Honors Magazine, fall 2018

Fall 2018

the magazine of the UGA Honors Program

A beetle and a bug A pre-med genetics and psychology major explores her scientific future with burying beetles and milkweed bugs

Inside:

Honors in Savannah | Service-Driven | UGA’s Mic Man | Giving to the Georgia Commitment Scholarship

Quotables

Charlotte Norsworthy An Honors Program senior from Midway, Charlotte is majoring in journalism and political science. Through the Honors in Washington internship program and a fellowship with the Cox Institute at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, she worked for NPR this past summer in Washington, D.C.

Cover photo of Ashley Amukamara by Latetia Vernelson.

Courtesy Charlotte Norsworthy

“Throughout the course of my summer, I found myself repeatedly thinking, ‘This is too good to be true.’ I somehow landed my dream internship and received a scholarship to fund and support my experience. Every step I have taken in my field of study and with the Honors Program led me to a summer that taught me more than any other experience during my time at UGA. From CURO to the Honors International Scholarship Program and now Honors in Washington, there was no way I could be better prepared for what these programs would mean for my future career and personal development.”

14 Fall 2018, Volume 5, Issue 2

University of Georgia

19

President

Jere W. Morehead Interim Provost

Libby V. Morris Associate Provost & Director of the Honors Program

David S. Williams

Associate Director of the Honors Program

Maria Navarro

Assistant Director & Major Scholarships Coordinator

Jessica Hunt

Assistant Director & Programming Coordinator

16

Maria de Rocher

6

Director of Development & External Affairs

Dorothé Otemann

Recruitment & Enrollment Coordinator

Lakecia Pettway

Magazine staff Editor/Designer

Stephanie Schupska Writers

Kellyn Amodeo, Hamilton Armit, Stephanie Schupska, Chris Starrs Photographers

Hamilton Armit, Chad Osburn, Cal Powell, Stephanie Schupska, Latetia Vernelson

11

4

Additional assistance

Chisom Anachebe, Alex Hines, Elizabeth Hughes Honors Magazine is published biannually for students, alumni, friends, and supporters of the University of Georgia Honors Program.

For reprint permissions, address changes, or additional copies, email schupska@uga.edu.

Copyright © 2018 by the University of Georgia. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without permission from the editor. The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.

Postmaster | Send address changes to: UGA Honors Program Magazine 005 Moore College, 108 Herty Drive Athens, GA 30602-6116

Find us online at honors.uga.edu.

On social media, we are:

@HonorsAtUGA

Inside 2

Briefs

4

A Savannah summer

6 10 11

Highlights of the Honors Program

Lauren O’Neil interns in the low country through Honors in Savannah

Service-driven Honors students give back with help from the Ash Service Award

Scholarship recipients The Honors Program welcomes incoming scholarship students to campus

Cover story Ashley Amukamara prepares for her future with research in entomology

14

UGA’s Mic Man

16

Global impact

19

Posters on the Hill

20

Georgia commitment

Chip Chambers is having ‘an absolute blast’ as UGA’s loudest fan

Honors alumni study worldwide through the Fulbright program

Kevin Williams shares his CURO research in Washington, D.C.

Three Honors alumni give back to UGA with need-based scholarships

In brief

2018 highlights of the Honors Program

{ 2,500 students we have

incoming

first-

years

&

{745

with an average Honors weighted

GPA

{4.1

A study in research Taylor Withrow has made research a cornerstone of her time at UGA as she has explored her interests in law, criminal justice, and civil and human rights. A senior from Suwanee, she is a CURO Honors Scholar through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and the Honors Program.

Her first research project looked at “identity development of multiracial individuals and the role race plays in social institutions such as education, employment, and criminal justice,” she said. “My research allowed me to focus more on civil rights and further piqued my interest in the criminal justice system.”

She has continued to conduct research at UGA studying racial identity development.

“From an early age, I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer so that I could

Chad Osburn

Honors by the numbers

Amazing student

be the voice for people who lack one,” Taylor said.

She was a UGA Amazing Student at the end of August and featured on the homepage of the national Council on Undergraduate Research in September.

of

Into space

NASA intern

They excel at college entrance exams.

{1510 ACT {33.7

Megan Arogeti interned for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program this past summer. An Honors student from Atlanta, she helped highlight steps the agency could take to further the goal of putting humans on Mars.

Megan is majoring in physics and astronomy and is a member of the UGA Small Satellite Research Lab, which is supported in part by the Honors Program.

SAT

(English & math)

class Our average

sizes

are small.

{17

students to one professor

graduation rate Our 4-6 year

is impressive.

{94.25%

2

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Georgia Debate Union

Ranked first As of mid-October, the Georgia Debate Union was ranked first in all three college debate organizational rankings—the American Debate Association, the Cross-Examination Debate Association, and the National Debate tournament—ahead of Harvard, Wake Forest, Emory, Michigan, Northwestern, among hundreds of other institutions. UGA’s top debaters include the team of seniors Swapnil Agrawal, right, an Honors student and Foundation Fellow from Dunwoody, and Advait Ramanan, a UGA student from Columbia, Maryland.

Hannah Sharpe, far left, cheers on the Bulldogs with her fellow Arch Society members. A senior from Marietta, she is majoring in history and social studies education.

Hamilton Armit

Saturday in Athens

NIH scholarship

Health science future

Alumni

40 Under 40 Eleven Honors Program alumni were selected for UGA’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2018. The UGA Alumni Association’s program began in 2011 and celebrates the personal, professional, and philanthropic achievements of UGA graduates under the age of 40.

Matt Crim

(BS ’05, AB ’05)

Athens, Georgia Cardiologist, assistant professor, Piedmont Heart Institute, AU/UGA Medical Partnership

Kristin Bernhard (AB ’09)

Atlanta, Georgia Deputy commissioner for system reform, Georgia Department of Early Care & Learning

David Felfoldi (BS ’01)

Brookhaven, Georgia Chief experience officer, SHERPA Global

Betsy Grunch

Chloe Kelley

Gainesville, Georgia Neurosurgeon, The Longstreet Clinic, PC

New York, New York Senior vice president, PIMCO

(BS ’02)

(BBA ’06)

Erin Lincoln

Muktha Natrajan

Atlanta, Georgia Associate director, Tetra Tech, Inc.

Atlanta, Georgia Postdoctoral fellow, Emory University

(BSFR ’05)

(BS ’11, MPH ’11)

Ryan Prior

Lucas Puente

Atlanta, Georgia Cross-platform associate producer, CNN

San Francisco, California Lead economist, Thumbtack

(AB ’12, AB ’12)

Jabaris Swain (BS ’01)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Cardiothoracic surgery fellow, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

(AB ’10, BBA ’10)

Stephanie Yarnell (BS ’06)

New Haven, Connecticut Physician, Division of Law and Psychiatry, Yale University Department of Psychiatry

“Health science has been a lifelong interest for me, whether it be through shadowing different doctors or watching cool shows on TV,” Nyree Riley said. “It’s something that intrigues my interest.”

That’s how Nyree discovered her passion. Since then, the junior Honors environmental health sciences major from Hephzibah has been studying everything from rainbow trout populations in the Augusta Canal to aquatic insects in the Carolina Bay wetlands.

