
The Brown University News Bureau
1997-1998 index
Distributed May 1, 1998
Contact: Tracie Sweeney
The 1998 Royce Fellowship Program
26 undergraduates receive fellowships for their research, public service
Twenty-six Brown University undergraduates will receive Royce Fellowships,
which will enable them to advance their research and public service projects
locally, nationally and internationally. In many cases, the Fellows will work
side by side with senior faculty in laboratories and classrooms.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Twenty-six Brown University undergraduates have been
selected to receive Royce Fellowships, which will enable them to advance their
research and public service projects locally, nationally and
internationally.
The Royce Fellowship Program was started at Brown three years ago to
recognize undergraduates who have gained distinction through their research,
creativity, service and leadership. The program enables Fellows to complete a
proposed research, curricular development, or public service project of their
choosing, and confers lifetime membership in the Society of Royce Fellows. The
Society supports reflection and inquiry by inspiring Fellows to connect their
scholarly work with that of their peers and faculty. Senior faculty from a wide
range of disciplines serve as mentors to the Society of Royce Fellows.
The program was established by Charles Royce, a 1961 graduate of Brown and
parent of two Brown graduates. Royce, president of Royce Funds, also is a
University trustee.
California
- Kelli Auerbach, Malibu, Class of 1999, is creating a feature-length
documentary that explores the lives of three intersex people. Although it will
rely primarily on interviews, the film will also incorporate historical,
contemporary, popular and medical representations of "genital anomaly" to
create an educational and artistic piece.
- Chris Emanuel, Huntington Beach, Class of 2000, will research drug
dependency and potential treatments. Emanuel, in collaboration with Professor
Gary Kaplan, will investigate the brain circuitry and neurochemistry which
mediate opiate dependency and withdrawal and will examine the mechanisms
underlying opiate addiction.
- Adam Goldberg, Piedmont, Class of 1999, will focus on the historical and
philosophical elements of Huanglao Taoism. Goldberg will help Professor Harold
Roth design a new undergraduate seminar and will conduct independent research
for his honors thesis examining the Huanglao Taoist influence on the poetry of
T'ao Ch'ien.
- Emily Lam, San Francisco, Class of 1999, will create a directory of
health-care services. The directory will include such information as
eligibility requirements for care, fees, hours and accessibility. She hopes the
guide will help uninsured citizens find health services in Providence.
- Pamela Neufeld, Pacific Palisades, Class of 1999, will explore the writings
of Arabic-speaking intellectuals who immigrated to Argentina from Syria and
Lebanon in the early 20th century. For her honors thesis she will collect
writings from archives in Buenos Aires, translate them, and examine their
historical importance.
- Kofi Charu Nat Turner, Los Angeles, Class of 1999, is developing the
Komenda Library Project as a bridge between Komenda, Ghana, and the United
States. The project will encourage dialogue between West Africans and
Americans, cultivate American interest in the spirituality and culture of the
people of Komenda, and generate an exchange of books for libraries in
Komenda.
Florida
- Noah Raford, New Smyrna Beach, Class of 2000, will explore the boundary
between real and virtual space in a project called "The Architecture of
Perception." The project will demonstrate how interaction between these spaces
changes the built environment. He hopes to construct a virtual sculpture in
Providence's new Kennedy Plaza to foster a public memory of this space.
Illinois
- Amanda Kreiss, Northbrook, Class of 1999.5, will help develop a high school
curriculum that will challenge students to examine contemporary social issues
through action. She hopes to increase students' awareness of their connections
to each other and their communities - both local and global- while helping them
affect communities in positive ways.
Kansas
- Benjamin Lerner, Topeka, Class of 2001, will work with Paradigm Press to
reissue "Debridement," a book of poetry by Professor Michael Harper, and to
edit a companion publication of critical essays about the book. He also will be
editorial assistant for NuMuse, a journal of plays from Brown University. Using
this experience, Lerner plans to start a poetry press devoted to the production
of work by Brown undergraduates.
Maryland
- Doug Ulman, Ellicott City, Class of 1999, will evaluate support groups for
young adults affected by cancer in order to isolate effective strategies and
models that could be implemented nationally. Inspired by his own battle with
cancer, Ulman seeks to address a gap in the current health care system by
providing support specifically for people ages 18-30 who are affected by
cancer.
