Thursday, May 7, 2009

Whitman student/faculty teams will be conducting research this fall on subjects as diverse as social boundaries, pollutants and Walla Walla thanks to the Abshire Research Scholar awards and the generosity of the Parents Fund.

The Abshire awards have financed undergraduate research projects since the program was established in 1981 by Alfred D. Abshire ’45 in memory of his wife. The awards, given each semester, provide students with the opportunity to work in collaboration with their professors on professional research. Funding by the Parents Fund in the past several years has increased the number of awards given.

Seven pairs of faculty-students teams received Abshire Research Scholar Awards for the fall of 2009. Students are nominated by Whitman professors and projects are selected on the basis of merit. This group of scholars will range from disciplines as diverse as foreign literatures and languages, history, chemistry and sociology.

The awards for fall 2009 go to:

Janis Breckenridge, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures-Spanish, and junior Becquer Medak-Seguin: The “Reel” Thing: The Art of Argentine Testimonial Cinema.

Frank Dunnivant, associate professor of chemistry, and sophomore Emily Doyle: Environmental Textbook on the fate transports of pollutants.

Keith Farrington, Laura and Carl Peterson endowed chair of social sciences, and junior Miyoko Patricelli: Walla Walla Community Survey.

Brien Garnand, assistant professor of history, and junior Margaux Faris-Merkert: International Phoenician and Punic Studies Association Digital Project.

Marion Götz, assistant professor of chemistry, and junior Andrew Arend: Investigation of Chlating Effects on the Stereochemistry of Vinyl Sulfone to Allyl Sulfone Isomerization.

Michelle Janning, associate professor of sociology, and junior Helen Brambrink: Social Boundaries in Family Portraiture and Photography.

Nathan Lien, visiting assistant professor of chemistry, and junior Nick Hurlburt: Organic synthesis to prepare the ligands and reacting the ligands with an inorganic complex.

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CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College News Service, (509) 527-5156
parishlj@whitman.edu