While researching insects and animals, Nyree hasn’t lost her love for health sciences—on one of her searches for scholarships and internships, she found an opportunity that fit exactly what she what wanted. It was offered through the National Institutes of Health’s Undergraduate Scholarship Program.

“I wanted to do something leaning toward the biomedical side of things because I want to get an MD/PhD,” Nyree said. “The NIH UGSP had everything I wanted neatly packaged into one.”

The scholarship runs throughout the academic year and includes a 10-week internship over the course of the summer and work with the NIH after graduation to pay back each year on the scholarship.

Nyree has another scholarship to her name as well.

“I’m a CURO Honors Scholar, which is an absolutely amazing program,” she said.

“Through it, you get funding throughout the year, and you have help finding a research mentor.”

Her research mentor is Darold Batzer, a professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Together, they study the communities of insects that reside in the Carolina Bay wetlands.

On one of their research trips together, Nyree encountered one of her fears: giant spiders. Batzer ended up rescuing her, but that didn’t stop him from playing a prank on Nyree a few weeks later when he put a large rubber spider into the samples.

“Nice little moments in research like that one cause us to bond,” she said.

— Hamilton Armit UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

3

Savannah summer A

Law-focused internship gives Lauren O’Neil a glimpse at potential career paths

By Hamilton Armit

4

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Stephanie Schupska

L

auren O’Neil rattles off the lengthy job title she held over the summer with the ease of someone who got used to repeating it. Through the Honors in Savannah internship program, she was “the undergraduate intern for the Office for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia,” she said, where she worked with the Department of Justice.

“I was placed on the criminal floor, which is really interesting because I’m a finance major,” Lauren said. “It was completely out of my comfort zone. I helped people prepare for hearings, and I would go to every hearing. We only had one trial, but I would go to it every day.”

The case she worked on involved an armed robbery. In addition to attending the trial, Lauren aided in writing responses to the motions filed, assisted in research for ongoing cases, and sat in on meetings with government agencies such as the FBI, ATF, and DEA. Because the Department of Justice office has many functions, Lauren felt that whoever becomes the Honors in Savannah intern next summer should have some sort of guide, so she decided to make one.

“I felt that to fully appreciate the short summer you have there, you have to go in knowing about the DOJ and everything that is encompassed under it and the attorney general,” she said. “The brochure I made for the intern next summer will help them hit the ground running when they get there with regard to the office—and with regard to living in Savannah because it’s such a unique place to live.”

There are numerous restaurants, sights, sounds, and activities all listed in Lauren’s brochure. She even included a glossary of law terms that might be helpful for future interns.

Lauren spent her weekends in Savannah trying new restaurants, watching old films in SCAD’s historic Lucas Theatre, and studying for the LSAT. She learned several details about herself during her internship, including ambitious future plans.

“My internship gave me an understanding of how I could make an impact in different ways than just working at a big law firm or working for a corporation, which is a lot of what I see in my studies,” she said. “It gave me an inclination that I might want to go work for the Department of Justice if I can get appointed to be an assistant U.S. attorney.”

Lauren will graduate from UGA in 2020. In addition to her internship, she’s been preparing for law school by minoring in European history, presiding over the Women Pre-Law Students Association that she founded, and being involved as the vice

president for the pre-law fraternity and the vice president of finance for her sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi. Lauren views overlapping interests as something to be desired in her future career.

“This internship has shaped my career in knowing that people who are assistant U.S. attorneys now were at big firms before or at smaller firms and in finding out that it’s flexible in going between the private and the public sectors,” she said. “I feel like I’m someone who really likes to learn and stay learning, so the fact that I can have that opportunity to be a couple of different types of an attorney is appealing to me. “

HONORS INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS

1

Every summer, the Honors Program supports internships for students in Washington, D.C., New York, and Savannah. Through these internship programs, 19 undergraduates receive funding to help them make the most of their summers. In 2018, 1) Evan Katz interned for the Office of Rep. Rob Woodall; 2) Alex Pinckney, Taylor Withrow, and Kendall Lake interned for the Office of Rep. Henry “Hank” Johnson, the American Bar Association, and New America's Open Technology Institute, respectively; 3) Haidi Al-Shabrawery worked for the U.S. Department of State; 4) Cecelia Walker interned for the Office of Sen. David Perdue, at right; and 5) Jessica Ma worked for the Greater New York Hospital Association.

3

4

2

5

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

5

Izzy Ceron at Camp Dive.

John Morris and Levi at Extra Special People’s summer camp.

By Stephanie Schupska

SERVICE-DRIVEN SUMMER The Ash Service Award, established by UGA alumni Kathryn and Darren Ash of Charlotte, North Carolina, funds Honors students each summer as they pursue their commitment to service through full-time internships across Georgia.

Emma Goldsmith, right, and Julie Wade, executive director of Park Place Outreach.

8

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Zac Adams at the mobile health clinic.

J

ohn Morris had his hands full. It was field trip day for children and teens attending Extra Special People’s summer camp, and John was carrying Levi around the Frances Meadow Aquatic Center in Gainesville.

Levi was recovering from a recent surgery and was unable to walk. With water wings on his arms and John as his feet, he was moving almost fast enough to match his level of excitement.

“I was carrying this small boy around the water park, carrying him up the ladders, and he had never been on a water slide before,” John said. “Just climbing up the stairs to the top of the water slide, he was so full of energy, so excited. I got to send him down his first water slide. I’ve never seen so much joy.”

A sophomore economics major from Suwanee, John spent his summer sharing first-time experiences and daily life with campers by interning with Extra Special People. ESP is a Watkinsville-based nonprofit that serves children and young adults with developmental disabilities and their families.

John was one of four Honors students who had help this summer through funding from the Ash Service Award.

Established by UGA alumni Kathryn (ABJ ’82) and Darren Ash (BBA ’81, MAcc ’82), the award provides $3,000 stipends to cover students’ cost of living while they intern for a state service organization for approximately eight weeks full-time.

Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to community service—like John, who had 127 volunteer hours at ESP and additional hours with other organizations before he applied for his summer internship.

Izzy Ceron, a senior Foundation Fellow from Dacula, engaged in service work through UGA-led Camp DIVE, a program for children in kindergarten through eighth grade enrolled in Clarke County schools. Overseen by the College of Education, it integrates the needs of students and the resources of UGA and the Athens community.

“I’m so grateful the Ash Service Award exists because it enabled me to get more involved with the Athens-Clarke County community and really feel like I was able to give back to my community,” said Izzy, who is majoring in international affairs and Latin American and Caribbean studies. “Sometimes as a student, you have to pick not based on what you want to do but based on what sort of financial support is offered, and these volunteer positions are not paid. I’m just grateful I had that opportunity.”

Zac Adams, a senior from Duluth majoring in genetics and earning a master’s degree in epidemiology, also stayed in Athens to continue work on a mobile health clinic that opened in March. Zac spent his summer managing the clinic, which is run through the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership. It brings healthcare to underserved residents of Athens-

“I’m so grateful the Ash Service Award exists because it enabled me to get more involved with the Athens-Clarke County community.”

Izzy Ceron

Senior, international affairs and Latin American and Caribbean studies

Clarke County and the surrounding communities. The clinic has now reached well over 100 patients with more than $35,000 in free care.

