Matthew Backes, a 1993 graduate of Hamilton College, has been awarded a 2002 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The awards support original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences.

Backes is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University in the field of American history. His proposed dissertation title is "After Independence: Paternal Authority, Filiial Identity and the Making of American Middle-Class Culture, 1800-1850."

The 33 2002 Newcombe Fellows will receive $16,500 each to support 12 months of full-time dissertation research and writing. They were selected from among more than 400 applicants.