National Fellowships and Scholarships
Anusha Karki ’24, was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and will spend the coming year researching what she has referred to as “the hidden help.” Specifically, she plans to explore migrant domestic labor, community-building, and humanitarianism in four countries: the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Cyprus, and Australia. The national fellowship, awarded to graduating seniors from 41 partner institutions, grants recipients $36,000 to pursue academic topics of their own design.
Ann “Annie” Kennedy ’24 and Luis Felipe López Cruz ’24 were awarded Hamilton’s prestigious Bristol Fellowship. The program is designed to “encourage discovery of self and the world, a greater appreciation and understanding of people and culture, and to enable individuals to act on great ideas through independent study projects.”
Kennedy, a chemistry and economics double concentrator, will travel to the Netherlands, South Africa, Indonesia, and Australia to explore her project, “The Story and Potential of Trash.” López Cruz, an anthropology concentrator, plans to visit Cuba, Peru, South Africa, Costa Rica, Singapore, and Taiwan to explore “Loving Blossoms: Orchid Culture, Symbolism, Meaning, and Practice.”
Five members of the Class of 2024 were awarded Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships. Gabriela de Mendonca Gomes, Eric Moss, Jessica Parsons, Eliana Good, and Gweneth Child will head off to other countries through the program, where they will polish their teaching skills, learn new languages, and serve as cultural ambassadors.
The U.S. State Department initiative is aimed at improving foreign students’ English language abilities and knowledge of the United States while increasing the Fulbright Scholars’ own language skills and knowledge of the host country.
Samuel Cho ’26 will study in South Korea this fall, and Norma Callejas '26 will travel to Japan in spring 2025 for study abroad, thanks to assistance from Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships. A Gilman Scholarship enables American students to gain proficiency in diverse languages and cultures, skills that are critically important to their academic and career development.
Clare Robinson ’25, an environmental studies major from Philadelphia, received a $7000 Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. The highly competitive program identifies future leaders in environmental, Tribal public policy, and health care fields. It honors the legacies of Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall, whose careers had a significant impact on Native American self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources.
22 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa
Twenty-two seniors were elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society at the May meeting. See the most recent electees.
Conference Round-Up
Chemistry faculty and students attended and presented at the American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans, La., in March, called the largest gathering of chemists worldwide.
Kimberly Chase ’24, Dasomie Kim ’25, Joe Kubofcik ’25, and Ryan Rahman ’25 presented research conducted last summer in collaboration with Utica’s Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI), a prolific hub for biomedical research.
Students presenting Hamilton-based research, conducted with chemistry faculty Max Majireck, Ryan Martinie, Carolyn Hutchinson, and Wes Kramer included John Frank ’24, Zoe Katz ’24, Jorge Perez-Vazquez ’24, Alex Szyperek ’24, Sarah DeSanto ’25, Nestor Martinez ’25, Will Strutton ’25, Elise Kwon ’26, Carolyn Levin ’26, and Prim Udomphan ’26. A number of them co-presented.
Majireck gave an oral presentation titled "Discovery and emerging uses of bench-stable pyridinium ketene hemiaminals, a new and highly versatile class of reagents for organic synthesis." It was part of an invited symposium called "Turning Tar to Triumph: Failed Reactions as Inspiration for Innovation."
The trip was supported by the Dean of Faculty and Kirkland Endowment.
Breeze Petty ’24, a religious studies and world politics major, received two honors at the National Association of Communication Centers annual Excellence at the Center conference in Phoenix, Ariz., in April.
Petty presented a paper reporting on the impact of a Winter Intensive program organized by the Oral Communication Center. This paper earned her the Bob and Ann Weiss Award for an undergraduate paper that contributes to scholarly activity focused on communication centers.
Petty was also honored with the National Communication Association's Outstanding Undergraduate Tutor award.
Recent physics graduates Alex Axton ’24 and Charles Graffin ’24, along with Elisabeth (Bess) Lawrence ’23, presented research at the American Physics Society (APS) March Meeting in Minneapolis.
Axton gave a talk titled “Optimizing Resonator Coupling for Bimodal Electron Spin Resonance,” about the research he conducted for his senior thesis project with Prof. Charles Collett. Graffin presented a poster, “Holographic optical trapping of core-shell colloidal particles,” about the research he conducted in summer 2023 as a student researcher working with Prof. Jerome Fung of Ithaca College.
Lawrence won the Future of Physics Days (FPD) Top Presenter award for her talk, “Observing subdiffusion in artificial cytoplasm: polyethylene glycol as a crowding Agent.” The research results she presented are a collaborative effort with 10 Hamilton students and graduates, all of whom were co-authors of the talk. Professors Horowitz and Collett also attended the meeting.
Three Minute Thesis competition
Four students won prizes in the Oral Communication Center’s Three Minute Thesis competition on April 27. Open to all members of the senior class, the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition offers cash prizes to students who can most effectively summarize their senior research projects in three minutes or fewer. In addition, participants must tailor their explanations to a broad audience.
Our Unsung Hero
Sea Kay Leung ’27 of Belchertown, Mass. was honored for her dedication to Asian American advocacy in Massachusetts with the Unsung Hero Award from the state’s AAPI Commission.
Leung was involved in the inaugural Massachusetts AAPI Youth Council. She actively represents young Asian Americans, organizing events and advocating for crucial issues such as legislation on minority representation in school and history curricula.
Her advocacy includes discussions with state and national members of Congress, where she addresses the diverse economic and cultural differences within Asian American communities.
Kudos! is a roundup that highlights noteworthy student news including awards, published scholarly work, presentations at regional or national conferences, upcoming or recent media appearances, and other accolades. To be considered for the next edition, please send pertinent information to pr@hamilton.edu.