“The Ash Service Award helped cover my living expenses and allowed me to give back to the Athens community in an unhindered way,” Zac said. “I could focus on donating my time to the Medical Partnership Athens Free Clinic instead of working other jobs. Working at the Medical Partnership Athens Free Clinic was an amazing experience.”

Emma Goldsmith, a Foundation Fellow from Albany, spent her summer in Savannah as an AmeriCorps VISTA summer associate. She interned at Park Place Outreach, a youth emergency shelter.

“It was a huge summer for me,” said Emma, a junior majoring in journalism and international affairs. “I found out what I’m interested in and what I care about and what I can see myself putting my energy into in the future. I want service to be a part of my life, even if it just means doing more volunteering or more community engagement work.”

John Morris Extra Special People operates yearround, and summer camp is its largest program. With 115-130 participants for each of its eight weeks, it includes day camp, overnight camp, and field trips.

“On top of hundreds of highs and lows, I learned a lot about love this summer at ESP,” John said. “Because of how unique each and every camper is, I learned how each gives and receives love. Some campers just needed constant hugs while others needed some occasional quiet time away from the group.”

John worked with nine- to 11-yearolds, and each week, he was assigned one to three “buddies.” Before new buddies arrived on Monday, the 67 ESP staff members would review participants’ profiles to “best understand who our buddies would be and how their parents hoped to see growth,” he said.

Three weeks into his freshman year, John started volunteering with ESP after being encouraged to apply by an older undergraduate friend who knew that John’s sister, Sarah Grace, has Down syndrome. During last fall and spring semesters, John spent several hours every Monday with Dakota, his buddy, and ended up talking seven more of his friends into volunteering for ESP. “I got super passionate about getting my friends to have the same experience, because all of a sudden, ESP felt like an extension of my home,” he said.

During one of his favorite weeks of the summer, home came to overnight camp when Sarah Grace participated in the

John Morris spends time with his sister Sarah Grace at Camp Twin Lakes.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

7

under-18 club week at Camp Twin Lakes in Winder.

As two of six siblings, John and Sarah Grace have a typical brother-sister relationship. “That week it was the only week in my life that it’s been all love,” he said. “It was her first overnight camp, and every time she came up to me, there would be a big hug, a huge smile, and a tear or two from me because I was just so happy to see her and share those moments with her.”

John plans to intern with ESP until he graduates in 2021. And when he does leave UGA, “I know I’m not just going to do something to make money,” he said.

“Whatever field I end up going into, I want to do something where I use my business degree to help people in need.”

Izzy Ceron Camp DIVE is a summer program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade enrolled in Clarke County schools.

It integrates the needs of students and the resources of UGA—specifically the College of Education—and the Athens community.

“The whole idea is to provide students with enriching opportunities throughout the summer so that they don’t lose everything they learned throughout the school year,” Izzy said.

Those opportunities included musical theater, and Izzy was the teacher. Her final test came at the end-of-camp lunch when the students performed her version of “When I Grow Up” from Matilda the Musical. Her 29 elementary students sang, danced, and wowed their families with coordination that brought a giant smile to Izzy’s face as the final note

8

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Stephanie Schupska

Izzy Ceron, far right, leads her students in “When I Grow Up” from Matilda the Musical.

played over the sound system.

“We got to perform the song for their parents,” she said, “and it was really rewarding to see that the kids had a blast doing it—and that they actually had learned the dance.”

Izzy applied to work at Camp DIVE not because she wants to be a teacher, but because she was able to take on several different roles. Starting in April, she attended meetings, helped with logistics, gathered materials, planned a weekly festival of the arts, chaperoned field trips, checked out students to their parents each afternoon, and solicited community donations—all the food for the 200-plus people attending the end-of-camp lunch was donated by local restaurants.

“Camp DIVE really showed me what public education should be, and it’s really opened my interests to learning more about education policy and about how, as someone who is potentially moving on to be in public policy later on in my career, I can use the insight of experienced teachers who have actually been in classrooms and understand what changes need to be made for the sake of public education,” Izzy said.

Originally from Colombia but raised in Gwinnett County, Izzy is interning with the Carter Center’s Latin American and Caribbean Program this fall.

“I think Camp DIVE is this perfect combination of UGA students, UGA faculty, Clarke County Board of Education, school officials, the students and their parents, but then also community organizations that would come in and teach kids,” she said.

“The other thing that is so important about Camp DIVE is that it comes at no

cost to the parents. It makes it so that it’s accessible to just about everyone, and I think that is just so cool and so important. I wish there were Camp DIVEs everywhere.”

Zac Adams Preparations for the Medical Partnership Athens Free Clinic first started in 2016.

Dr. Suzanne Lester, a faculty member at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership, worked with Zac and his friend Hamzah Ali, who graduated this past May and is now a Medical College of Georgia student at the Medical Partnership campus.

“After 15 months of planning, we set up our first mobile clinic,” Zac said.

The clinic’s goal is to reach both uninsured and underinsured patients who have trouble accessing healthcare through the traditional outlets because of transportation issues, untraditional work schedules, or other barriers. As part of a 12-month pilot program, primary care is delivered to all ages and genders with acute and chronic conditions, as well as health screening and prevention.

According to 2016 census data, nearly 38 percent of Athens’ residents live at or below the poverty line, and an estimated 13 percent of Georgians are currently uninsured.

“As soon as you go into a community, you see the need that’s present,” Zac said.

“It’s been a really unique experience that many students don’t get. It’s great to be a part of that.”

The mobile health clinic sets up in seven different locations and provides more than healthcare for local residents— it’s allowing UGA undergraduates, medical students, and medical residents

Chad Osburn

to have hands-on experience in patient care with an inside look into their community.

“Through working with Athens Free Clinic, I have been given the opportunity to see a side of healthcare that many students, future doctors, and doctors do not get to see,” Zac said.

“Not only have I experienced working with the underserved population, but I have also helped many undergraduate students, medical students, and medical residents expand their education. We have been able to give back and make a large impact on the community that provides so much to us while we are in school here at the University of Georgia, the Medical Partnership, and Piedmont Athens Regional and St. Mary’s residency programs.”

During the summer, Zac worked on expanding the clinic’s care and planning for its future. He designed a survey that is administered to all of the clinic’s patients and assesses their social determinants of health—like their access to food and transportation.

He also worked with Athenahealth to have an electronic medical records system donated to the clinic. Instead of paper charts, they now store patient records electronically.

“My goal is to turn the mobile health clinic into a sustainable clinic that will continue to run for many decades after I have left,” he said, “and I hope to one day return to the clinic to serve as a physician.”

In his last year at UGA, Zac is volunteering as director of the mobile health clinic and is “excited to continue in a more permanent position as we begin our expansion process.”

Emma Goldsmith Park Place Outreach is a 12-bed emergency shelter open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It serves youth ages 11 to 17—most are homeless, runaways, or referred from the Division of Family and Children Services or the Department of Juvenile Justice—and provides

“The people and the community are really what drive something to be as successful and as powerful and as meaningful as it can be.”

Emma Goldsmith

Junior, journalism and political science

shelter, meals, and counseling. It is the only facility in Chatham County where children can self-report without an agency or family referral. The maximum length of stay is three weeks, with exceptions for court dates and other circumstances.

