Twelve Receive New Gamow Research Fellowships


Sept. 6, 2002 Twelve Receive New Gamow Research Fellowships Students and Mentors to Research a Variety of Topics Twelve students and their mentors have been awarded GW’s new George Gamow Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Established this year, these awards are intended to nurture the careers of promising scholars by providing meaningful, mentored research experiences to top sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue a graduate career — and to advance the research programs of GW faculty in the process. The fellowships are named for George Gamow, a distinguished theoretical nuclear physicist who served on GW’s faculty from 1934-56. It was developed and co-sponsored by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies and the University Honors Program, with assistance from the vice president for academic affairs. Fellowship stipends are awarded to the successful students to acknowledge their selection for this prestigious award and to enable them to devote time to research. Mentors receive an honorarium in appreciation of their active participation. Twenty-nine proposals were reviewed by a faculty selection committee for the 2002 competition, and 12 awards were made for projects that will be carried out in 2002–03. • Chris Chop, sophomore, ESIA-international affairs/history Mentor: Tyler Anbinder, history “From Irish Rags to American Riches?” Chop’s research will challenge stereotypes of Irish immigrants as poor laborers by examining the database of financial transactions recently made available by the Emigrant Savings Bank in New York and developing a more accurate financial profile of this group of immigrants. • Jacquelynn Danek, sophomore, CCAS-chemistry Mentor: Christopher Cahill, chemistry “Synthesis of Open Framework Oxides using Chiral Templates” Danek will examine the effects of enantiomers (molecules with the same chemical formula but different structural arrangements and, therefore, different properties such as toxicity) on the formation of magnesium oxide open framework structures. Open framework structures are part of a rapidly growing field of separations chemistry; the structures act as molecular-scale sieves that can separate molecules of varying geometries. Their synthesis involves the use of an organic template or “support” about which the framework crystallizes. Danek will explore the potential of enantiomer pairs as template candidates. • Blythe Debenport, junior, SEAS-computer science Mentor: Rahul Simha, computer science “Authoring Technologies for Distance Education” Debenport will enhance a computer program that allows users to hear lectures at the same time that they view Web materials. She will work on enabling multimedia for drawing tools, including handling geometric shapes (ovals, rectangles, lines, and polygons) appear when the voice recording reaches a specified point. • Kristen Eckert, junior, ESIA-Latin American studies Mentor: Marcy Norton, history “Return Migration in the Spanish Empire, 1518–1600” Eckert will examine the motivations and social networks of migrants who left the Spanish Indies for Europe, a group that included sailors, merchants, clergy, and colonial officials, as well as free and enslaved Africans, Indians, and mestizos. Complementing her mentor’s research, she will look at the role these migrants played in integrating chocolate and tobacco into European society. • Robert Frederickson, junior, CCAS-economics/computer science Mentor: Rahul Simha, computer science “Pricing Strategies for Networked Goods: A Simulation Approach” Frederickson will combine his interest in economics and computer science by using a simple economic model of supply and demand to observe how simulated agents behave in a variety of situations and determine whether their behavior is consistent with theories of economic thinking. • Seth Goldman, junior, CCAS-political communication Mentor: Kimberly Gross, School of Media and Public Affairs “Framing Hate: The Nature and Consequences of Media Coverage of Anti-Gay Hate Crimes” Using techniques for studying how the news media frame issues, Goldman will seek to understand how hate crimes against gays are framed and explore the potential effects of such coverage on public opinion. This study complements work done by his mentor on the framing of issues in media coverage of minorities. • Catarina Kim, sophomore, ESIA-international affairs/Asian studies Mentor: Young-Key Kim-Renaud, east Asian languages and literature “A Joint Approach to Translation: Rendering Modern Korean Fiction in English” Kim and Kim-Renaud will collaborate to translate the Korean short story “The Site of Festival and Fate,” by Hahn Moo-Sook, experimenting with three different approaches to translation. They also will research the historical and cultural subcontexts of the story. • Rebekah Kushner, sophomore, CCAS-chemistry Mentor: Fred Abramson, pharmacology/chemistry “Two-Dimensional Chromatography with the Rotofor” In proteomics (functional genomics) research, two separation processes are deemed necessary to disperse protein/peptide mixtures before identifying their individual components with mass spectrometry. Kushner will evaluate the Rotofor, a new isoelectric focusing apparatus, as a first stage of protein and peptide separation, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for the second stage to evaluate the overall effectiveness of this instrumental combination. • Jessica Lundin, junior, CCAS-biology Mentor: Randall Packer, biology “Regulation of the Expression of 11B-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase, Type 2, in Rat Kidney Tissue” The enzyme 11B-HSD II helps regulate sodium excretion in urine and therefore may play a role in the regulation of blood pressure. The anti-diuretic hormone, arginine vasopressin (AVP), may regulate the enzyme’s activity. Lundlin will look at whether anti-diuresis in rats causes changes in the abundance or pattern of expression of 11B-HSD II in target tissues. • Bryan O’Keefe, junior, CCAS-political communication Mentor: Sean Aday, School of Media and Public Affairs “Guns vs. Butter” O’Keefe will compare the success of two major electoral strategies in Congressional midterm elections — a national strategy and a local strategy — by following four races in different geographic regions. • Conor Savoy, sophomore, CCAS-history Mentor: James Hershberg, history “Nixon, the Easter Offensive, and Diplomacy with Beijing and Moscow” Using recently released Nixon tapes to look at the decision making behind the military response to the 1972 Easter offensive in Vietnam, Savoy will focus on the effect of the impending summit with the Soviets in Moscow on these decisions. • William Young, junior, ESIA Mentor: Richard Thornton, history “Nixon Doctrine, 1972–73” Young will look at the Nixon Doctrine as defined in a Feb. 9, 1972, foreign policy report to Congress and see how it was actually implemented between then and a May 3, 1973, report on foreign policy to Congress. Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu