Eight students have been awarded Peter J. Eloranta Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships, while another student has won the Randolph G. Wei UROP Award.
The Eloranta fellowships are awarded to students planning a summer research investigation or creative study in virtually any fields. After reviewing 41 proposals, the Eloranta Fellowship Committee awarded $6,000 fellowships to the following undergraduates:
Freshman Martin Jonikas of Berkeley, CA for "Design and Flight Test of a Novel Vertical Takeoff Aircraft Concept"; Landi Parish, a senior in literature from Fair Haven, MI for "Ender's Game@mit.edu: The Literature of Isolation and MIT"; Christine Southworth, a senior in mathematics from Portsmouth, NH for "Me and Colin McPhee: Composing New Music in Bali"; Jovonne Bickerstaff, a junior in urban studies and planning from Akron, OH, and Melissa Edoh, a junior in mathematics from North Bethesda, MD, for "Challenges of Racial Integration in Paris, France: Perspectives of the Black Experience in Literature, Film and Reality"; Kevin Choi, a senior in management from San Jose, CA for "I Know My Father Was Not a Viet Cong"; freshman Sean Leonard of San Diego for "A Multidisciplinary Approach to Video Game Music"; and Vis Taraz, a senior in mathematics from Lake Forest, IL for "body/language."
First awarded in 1969, the fellowships are a gift from the late Dr. Edwin H. Land, founder and president of Polaroid Corp., and were established in memory of the late Peter J. Eloranta, an employee of Polaroid and a member of the Class of 1968.
The Wei Award is given each spring to the undergraduate who has made the most outstanding contribution in undergraduate research at the interface of the life sciences and engineering. The award was established in 1986 in memory of Randolph G. Wei, a member of the Class of 1987 who had majored in biology and chemical engineering and was an active UROP participant.
This year's recipient is Arjun Nair, a senior in civil and environmental engineering from Avon, CT. He participated in UROPs with Professor Martin Polz in the summer of 2000 and IAP 2001. Mr. Nair is second author of an upcoming paper titled: "A Rapid and Simple Method for MPN Estimation of Arsenic-Reducing Bacteria."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 6, 2001.