Emma was the main intern for executive director Julie Wade (AB ’96, JD ’00), a UGA alumna who left her law career to run Park Place Outreach.

Over the summer, Emma’s behind-the

Zac Adams checks the results of an HIV test at the Medical Partnership Athens Free Clinic.

scenes administrative work included researching and purchasing customer relationship management software. She also made presentations, sent out email blasts, wrote thank-you notes, hung out with the kids, and planned summer youth enrichment programs, which included tech and college weeks, community speakers, and outings.

The outing Emma is most proud of was to a local recording studio.

“A lot of the kids were really into hiphop music and were hoping to be some kind of hip-hop artist in the future,” Emma said.

She connected with a local recording studio, and the youth spent an afternoon there, learning about the science behind sound mixing in the control room before going into the live room to play around with recordings.

“For them, they didn’t like admitting that they were actually enjoying something,” she said. “It took a little bit to get them into it, but then once they did, everyone was on fire. It was just awesome.”

While direct involvement with the kids was wonderful, she said, it was also very hard.

“There were always kids being filtered in and out for lots of different reasons, so growing close to them was not an option a lot of the time,” Emma said. “That was really hard to wrestle with and one of the most difficult parts of the summer. Some of them were 14, 15, even up to 17 years old, so the things that they’ve been going through have been persistent for several years.

“I felt kind of helpless in some ways, because it’s just a huge systemic problem.

It’s not just youth poverty, it’s not just youth gang affiliation, it’s so much more than that. And sometimes I wish I could just change it in a heartbeat. And that is not entirely possible, but we did have at least a small part. It was important what we were doing.”

The inspirational part of her summer was seeing how much the non-profit community in Savannah worked with each other toward the same goal, Emma said.

“I was blown away by all of these leaders and the community coming together to try to solve one of the many problems in the community,” she said.

“I think the people and the community are really what drive something to be as successful and as powerful and as meaningful as it can be.”

- Additional reporting by Kellyn Amodeo

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

9

Scholarships

40 students awarded UGA’s top academic scholarships

T

his fall, the Honors Program welcomed 40 of the top incoming first-year students from around the nation as 20 Foundation Fellows, nine Ramsey Honors Scholars, and 11 CURO Honors Scholars joined their respective programs at the University of Georgia.

The Honors Program administers UGA’s top three academic scholarships— the Foundation Fellowship, UGA’s premier academic scholarship; the Ramsey Honors Scholarship, one of the highest merit-based awards; and the CURO Honors Scholarship, the top undergraduate research scholarship.

Marion, Arkansas; Keaton Coletti, Bogart; Emma Ellis, Atlanta; Elizabeth Esser, Cedarburg, Wisconsin; Emma Chandler Hale, Charlottesville, Virginia; Tate Hunda, Acworth; Jena Jibreen, Lawrenceville; Jamil Kassam, Suwanee; Aparna Pateria, Johns Creek; William Ross, Atlanta; Nathan Safir, Wassenaar, Netherlands; Anna Samsonov, Wildwood, Missouri; Sasha Stogniy, Acworth; Emma Traynor, Savannah; Jaaie Varshney, Rome; Margaret Warren, Dunn Loring, Virginia; and Himani Yadav, Suwanee.

Foundation Fellowship

The Ramsey Honors Scholarship was created in 2000 by UGA Foundation trustees under the name of the university’s most generous individual benefactor, the late Bernard Ramsey (BS ’37). The current number of Ramsey Scholars totals 36.

Class of 2022 Ramsey Scholars are Yehia Abdelsamad, Wilsonville, Oregon; Marshall Berton, Sandy Springs;

The Foundation Fellowship was created in 1972 by UGA Foundation trustees to enrich the educational experience of outstanding undergraduates. The current number of Fellows is 88.

Class of 2022 Fellows are Robyn Anzulis, Woodbine, Maryland; Luke Armao, Fairlawn, Ohio; Michelle Belikova, Woodstock; Claire Bunn,

Ramsey Honors Scholarship

Rosa Brown, Marietta; Alex Eldridge; Dunwoody; Rachel Mattson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Eric Miller, Sandy Springs; Austin Stack, Morrisville, North Carolina; Trey Swenton, Milton; and Garrett Williams, Kansas City, Missouri.

CURO Honors Scholarship

The CURO Honors Scholarship, founded in the early 2000s, is the top research opportunity offered by the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities, which is administered by the Honors Program. The current number of CURO Honors Scholars is 36.

Class of 2022 CURO Honors Scholars are Ayah Abdelwahab, Bogart; Mennah Abdelwahab, Bogart; HaeYeun (Rachel) Byun, Lawrenceville; Amber Combs, Atlanta; Anthony Elengickal, Alpharetta; Mary Kitchens, Atlanta; Megh Mehta, Bishop; Bianca Patel, Duluth; Sydney Phillips, Douglasville; Vanessa Sachs, Roswell; and Olivia Silva, Peachtree City.

Top left: Fellows from the Class of 2022 are, back row, Luke Armao, Nathan Safir, Claire Bunn, Jamil Kassam, Emma Chandler Hale, Keaton Coletti, Tate Hunda, Michelle Belikova, Sasha Stogniy, Jena Jibreen; front row, Emma Ellis, Emma Traynor, Margaret Warren, Elizabeth Esser, Himani Yadav, Jaaie Varshney, Robyn Anzulis, Anna Samsonov, Aparna Pateria, and William Ross. Bottom left: Ramseys from the Class of 2022 are Yehia Abdelsamad, Eric Miller, Rachel Mattson, Garrett Williams, Alex Eldridge, Austin Stack, Marshall Berton, Rosa Brown, and Trey Swenton. Above: CURO Honors Scholars from the Class of 2022 are, left row, back to front, Vanessa Sachs, Mary Frances Kitchens, HaeYeun (Rachel) Byun, Olivia Silva, Amber Combs, and, right row, Ayah Abdelwahab, Mennah Abdelwahab, Sydney Phillips, Bianca Patel, Megh Mehta, and Tony Elengickal.

10

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

An insect education Ashley Amukamara is preparing for her future with burying beetles and milkweed bugs Story by Stephanie Schupska & photos by Latetia Vernelson

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

11

Cover story

12

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

a part of my life. I ended up falling in love with my little beetles—they’re my small babies.”

Ashley was a sophomore when she first thought about asking Allen Moore to be her faculty research mentor. It took a lot of nudging from fellow undergraduates before she finally emailed him.

“I’m interested in mating behavior and how different creatures go about their mating processes,” she said. “I wanted to study the genetics aspect of it, looking at the weird boundary of how the molecular affects outward behavior. I found Dr. Moore and went to talk to him, and he told me that ‘it’s basically just me and three other people who could probably fit that research niche you’re looking for.’”

A burying beetle slowly scurries across Ashley’s hand and up her left arm. A few seconds before, she had gently pulled the black and orange insect out of its plastic home.

Burying beetles pull the carcasses of small animals underground, literally burying them to keep other predators from eating their find. The carcass will then serve as food for their offspring.

“I ended up falling in love with my little beetles—they’re my small babies.”