Massachusetts
- Jocelyn Burrell, New Bedford, Class of 1999, will create a community action
component for Brown University's ethnic studies major. She will develop
partnerships with local non-profit and human service organizations to connect
theoretical course work to the social and cultural realities of community
development.
- Felipe J. Molina, Lexington, Class of 1999, in collaboration with Professor
Gary Wessel, will perform research that addresses the fertilization reaction
and the role of cortical granules in the formation of a protective envelope
around a developing zygote. The research will lead to his honors thesis.
- Liam Paninski, Groton, Class of 1999, working with Professor John Donoghue,
will research the ways information is represented in the brain. Paninski will
record the activity of large numbers of brain cells and study neural coding
through information-theoretic approaches. He hopes to illuminate how the brain
realizes perception, consciousness and coordinated behavior.
- Daniel Stein, Marblehead, Class of 2000, working with Professor Gerhard
Friehs, will focus on quantifying the effects of an implantable brain device -
the "deep brain stimulator" recently approved by the FDA. The stimulator
instantly relieves the tremors suffered by people with Parkinson's disease.
Stein hopes to measure improvement in tremors with customized computer
programs.
New York
- Sara Grady, New York City, Class of 1999, will analyze the form, structure
and process of documentary production by creating a film about female truck
drivers. Her work will address female truck drivers' relationships to their
work, their status in a traditionally male-dominated profession, and their
attempts to develop a community within the world of truck driving.
- Paul Grellong, New York City, Class of 2001, will examine the significance
of national monuments through a series of essays and plays about America's
commemorative icons and traditions. He will work with the National Park Service
and will research several historical sites - the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln
Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Arlington National Cemetery - with
regard to architecture and artistic intent.
- Arthur Samuels, Scarborough, Class of 2000, will write and publish a paper
on the Ku Klux Klan hearings of 1871. He hopes that his work on these hearings,
which have never before been fully examined, will provide insight into the
experience of the Reconstruction.
- Tarry Shirazian, Old Westbury, Class of 1999, is creating "The
Interpreter's Aide Program," a service initiative which will place Brown
student interpreters in the emergency and walk-in clinics of Rhode Island
Hospital. The program aims to improve access to health care for those who speak
English as a second language.
Oregon
- Robert Taylor, Grants Pass, Class of 1999, will study Oregon's emerging
policy regarding physician-assisted suicide. He will consider political history
and state policy as well as the moral and ethical tensions of such a policy.
His work will lead to his honors thesis.
Pennsylvania
- Jonathan Mahone, Pittsburgh, Class of 1999, will research the historical
and social foundations of hip-hop music. He will conduct literary analysis,
auditory study and interviews to understand this musical form as an
influential, uniquely American social and cultural movement. The work will lead
to his honors thesis.
- Kate Weisburd, Philadelphia, Class of 2000, will create a comprehensive
status and legal compliance report on the Rhode Island Training School's
non-compliance with a federal court order. She will use statistical and
documentary data to create a portrait of current conditions of confinement and
will compare these findings with legal standards in support of a federal
class-action suit.
South Carolina
- Jeremy Derfner, Charleston, Class of 1999, will study the social history of
black Kansas City in the 1930s. His research, the foundation for his honors
thesis, focuses on how and why a thriving black culture was rooted in the
popular folk cultures of jazz music and Negro League baseball.
Washington, D.C.
- Eli Abarbanel-Wolff, Class of 1999, will research the scope and
effectiveness of the seven sports organizations for the disabled in the United
States.
- Helen Cymrot, Class of 1999, is creating a documentary photography, oral
history and writing program for Providence middle- and high-school students
that will focus on self-expression. She will design the program this summer in
collaboration with a small group of high school students who have been involved
in an informal photography program with her this year.
International Students
- Armando Manalo, Paranaque, Philippines, Class of 1999, will examine the
relationship between censorship and cinematic production in the Philippines. He
plans to compare moral censorship under Corazon Aquino's democracy with
political censorship under the dictatorial Marcos regime for his honors thesis.
- Maria Ospina, Bogota, Colombia, Class of 1999, will review archival
materials from Latin America to support Professor Douglas Cope's research on
the informal economy of colonial Mexico City. For her honors thesis, she also
will conduct her own investigation of early 20th-century Latin American
intellectual history and the role of the intellectual in this period.
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