A look at Faculty Scholars for 2003-04

Each year, faculty are asked to nominate students for the Faculty Scholars Program, which was created by faculty in 1982 to provide scholarship and fellowship aid to undergraduate or graduate students, particularly those who have demonstrated academic excellence. Seven Brown students have been named Faculty Scholars for 2003-04. Here is a brief look at each.

Tanwen Ellis

The moment that ignited Faculty Scholar Tanwen Ellis's academic keenness came during her first semester at Brown in Professor John Tomasi's "Intro to Political Thought."

"Political theory is very much about real human problems and real human suffering," says Ellis, a senior majoring in international relations and religious studies. "It just blew my mind wide open to be discussing different ideas about government, rights and justice. It struck a chord and motivated me to put my nose in the books," she says.

The 23-year-old Cambridge, Mass., native says she is interested in what fundamentally motivates people, how they make decisions, and how those decisions aggregate into social conditions, citing global politics and world religions as particular areas of interest.

During high school Ellis spent time working as a public health educator in a small Andean village in Ecuador, and volunteering in a Massachusetts day care center serving pre-school children infected with HIV. During a year off before entering Brown she assisted special-ed teachers on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico and taught English to monks in a Buddhist monastery in India.

"Having taken time off, working with people, and having traveled and engaged in activities that mattered to me and that helped other people, I felt college was a whole new world," she says.

With her academic dedication, Ellis impressed Associate Professor of Political Science Melani Cammett who, along with Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Muhammad Zaman, nominated Ellis for the Faculty Scholar honor.

"Tari was on a different intellectual and maturity level," says Cammett, who met Ellis during a "Politics of Globalization" course. "She understood the material to a level beyond, and would take her analysis of it to a level beyond that pursued by other students," Cammett says.

Both Cammett and Zaman describe Ellis as an innovative thinker and writer.

Ellis's religious studies thesis will examine several contemporary Islamic political thinkers, exploring aspects of their thought that may have been obscured by stereotypes, such as their concern with social justice and liberation.

Post-Brown, her plans include a Ph.D. program in political science, or service-related work in either the Middle East or Northern Africa.

"The position I end up in must be one that works with people, and works on issues and explores ideas that motivate me and inspire my passion," she says. - Ricardo Howell

Eugene Fukudome

Eugene Fukudome came to Brown as an undergraduate eight years ago. When he leaves at the end of the semester to accept a hospital residency, he will take with him three academic degrees and the distinction of being named a Faculty Scholar.

During his time at Brown, Fukudome, 25, will have earned his bachelor's in neuroscience, a master's in molecular pharmacology, and a doctorate in medicine.

"Eugene came to Brown from Japan fulfilling a lifelong dream of his and his parents to attend medical school in the United States," wrote Dr. Thomas Tracy, professor of surgery and pediatrics in the Medical School. "Everything since his matriculation has been an outstanding progression of accomplishments."

As a student enrolled in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, Fukudome earned honors grades in such varied courses as medical interviewing and pathology. He also worked with students in his capacity as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course.

Fukudome worked with senior faculty members such as Tracy in several research labs, made two major research presentations at professional conferences and contributed to several papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

He found his niche at the intersection of basic science and clinical work - studying a clinical correlation to neuroscience, said Fukudome.

As a member of the lab led by Dr. Gary Kaplan, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior, and molecular pharmacology, physiology, and biotechnology, Fukodome studied the effects of opiates such as heroin, on neurotransmitters in the brain.

By understanding brain circuitry, it may be possible to develop more effective pharmacological approaches for treatment, said Fukudome. Drug and alcohol addiction are lifelong problems with a very high relapse rate. Current treatment for the addiction of the opiate heroin sometimes includes the use of methadone, a drug that has serious side effects.

Throughout the research project with Kaplan, Fukudome played a major role in formulating the study design, methodology and data analysis of studies and also in the authorship of our manuscripts.

Fukudome is seeking a residency in internal medicine with the goal of one day performing critical care in intensive care units.

"He is a true example of a scholar and with that carries the personality of an incredible future physician leader in clinical care and basic science research," according to Tracy. - Kristen Cole

Julia Ann Glenday

When Julia Glenday '04 (far left) first came to Brown, she intended to study medicine. She has since discovered a different calling: She hopes to find ways to prevent some of the illnesses she once thought she would treat and to improve the quality of life and the environment in South Africa.

Now an environmental science concentrator, Glenday was recommended as a Faculty Scholar by Associate Professor Steven Hamburg for meeting "the highest standards of scholarship and citizenship... (and as) a caring person who is committed to her studies and to using her knowledge to make a difference." (She was also nominated by Professors of Environmental Studies Caroline Karp and Harold Ward.)

The daughter of South Africans, Glenday was born in Canada and lived in the United States before her family returned to Africa, where she lived for 11 years before entering Brown. Last summer she traveled to Kenya to work with a local environmental education center - and to conduct research for her senior thesis, a study of carbon sequestration in Kenya's last rain forest. Although the Kakamega forest was designated as a protected conservation area in the 1930s, since then half of its area has been destroyed - cut down for firewood for cooking by the increasingly dense population that has grown up around it.

"Africa has developed very quickly, so quickly that there hasn't been time to plan," she says. "There are huge sprawling slums with no water or electricity."

Glenday will analyze data to determine if it's profitable for Kenya to participate in the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. By measuring and counting trees and analyzing soil samples, she'll assess how much carbon is stored in the forest - and how much is available to purify the air and offset the carbon dioxide that would be emitted by developing industry.

"I'm passionate about sustainable development... I want to see if it's feasible to trade the carbon stored in the forest. If managed the right way, they could get funding from companies (to maintain the forest) in exchange for producing carbon dioxide," she said. But, she also noted, "It's a real challenge to balance the preservation of the forest with the population's needs."

The continent is plagued with numerous environmental problems involving land management and water quality, said Glenday. "It's forecasted that the demand in South Africa will exceed the water supply in the next 25 years."

She was already aware of those problems as a teen. The forest where she often enjoyed walking with her family and friends has been degraded and furtively sold off in large parts by the government, she said.

"Everyone gets a stomach ache (from the water) the first time they go there," she added. "The Nairobi River is blackish-gray, yet it's the water source for many in Nairobi ... people get sick when the water is dirty, and they don't have wood to boil their water. They barely have enough firewood to cook ... this kind of illness is extremely preventable."

Glenday plans to go back to Africa after graduation to continue her work and to share her findings with the government agencies and organizations. - Mary Jo Curtis

Daniel Harkett

Kermit Champa, the Andrew V. Rosenthal Professor of History of Art and Architecture, has followed the graduate career of Daniel Harkett with "something approaching perpetual astonishment" for more than six years.

Harkett's dissertation poses "original and important questions about the art world of Restoration France," Kay Dian Kriz, associate professor of art history, wrote in her recommendation. "His dissertation breaks new ground in analyzing new and rapidly proliferating non-official spaces of exhibition that marked the display culture of the early 19^th Century."

Both Champa and Kriz note Harkett's generosity as a mentor to those he encounters at Brown and at the Rhode Island School of Design, where Harkett has been a graduate teaching assistant. - Tracie Sweeney

David Reiss

By the age of 10, David Reiss had mastered the programming language of his familyÕs 1980s-era Apple II computer. "When we got the computer my dad read the manual and he and I would write programs together," says Reiss. "He quickly stopped understanding the programs I was writing," he says.

Now a 21-year-old math and science concentrator at Brown, Reiss has outdistanced the expectations of his computer science professors.

For example, during the summer after freshman year, Reiss assisted professor Shriram Krishnamurthi and his graduate students. Reiss took a prominent role in the design and implementation of a technology that would allow programmers to upgrade or fix software without taking the software out of operation.

"My experience working with David tells me he's as good as they get - a model of academic excellence combined with a strong dedication to departmental and community service," writes computer science professor John Hughes, whom Reiss has also assisted.

After graduation Reiss will go to work as a software engineer for the Internet search engine company Google. "It's a good feeling other people find a program you made helpful enough to actually use." - Ricardo Howell

Olivia Rissland

For senior Olivia Rissland, being a triple concentrator means triple honors.

Last year Rissland - who will graduate with concentrations in the classics, biology and math - was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; in November she was one of 32 American students named Rhodes Scholars for 2004. Now the Belmont, Mass., native has been chosen as a Faculty Scholar.

"To say Olivia is prodigiously hard-working is barely to do justice to her habits," said Joseph Pucci, associate professor of classics, one of three faculty members who nominated Rissland for this latest honor.

Her science professors have been equally impressed. George S. Yap, assistant professor of medial science, lauded Rissland's talent as a teaching assistant in his nomination letter to the selection committee. He noted that she took an immunology course, "considered one of the most difficult and challenging courses in biology at Brown," as a freshman - and earned an A with distinction - then became a TA for the same class.

During her time at Brown, Rissland has conducted research on bone marrow transplantation, organic chemistry and the cell biology of viruses such as HIV. "I'm constantly amazed at her ability to translate ideas into results at the bench," said Walter J. Atwood, associate professor of medical science who also nominated her.

Despite her heavy academic load, Rissland has made time to be a Meiklejohn adviser, a volunteer at Miriam Hospital, a deejay for WBRU, editor of the Brown Classical Journal, coxswain in a boat club - and to earn a black belt in karate.

As a Rhodes Scholar, she will travel to England next year to pursue a doctorate in biology at the University of Oxford. She told the George Street Journal last fall that she expects to focus on pathology or biochemistry in her graduate studies and ultimately hopes to couple research and clinical practice in a career in medicine. - Mary Jo Curtis

Snigdha Vallabhaneni

Despite the packed schedule of a medical student, Snigdha Vallabhaneni carves out time to travel beyond the halls of academic buildings and hospitals to learn about healthcare.

Vallabhaneni, now in her third year at the Brown Medical School, volunteers at the Rhode Island Free Clinic in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Providence. She has also worked to improve the health of underserved populations in southern India, Thailand and the R.I. State Prison.

As a leader on the Medical Student Senate, she has championed universal healthcare that would end the link between employment and healthcare, and outlined a comprehensive plan to eradicate hepatitis B from the state.

Vallabhaneni designed and conducted a research project on knowledge of hepatitis B within the state's prison population. Hepatitis B, a liver disease primarily transmitted through sexual contact and needle sharing, is a significant problem among inmates. Her findings bolstered an effort to offer hepatitis B vaccinations to all inmates. Rhode Island is now one of the few states in the country to do so.

"I was immediately impressed with her motivation and drive to design and conduct a research project at the state correctional facility, where few other medical students have been,Ó said Josiah D. Rich, associate professor of medicine in the Medical School, who nominated Vallabhaneni for the faculty scholarship.

Funded by a fellowship and grant, Vallabhaneni spent the summer after her sophomore year in India conducting research on HIV knowledge and attitudes toward testing and treatment among pregnant women.

Vallabhaneni is hoping to do more work on the spread of HIV in India, and eventually pursue a residency in pediatrics or internal medicine. - Kristen Cole