Ashley Amukamara

Senior, genetics and psychology

What makes these beetles different from other insects is their parenting behavior—both the male and female burying beetles stay with their larvae to take care of them as they grow. Like many insects, not much is known about them, and Nicrophorus sayi in particular is an understudied species. Allen Moore’s lab

Stephanie Schupska

T

he Biological Sciences building on South Campus smells like science— formaldehyde mixed with textbook dust and floor cleaner—especially on the side that houses the Department of Entomology. Go down a stairwell, around a corner, and through a door, and Ashley Amukamara is inside the well-lit lab where she spends many of her hours.

A fourth-year genetics and psychology major with a pre-medical intent, Ashley conducts research with two Moore labs on campus—she worked on burying beetles with Allen Moore, associate dean for research and a professor of entomology, and now studies milkweed bugs with Patricia (Trish) Moore, a professor of entomology. Housed in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Moores, who are married, focus on behavior in social insects.

“If you had asked me two years ago if I would ever work with beetles, I would have laughed and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” said Ashley, an Honors student and Foundation Fellow from Cumming. “But now, they’re

analyzes these beetles—as well as N. vespilloides—to find out more about how they operate.

“Being able to track its development and see how it’s different from other species of burying beetle is kind of cool, especially being one of the first people to know about how a species lives and develops,” Ashley said.

This exploratory type of science has both breakthroughs and breakdowns.

“Ashley is fearless, willing to take on new challenges and learn new techniques to address the questions we are studying,” Allen Moore said. “With Ashley, we can ask questions and try new approaches where we might fail because she understands that there is no real failure. We learn from everything.”

After a recent learning experience involving insect lifespan, Ashley switched gears and is now working in Trish Moore’s lab, doing epigenetics on large milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus fasciatus), which look like flatter, more orange versions of burying beetles.

Ashley and other student researchers are looking at the role that methylation plays in insect development.

“At the beginning of the summer, it became clear that Allen’s lab wouldn’t have the beetles needed to do the project that Ashley had planned on for her Honors thesis,” Trish Moore said. “It was great that she was willing to be so flexible in her project—changing questions, changing techniques, changing organisms! But that is how it goes in science. You have to go with the situation you have in front of you. Ashley’s adventurous, willing spirit really helped this be a positive experience for both of us.”

Ashley’s days now are spent in front of a microscope inspecting milkweed bugs to see if the injection protocol she and Trish Moore developed to study methylation had any effect on them.

“I’m working specifically with nymphs, the stages before the adult,” Ashley said. “In essence, I’m actually affecting their capacity to reproduce, knocking down their ability to make eggs and sperm.”

All of this research may be directed at insects, but as these researchers learn more, they’re adding tiny pieces to the puzzle of biological processes.

“One of the real joys of being a university professor is being able to work with students who are learning that the world isn’t yet known,” Allen Moore said. “In our laboratory they learn that we use insects to understand biological processes that apply to more than just insects, that give us insights into how the world works (including humans). They learn that insects are not simple robots that are programmed to do simple tasks but have complex lives and interesting development.”

With almost three-and-a-half years of college behind her, Ashley is balancing studies and research with the addition of medical school interviews. Her plan is to become an OB-GYN and specialize in reproductive endocrinology, where she can use genetics—and the knowledge she’s gained studying insects in the Moore labs—to help in human reproduction.

“I like seeing how something molecular can manifest at a level where we can see it,” she said. “I love genetics. It’s my favorite area of science.”

Left: Ashley Amukamara, right, discusses her milkweed bug research with Trish Moore. Right, top: Ashley looks over her research at her bench in Allen Moore’s lab. Middle: Ashley and Allen Moore talk about the parenting practices of burying beetles. Bottom: Ashley shows off a species closely kin to her “small babies,” the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

13

14

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

It’s an

Chip Chambers brings the home game hype as UGA’s Mic Man

S

enior Honors student Chip Chambers has been serving as UGA’s Mic Man since his sophomore year.

Clad in a white dress shirt, bow tie, black suspenders, and some iteration of Georgia print pants, he is on the sidelines every Saturday home game.

In his words, “It’s an absolute blast to get to stand in front of the student body and cheer along with everyone.”

The only difference between Chip’s job and being in the stands?

“I have a sideline pass,” said Chip, a Foundation Fellow from Watkinsville.

“At the end of the day, I’m just another student, just another fan.”

University of Georgia football games in Sanford Stadium are a sight to behold.

On home game Saturdays, more than 90,000 fans clad in red and black enter this concrete monolith and thunderously cheer on the Bulldogs. Cheerleaders line the sides of the field, and near where they perform is the student section, a roaring entity of people who, during many games, never sit down. The Mic Man—also known as the Hype Man— stands on a platform in front of them.

From first kickoff until the last second ticks off the play clock, Chip is moving constantly, engaging with the student body the entire time.

“I learned that I have to pace myself if I want to jump up and down for four quarters,” he said.

The enthusiasm that Chip expresses on game day doesn’t come just from him—the players, the fans, and the music of the Redcoat Marching Band contribute to his excitement.

The first game that Chip ever served as Mic Man was against Tennessee in 2016.

It was Coach Kirby Smart’s first season with the Bulldogs, and the nail biter of a game ended in a 34-31 defeat. Since then, the Bulldogs have been unbeaten in Sanford Stadium during all the games Chip served as Mic Man.

He talked about how special it was to be Mic Man during Georgia’s highly successful season last year.

“To get to be in front of what I firmly believe is the greatest student body in all of the nation at what I know to be the greatest university in the nation is just an absolute blast and an absolute honor,” Chip said.

“This past year, 2017, getting to do all the home games in such a historic season—words can’t explain how exciting and fun that was.”

Being part of a community is important to Chip, and that’s part of the reason he chose to go to UGA. Through the Honors Program, he’s had the chance to get to know students better and grow alongside them.

“Probably the biggest part of the Honors Program for me is the community,” he said. “The Foundation Fellows community as well as the Honors community at large is awesome.

Getting to be around really driven, high-achieving students is an enriching experience in and of itself, not to mention a lot of fun.”

Chip is a biology and economics double major, and he was afforded the opportunity to see how the two overlap through the Honors in New York internship program this past summer. He interned at the Greater New York Hospital Association in New York City, and while he was there, he explored everything from emergency preparedness and legal and policy discussions to Medicaid improvements.

“The more time I spend in the healthcare arena, the more I realize that there are people whose job descriptions don’t necessarily fit in neat buckets,” he said. “There’s a lot of movement within the healthcare industry, and it’s increasingly a place where we need more interdisciplinary training.

“It’s this intersection of business,

science, policy, and leadership all coming together.”

Chip took the MCAT last May and plans to apply to medical schools next summer—he graduates in December 2019. He’s also interested in pursuing an MBA or Master of Public Health.

During his freshman and sophomore years, he was a CURO Honors Scholar and participated in research through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. Chip worked in the lab of Michael Terns, distinguished research professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, where he studied CRISPRCas, a technology related to genetic engineering.

While working in this lab, Chip had the opportunity to see how special the research was, he said.

“I remember one particular moment when I was standing in front of an imaging machine with the graduate student I was working with, and we realized two proteins were forming a complex together,” he said. “It was the culmination of our experiment, and I looked at her and said, ‘No one else in the world knows that these form a complex, do they?’ She said, ‘Not yet, but they’re about to!’”

Research helps him see the impact of the work he does, Chip said, and he’s enjoyed the education he’s receiving— both on and off the field.

