Jerome A. Schiff Fellowships 2011-2012

Overview | Application Materials | Deadlines | Recipients |

Overview

The Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy invites applications for 2011-12 Jerome A. Schiff Fellowships. Made possible through a generous gift from the Jerome A. Schiff Charitable Trust, this grant enables Wellesley College to fund the independent research projects of 10-15 students during the 2011-12 academic year. Schiff Fellowships are merit awards intended to support the scholarly work of students enrolled in the senior honors program. Eligibility is limited to Wellesley students currently enrolled in a 360 or intending to enroll in a 360 in Spring 2012. Students who are currently enrolled in a 370 this semester are not eligible.

The Schiff Fellowships will be granted on the basis of merit to students pursuing advanced study through the senior honors program. Applications will be evaluated based on academic merit, feasibility of the research project, and its promise for providing a meaningful and productive intellectual experience. Grants may be used to support scholarly work related to an honors thesis in a student's major field, and awardees will be selected by Wellesley's Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy, with representatives from the Office of the Dean of the College, the Office of the Dean of Students and members of the faculty.

Fellowships of $2,000 per student will be awarded, based on a competitive application process. Funds may be used to reduce work obligations during the academic year in order to devote more time to research, to cover travel and living expenses related to fieldwork, interviews, library or archival research; to purchase supplies, materials and equipment necessary to conduct research; and to cover travel and living expenses to attend appropriate academic conferences.

Schiff Fellows who receive financial aid from Wellesley College may have their aid package revised as a result of the Schiff Fellowship. Details should be worked out with Karensa MacGregor, Student Financial Services.

Students wishing to apply for a Jerome A. Schiff Fellowship should submit the following materials:

1. a cover sheet listing name, major, local address and telephone number, email address, thesis title, and the name of the faculty member serving as advisor to the thesis. The cover sheet should be signed and dated by both the student and her thesis advisor;
2. a current resume;
3. a 2-3 page proposal (double-spaced) describing the thesis, work completed to date, and detailed plans for the Fellowship year, including a drescription of how the funds will be used. Applicants should be careful to make their proposals intelligible to non-specialist readers;
4. an unofficial transcript from Banner self-service;
5. two (2) letters of recommendation, one of which must be written by the student's thesis advisor and the other by a Wellesley College faculty member familiar with the project. The letters should address the strength and feasibility of the student's proposed thesis, the student's ability to work independently, and the likelihood that the promise of the thesis will be fulfilled. The Committee would also welcome comments comparing the applicant's proposal to that of other students with whom the faculty member has worked. Students should collect these signed letters in a sealed envelope and submit them as part of their application packet.

 Deadlines

Completed fellowship applications should be sent to the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy, Green Hall 345 no later than Friday, October 14, 2011 at 4:30pm. Late applications will not be accepted. Schiff Fellows will be announced in early November.

 Recipients

The Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy
is pleased to announce this year's
Schiff Fellowship Recipients

Anna Coll, International Relations/Political Science
Evaluating Female Engagement Team Effectiveness in Afghanistan
(Stacie Goddard, Political Science)

Amanda Joy Daigle, Bioinformatics
Studying the Lipid Binding of Patellin1 using Molecular Dynamics Simulations
(Don Elmore, Chemistry)

Jenny Harris, Art History
The Iconic Avant Garde: Merce Cunningham and the Cold War
(Martin Brody, Music; Patricia Berman, Art)

Olivia Hendricks, Chemistry
Controlling and Understanding Self-Assembly
(Nolan T. Flynn, Chemistry)

Linnea Herzog, Neuroscience
Frontal-Parietal Gamma Coherence as a Neural Correlate of Attention in Rats
(Mike Wiest, Neuroscience)

Gena Hong, Women’s and Gender Studies
Aging Justice for Elderly Korean American Women: A Feminist Bioethics Framework
(Charlene Galarneau, Women’s and Gender Studies)

Mengyu Mary Huang, East Asian Studies
“Awakening” Country and Faith: The Construction of Sino-Muslim Histories and Identities in the Early Twentieth Century
(C. Pat Giersch, History)

Nandita Krishnaswamy, Economics
Fiscal Interventions and their Effects on Voter Behavior: A Study of Programa de Asignacion Familiar (PRAF) in Honduras
(Patrick J. McEwan, Economics)

Melinda Lanius, Mathematics
Universal Cycles for K-Subsets of an N-Set
(Andrew Schultz, Mathematics)

Rachel Magid, Psychology
Iconicity and Language Learning in Deaf and Hearing Preschoolers
(Jennie Pyers, Psychology)

Jasmine Rana, Chemistry
A Multifunctional Approach to Cancer Therapy
(Nancy H. Kolodny, Chemistry)

Laura Stearns, Neuroscience
Watermelon, Honeydew, and Antelope: An ERP Study of Semantically Anomalous but Phonologically Expected Words in Highly Constrained Sentences
(Ted Gibson, Brain and Cognitive Sciences (MIT); Catherine Wearing, Philosophy)

Rachel Shuen, History
The Chinatown Squad: The Policing of Belonging in late 19th century San Francisco
(Ryan Quintana, History)

 

Honorable Mention:

Heidi Park, Biology
Investigating the Biochemical functions of wVitA Type IV Effectors
(Heather Mattila, Biological Sciences; Irene Newton, Indiana University)

 

Fellowship recipients will be expected to present the results of their honors work at the 2012 Ruhlman Conference. In addition, Fellows will be required to submit a short written report on their use of the award to the Office of the Provost and Dean of the College before Commencement Day, 2012 (before the end of exams in December 2013, in the case of students beginning a 360 in Spring 2012).

Questions may be directed to Jennifer Lewis at jlewis@wellesley.edu.

• Jennifer G. Lewis JLewis@wellesley.edu
• Date Created: Sept 14, 2000
• Date Modified: Nov. 15, 2011
• Expires: September 2012