreds
of bug bites, waking up at 4 a.m. and changing
projects halfway through a field season.”
Josh Woodruff (class of 2003), the Marshall Scholarship
winner, began his studies of infectious diseases
at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
this fall. As a biochemistry and cellular biology
undergraduate, he spent two years in the lab studying
a genetic disease called porphyria and the parasite
that causes Chagas disease. “Academic research
is a powerful method of instruction — more
so than any lecture given on campus,” Woodruff
said. “Research reminds us that our discipline
has a real world application.”
For
more information, access the UGA Center for Undergraduate Research
Opportunities at www.uga.edu/honors/curo.
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