This September, Tennessee returned to Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs won 38-12. Chip cheered and pumped up the crowd the entire game, and this time around, he got to leave the stadium with a victory under his belt or, more accurately, his suspenders. And on Oct. 6, during halftime of the GeorgiaVanderbilt game, the UGA student body crowned Chip as its 2018 Homecoming king.

‘absolute blast’ Story by Hamilton Armit & photo by Cal Powell

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

15

Scholarships

Maggie Little, center, is surrounded by her students at an all-girls middle school on Jeju Island in South Korea.

GLOBAL IMPACT

Honors alumni study worldwide through Fulbright U.S. Student Program

T

he University of Georgia once again hit double digits in the number of international travel-study grants offered to its students and recent alumni through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. With 18 students selected, this marks the fifth straight year—and ninth time in the past 10 years—that UGA has received 10 or more offers.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers research, study, and teaching opportunities in more than 140 countries to recent college graduates and graduate students. As the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, it is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the U.S. and countries worldwide.

“The great number of Fulbrights awarded again this year is further evidence of our students’ remarkable academic accomplishments and strong commitment to solving the world’s most pressing problems,” said Maria de Rocher, assistant director of the Honors Program and chair of the Fulbright selection

16

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

committee at UGA. Of the 18, 15 took advantage of the opportunity. Seven graduated from the Honors Program, and of these, all but one are teaching English in their host countries, and each of them graduated in the 2017-2018 academic year.

Caroline Beadles of Atlanta graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and pre-physician assistant courses.

With the long-term goal of working as a physician assistant, she will spend her Fulbright year as an English teaching assistant in Vietnam.

“Ultimately, I believe that work on the front line of education in Vietnam will provide invaluable groundwork for my future professional aims,” she said.

“It will allow me to acquire a unique

understanding that will enable me to navigate deftly, humanely, and positively across different cultures in healthcare provision.”

While an undergraduate, she spent five weeks in spring 2017 working as a medical intern and volunteer in Thailand through the Honors International Scholars Program and the Freeman-Asia Scholarship.

During her time in Athens, she volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital and mentored through the Honors Peer Assisted Learning program. She also was president of the Honors Program Student Council.

“I am interested in working in Vietnam in order to learn more about its history, culture, and language,” she said. “In my studies of international affairs, I have become well acquainted with U.S. history, political happenings, and relations with other countries.

Ultimately, I believe that the crosscultural exchange afforded by the ETA in Vietnam will give me a foundation of cultural understanding and sensitivity.”

Scholarships Rachel Kelley of Marietta graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs.

She has developed an appreciation for world cultures through studying abroad in Oxford, Paris, Bali, and South Korea.

Her time at the Unmunsa Buddhist Monastery in 2017 was “hard work—but calm,” she said, giving her the opportunity to experience a slice of South Korea little known to Westerners.

It made her enthusiastic to not only study the Korean language but to also explore the people behind the words.

In July, she returned to South Korea as an English teaching assistant. She is also conducting research on foreign policy toward North Korea with contacts she has made within the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies.

Before leaving for South Korea, Rachel worked at South Carolina-based Girlology and completed her TEFL certification.

Rachel has conducted research on South Korean nuclear policy at KAIST, a public research facility in Daejeon, South Korea. In 2017, she collaborated with the International Center at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government on a research project about U.S.-North Korea policy.

A Foundation Fellow, she plans to attend graduate school for international affairs, focusing on policy administration and East Asia affairs. Her career plans include working with businesses and organizations to establish new divisions abroad or working as a government analyst or Foreign Service officer.

Maggie Little of Cumming—who is teaching at an all-girls middle school on Jeju Island in South Korea—graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public administration.

She is fascinated by “a great shift” in the Korean education system. Called the Free Semester Program, this shift provides seventh-grade students a semester unbound by high-stakes tests and lecturebased classroom experiences. Maggie

sees the American education system eventually moving in the same direction, bringing creativity and collaboration to the forefront.

“I am curious to see how these modern classrooms have begun to mold students,” she said. “To me, incorporating creativity into curriculum is a necessity, and I believe experiencing the initial successes and limitations of FSP firsthand would be invaluable to informing my future work. I hope to start a club for students interested in the arts and use the skills I learned as a theatre minor at UGA.” At UGA, Maggie spent a year working for the nonprofit AthFest Educates and served with the University Arts Council, UGA Office of Government Relations, and UGA Career Center. She interned at Americans for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and spent a Policy Exchange Maymester in South Korea. She has also spent time in China, Italy, and France.

After her Fulbright year, Maggie will move to Washington, D.C., to work as an analyst on the federal strategy and operations team at Deloitte.

Laura Moeller of Augusta graduated in May with bachelor’s degrees in science education, chemistry, and Spanish. One of her long-term career goals is to improve and promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education for all students, especially English language learning students, who are often left behind as teachers deal with the challenges of instructing diverse groups of students while still aiming for defined benchmarks.

“I believe if content area programs and ELL programs were to become better integrated, where teachers from both areas worked in tandem, ELL students would have a greater chance of excelling in schools,” Laura said. “I hope to work toward making this a reality.”

Laura’s Fulbright year is unfolding at Colegio Decroly in Madrid, Spain, working with students from 12 to 17 years old in developing their English comprehension, speaking, and writing abilities.

A UGA Presidential Scholar who has been studying Spanish for a decade, she worked as an English teacher for adults with the Athens Latino Center for Education and Services and served as a

volunteer translator for the Clarke County School District and a tutor for younger English-language learners.

During a two-month study abroad program in Seville, Spain, Laura further developed her interest in secondary education. She also traveled to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Thailand, Jamaica, and Kenya.

After her Fulbright experience, Laura plans to teach high school with an eye on earning her master’s degree in education.

After gaining additional experience in the classroom, she plans to shift her focus to education reform.

Kara Pemberton of Statesboro graduated in May with bachelor’s degrees in anthropology and entertainment and media studies. Her interests include dance, anthropology, filmmaking, social and environmental issues, and Southeast Asian culture—but her favorite is sharing stories.

She will spend her Fulbright year teaching English in Malaysia.

“As storytellers, whether through social science or film, we have a responsibility to faithfully represent our subject’s stories,” she said. “I want to delve into Malaysian culture and history in order to bring authentic stories of it to the rest of the world, and I want to teach in Malaysia to bring authentic stories of the United States and English to my students.”

Kara developed her technical storytelling prowess while reporting for WUGA-FM, producing her own documentaries and other projects. She also served as a production assistant for the Peabody Awards.

Planning to become a medical anthropologist who makes documentaries, Kara studied cultural anthropology and photojournalism in Bali, Indonesia, which led to her desire to travel to Malaysia and other Southeast Asian locales.

A UGA Honors International Scholar in 2016 and CURO Symposium presenter in 2017, Kara taught for seven years for the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is dedicated to medieval research and reenactment. While in Athens she was president of the Swing Dance Club, an instructor with the Medieval and Renaissance Society, and a counselor for the Atlanta Ballet Camp—and she looks forward to continuing to teach dance.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

17

Scholarships

Latetia Vernelson

Nicholas Twiner of Dunwoody is traveling to the United Kingdom to complete a master’s degree in linguistics at Queen Mary University.

He will specialize in syntactic theory and sociolinguistics, and write a thesis on the variation of English dialects. He graduated in December 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in linguistics, classical languages, and classical culture.

Growing up in the American South, Nicholas often heard phrases like “might could,” the reduction of vowels, and the dropping of consonants—what he terms the syntactic variations of Southern American speech.

Theoretical linguists have generally ignored the Southern vernacular and its use when devising theories critical to English syntax research, he said. His research seeks to construct an inclusive model of language generation.

In addition to research and studies, Nicholas is “excited to explore London and the United Kingdom in hoping to learn more about the diversity of languages and dialects and how they are

shaped in our minds—and inform our interactions,” he said.

Nicholas was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Demosthenian Literary Society, and Blue Key Honor Society, and served as a vice president for the organization Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention. He plans to continue his advocacy for the prevention of violence while in London.

After his Fulbright year, Nicholas plans to begin his Ph.D. in linguistics at Stanford University.

Lilian Zhu of Iowa City, Iowa, graduated in May with degrees in Romance languages and Latin American and Caribbean studies. A Foundation Fellow, she is spending her Fulbright year in Brazil, teaching English at a federal university. She also plans to volunteer with a women’s rights group.

While at UGA, Lilian was a liaison to Pamela Whitten, former UGA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. Lilian was a volunteer project coordinator for a Brazilian childcare

center; tutored for the nonprofit Paper Airplanes, which provides language instruction to university-eligible students displaced by the Syrian refugee crisis; and worked with her Brazilian language partner on his English.

While studying last fall in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lilian joined local Ultimate Frisbee team 12 Monos, which qualified for the 2017 Pan American Ultimate Club Championships, held in Cañuelas, Argentina.

She also spent a summer polishing her Portuguese in an immersive language program in Brazil.

Sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lilian researched the country’s role in East Asia this past summer. She then interned with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. She plans to attend graduate school for international affairs and is considering a career as a Foreign Service officer.

“I am interested in working for the Department of State to further develop the United States’ relations with Brazil,” she said. “I was very lucky in that the University of Georgia gave me so many opportunities to travel during college, and those experiences have been instrumental in motivating me to seek a career in international cooperation.”

- Chris Starrs

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

C

onducting research using mathematical and computational methods has been the hallmark of Emily Maloney’s four years at UGA. This spring, she was one of 2,000 students chosen from 12,000 applicants for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which supports graduate study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

An Honors student and Foundation Fellow from Marietta, Emily graduated with degrees in sociology and cognitive science in May and started a PhD program in sociology at Duke University this fall. Her planned NSF project will use organization and social psychological theories to determine how science, technology, engineering, and math magnet programs assign STEM identities to students and the effects this could have on the racial and gender gaps observed in STEM fields.

During her time at UGA, Emily investigated how Head Start shapes outcomes for children and families enrolled in the preschool program; conducted policy programs through the Roosevelt Institute and Carl Vinson Institute of Government; worked in the Laboratory for the Study of Social Interaction coding thermal imaging data and studying experimental methods; researched the effect of sexual harassment policies on gender beliefs; and studied in Antarctica and at the University of Oxford.

Honors alumna Morgan Gibbs from Peachtree City was also a recipient of the fellowship. A chemistry major and pharmaceutical sciences minor, she was a 2017 Goldwater Scholar. Morgan started graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall.

18

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

Stephanie Schupska

Kevin Williams

travels from research lab to Capitol Hill

By Hamilton Armit

K

evin Williams, a third-year psychology and biology double government officials and enjoyed learning about their major from Fayetteville, presented his research at Posters perspectives on issues he cares about. on the Hill this past spring. The annual event—hosted “I met five Congressmen up there; I mostly talked a lot more by the Council on Undergraduate Research and held on Capitol to the staffers,” he said. “It was an interesting experience to see Hill in Washington, D.C.—gives college students from around their perspective and their opinions on research funding and the the country the opportunity to discuss their research with idea of pursuing knowledge in general.” legislators.

Kevin credits his faculty mentor and As Georgia’s only representative for graduate student advisor who helped him Posters on the Hill, Kevin shared his realize research is difficult, but with a little research on the link between physical persistence, definitely not impossible. pain and mental disorders. The study he “Dr. Holmes taught me a lot worked on was conducted with Philip especially because I had his class— Holmes, a professor in the Department of psychopharmacology,” Kevin said. “I would Psychology in the Franklin College of Arts say the biggest influence came from Jessica and Sciences.

Smith, his graduate student. She taught me “People who have conditions with a everything I know about research. Coming lot of chronic pain like arthritis or things in as a freshman, she pushed me down the of that nature often also have anxiety hill and kind of poked me in one direction and depression,” he said, explaining Kevin Williams or the other so I didn’t hit rocks along that in scientific terms, “there’s a high the way. Seeing her persevere through Junior, psychology and biology comorbidity between conditions of chronic her research is motivating and makes you inflammation and pain and disorders such realize it’s possible and you can do it. You as anxiety and depression.” just have to power through.”

His research, the effect of galanin in the mesolimbic system, Overall, research has shown him his studies can help him in looked at the link between those two diseases and uses galanin continually discovering all that science has to offer. as a possible mediator of this.

“Research has taught me that you can wrap your head around While Kevin had a plan on how he wanted to present his almost anything. It’s given me confidence as far as the potential research to state and national representatives, there was one for human consciousness and knowledge,” he said. “I feel like element of the event he was not expecting. there’s nothing we can’t learn at some point in time just through “The first day was no research at all—it was just us going this method of analyzing our natural world.” around the Hill, talking to members of Congress and asking them Kevin completed his research project with Holmes and is to keep funding undergraduate research,” he said. “It was really now researching the relationship between gut microbiome and interesting to see the daily lives of staffers and legislators.” obesity with Claire de La Serre, an assistant professor in the Kevin ended up meeting multiple legislators and other College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

“Research has taught me that you can wrap your head around almost anything.”

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

19

Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program

Three Honors Program alumni establish need-based scholarships

F

uture Honors students will have help meeting their financial needs at UGA thanks to the generosity of three Honors Program alumni. Brooks Andrews (BBA ’07, MA ’07) and Dale Dwelle, Sai Reddy (BBA ’02, MBA ’14), and Vijaya Palaniswamy (BA ’99, BS ’99) and Noreen Muhib became the first Honors families to give to the need-based Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program, which is open to incoming UGA freshmen.

Their gifts will have double the impact thanks to the UGA Foundation, which matches dollar for dollar Georgia Commitment Scholarship Program gifts of $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000. Since the initiative was announced in January 2017, UGA donors have created more than 280 need-based scholarships through the program.

The Georgia Commitment Scholarship supports students with unmet financial needs, providing them with renewable funding for up to four years of undergraduate studies. The scholarship offers them a variety of programs and resources to support their success—including tutoring, academic coaching, special events, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Assisting need-based students is a key message Brooks hears when talking to UGA President Jere W. Morehead, he said, “and I want to support that. I really just love the University of Georgia.

It fundamentally comes down to the school. It comes down to pride in the people and pride in the state.”

Brooks graduated from UGA in 2007 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance and economics and was a Foundation Fellow. Now a principal at EW Healthcare Partners, he is an investor focused exclusively on high-growth healthcare companies. He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his husband Dale, who managed various recruiting teams for Pinterest and Facebook.

Sai credits the Honors Program and student leadership involvement for playing a big part in his college experience.

“I really enjoyed the Honors Program for a multitude of reasons, with the most significant related to the intellectual stimulation,” said Sai, who graduated from UGA in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and in 2014 with his MBA. “The Honors Program challenged me to learn and think beyond the educational norms.”

Now working in commercial real estate development, Sai lives in Brookhaven. He’s led more than 250 retail real estate transactions across the U.S. over the course of his career with several companies.

“I didn’t really understand how fortunate I was until after college; that’s when I realized how many people were burdened by challenging student loans,” he said.

“They had to pay those loans off before taking full advantage of the financial benefits conferred by their degrees. It’s like two steps forward and one to three steps back. I told myself that one day I would start something to ease the pain for those needing it most.”

Vijaya, also a Foundation Fellow, graduated from UGA in 1999 with bachelor’s degrees in Honors interdisciplinary studies (focused on religion and culture), biochemistry and molecular biology, and

20

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

genetics. Now a partner with global law firm Linklaters LLP, he lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife Noreen, who is also a lawyer, and their three children.

“For many, the choice to go to college has to be balanced with the increasing cost of that education,” Vijaya said. “It was important to us that we supported a program that would make the choice easier for those who needed some support.”

The Honors alumni are giving primarily because they want other students to experience the opportunities they were afforded without the stress of a job—and because of influential people who invested in them while they were students.

Brooks credits several people, including President Morehead, who was associate provost and director of the Honors Program when Brooks was a first-year student at UGA; Dave Battle (BBA, ’00), now a partner in the Battle Investment Group, who was very involved in helping Brooks get from UGA to Wall Street in addition to being the impetus behind the now-thriving Corsair Society, which Brooks and Hunter Fleetwood (BBA ’07) helped start during their senior years (Corsair is supported by the Honors Program); Chris Cornwell, head of the Department of Economics in the Terry College of Business; and Earl Leonard (ABJ ’58, JD ’61), former senior vice president for the corporate affairs division of the Coca-Cola Company and the inspiration for the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program.

“They all made a pretty big impression on how my life at Georgia played out, ultimately helping shape the career I embarked on after graduation,” Brooks said. “Without their guidance, I would have been on a very different path.”

For Sai, he “felt strongly about giving back to Georgia in recognition of Victor Wilson and Dorothé Otemann, both of whom had an outsize influence on my life and experience at Georgia,” he said. “This scholarship will directly touch those benefiting from Victor and Dorothé’s mentorship and guidance.”

Victor is UGA’s vice president for student affairs and worked with Sai during his student leadership years. Dorothé is director of development for the Honors Program and supported the

Previous page: Noreen Muhib and Vijaya Palaniswamy gather with their children, left to right, Isah, Zaid, and Aliya. Above, left: Brooks Andrews and Dale Dwelle hike in Denali National Park in Alaska in September 2016. Above, right: Sai Reddy serves on the Decide DeKalb Development Authority.

Blue Key Honors Society when Sai was an undergraduate and president of the organization.

As an undergraduate, Vijaya “benefited from the generosity of alumni like Morris Abram (a lawyer and civil rights activist) and Alex Patterson (a retired partner at Alston and Bird who was instrumental in the formation of the Foundation Fellowship), who were willing to give of their time and their resources to help Georgia undergrads,” he said. “For them and many of the alumni I’ve met, the instinct to help an undergrad comes naturally.”

Brooks Andrews and Dale Dwelle After Brooks graduated from UGA, he first worked in New York as an investment banking analyst. In 2009, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area to begin his career in private equity and then subsequently earned his MBA from Stanford University. After graduating from Stanford, he joined EW Healthcare Partners in 2013. As an investor, Brooks works to provide capital to help healthcare companies accelerate their growth, primarily focusing on the launches of innovative medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and technology-enabled services.

Along the way, he’s kept his UGA roots close.

“From the day I met him, Brooks said he wanted to give back to Georgia,” Dale said. “This is the first step of everything coming full circle.”

Before getting to know Brooks, Dale, who is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, said he had never seen anything like the “deep school pride” exhibited by UGA alumni. Now an adopted Bulldog, he and Brooks both work to mentor UGA students and alumni and look for ways to help them on their career paths.

Brooks and Dale recently moved to Palo Alto to be closer to Brooks’ work and to family—and to start a family of their own.

Vijaya Palaniswamy and Noreen Muhib After Vijaya graduated from UGA, he continued his education by earning a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University and a JD from Harvard Law School, both in 2003. He then joined Linklaters LLP—a global law firm with more than 2,300 attorneys across 20 countries—as an associate in their London office. After four years in London, he relocated to Linklaters’ New York office and was later elected to the partnership.

Vijaya’s practice has enabled him to work on the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects around the

world. He currently leads Linklaters’ Americas-based Energy and Infrastructure team. Noreen is a consulting attorney on human trafficking and anti-trafficking initiatives and formerly worked for Sanctuary for Families, a New York City-based non-profit representing victims of intimate partner violence.

“Noreen and I believe deeply in the positive transformative effect of higher education on an individual,” Vijaya said. “Being able to help people achieve those gains is a privilege.”

Sai Reddy After Sai graduated from UGA, he traveled internationally and ultimately got his start in real estate acquisitions and dispositions with his father. In 2005, he began working in Atlanta. His expertise is in real estate and franchise development, which he developed while with Raving Brands (Moe’s Southwest Grill, among others), Petrus Brands (Shane’s Rib Shack and Planet Smoothie), and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Currently, he locates and negotiates numerous real estate deals, establishing roughly 17-20 Dunkin’ Donuts per year throughout the Atlanta metro area.

Sai was heavily involved in student leadership as an undergraduate, and he has stayed involved at various times through alumni boards and Blue Key. “This scholarship presents an opportunity to give back to both the university and a deserving student,” Sai said.

“There is this one thing my mom always told me. She always said to ‘make sure I give more back to this world than I receive.’

And I thought that was very profound.”

For incoming first-year students interested in applying, all financial aid applications are automatically reviewed for eligibility for the Georgia Commitment Scholarship. UGA uses the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to calculate financial aid. Students who receive the scholarship must enroll full-time, be pursuing their first undergraduate bachelor’s degree, be eligible for the federal Pell Grant, and maintain satisfactory academic progress.

“I hope the Georgia Commitment Scholarship encourages and enables some really talented students to go to the University of Georgia and to stay in state,” Brooks said, “because we all benefit from that.”

For more information on the Georgia Commitment Scholarship or giving through the Honors Program, contact Dorothé Otemann at 706-583-0698 or dotemann@uga.edu.

UGA HONORS PROGRAM MAGAZINE FALL 2018

21

Nonprofit Org. U. S. Postage

PAID

Moore College, 108 Herty Drive University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-6116

Bulldogs in the UK

Athens, GA Permit No. 165

Warren Walker, a junior Honors student from Juliette majoring in mathematics and risk management and insurance, shows school spirit in front of Stonehenge with fellow UGA students Lauren Diaz and Victoria Petuhova. Warren participated in UGA at Oxford with funding from the Honors International Scholars Program. “Not only did I gain a group of lifelong friends, but I also experienced a substantial growth in my academic ability and confidence,� he said.