Awards, Prizes, Fellowships . . .

Monica Prasad, Professor of Sociology, has won the Barrington Moore book prize from the Comparative-Historical Sociology section for her book, The Land of Too Much, and Elisabeth Anderson has won the paper prize, for "Ideas in Action: The Politics of Prussian Child Labor Reform, 1817-1839."  Please join me in congratulating them both!

Bruce Carruthers, Professor of Sociology, has been elected President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics.

Jack Davis, who graduated with honors last year, a 2013 Fulbright. Jack's project will be in the form of a documentary examining the informal social networks developed by refugees for survival in the context of a post civil-war Mozambique.  He will be in the country doing his research from January to October of 2014.

Anthony Johnson has been awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation for his project titled, "Becoming a Scientist: Identity Formation of Aspiring Minority Scientists in Labs," and Alka Menon has received an honorable mention for her project titled, "Understanding Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in American Cosmetic Surgery." The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce in the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in fields within NSF's mission. The GRFP provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in social science, science and engineering research.

Natalia Forrat has received a Graduate Research Grant from The Graduate School for her project titled "Authoritarian Welfare: How Social Policy Affects the Resilience of the Authoritarian Regime."

A paper written by Lisa-Jo Van den Scott, Clare Forstie, and Savina Balasubramanian entitled “Shining Stars, Blind Sides, and ‘Real’ Realities: Exit Rituals, Eulogy Work and Allegories in Reality Television” has won the Society for the Study of Social Problems' 2013 Sport, Leisure, and the Body Graduate Student Paper Award.  Please join me in congratulating Lisa-Jo, Clare, and Savina!

Jaimie Morse has won a Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council in the field of "Critical Approaches to Human Rights." SSRC brings together two tenured faculty members and a group of selected graduate students to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue around the identified research field and provide expertise and input on the development of each student’s dissertation proposal. Jaimie will participate in two workshops and receive a $5,000 grant for summer research.

Paul Lee is a double major in WCAS in Sociology and Chemistry. He recently won a 2013 Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Grant to finance the use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance techniques in finding the rate of exchanges of protons between phenols and water and for how long the phenol “dances” with a particular water partner over time. Titled “Solvent Structure and Dynamics: Counting Water Partners in a Phenol-Phenolate Equilibrium”, this study focuses on the breaking and formation of hydrogen-oxygen bonds between phenols and water to help develop a deeper understanding of the structure and behavior of water.

Cassidy Puckett won a 2013 National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Her project is titled, "Digital Adaptability and the Stratification of Cultural Practices."

Bethany Polhamus is a double-major in WCAS in Sociology and Statistics. Her study,  "Decision Points: How Evangelical Women Navigate Marriage and Careers" focuses on the unique decisions that women from Evangelical Christian backgrounds make in regards to family and jobs, specifically as it relates to choices around timing of first marriage. To research this, Bethany used her Summer URG to conduct interviews with women in the Chicago area and observe multiple women's Bible Studies for field research. By comparing half the sample of women who married before and after age 26 she seeks to determine the main factors that influence the timing of first marriage for these women. 2013.

Marina Mason (2013) was awarded a Senior Theses grant from Weinberg College to assist with research for her thesis “Identity and Boundary Formation of Latino College Students.” Marina’s research will investigate how Latino students in college have come to define themselves ethnically, nationally, and racially, and how their social environment affects that self-identification. This research will help determine what the new formation of Latino identity is and why there is a creation of boundaries within subgroups in different collegiate environments.  The purpose of this study is to determine if there is environmental influence on identity formation and cultural group segregation.

Birong Vivian Wang is a winner of the 2013 University Research Grant for her senior thesis project "Speaking dilemma: the language use of Tibetan students at Tsinghua University and its role in Tibetan and Chinese identity construction." Vivian's research asks how schooling and social contexts influence the ways in which Tibetan students use their native language and Chinese, what shapes individuals’ choice of language, and how identity is affected in these negotiations.

Congratulations to four of our graduate students -- Daphne Demetry, Elyse Kovalsky, Elizabeth Onasch, and Cassidy Puckett, -- for individually winning a 2013 Graduate Research Grant from The Graduate School.
Daphne Demetry 's project is titled “Episodic Organizations: Survival and Continuity of Pop-up Restaurants and Underground Supper Clubs”;  
Elyse Kovalsky's project is titled “Implications of Housing Instability and Foreclosure for Family Health”; and
Elizabeth Onasch 's project is titled “Racialized Access to the Nation: The Case of French
Integration Programs.”
Cassidy Puckett's project is titled "Digital Adaptability: A Study of the Social Determinants of Adolescents’ Propensity to Learn New Technologies."

Sherilyn DeStefano (Undergrad) won a 2012 Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Grant to assist with her research for her thesis "The Effect of the Premedical Experience on Empathy Levels Among Students" Sherilyn's thesis is on empathy levels among premedical students.  By measuring empathy levels of undergraduate sophomores and seniors via the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, a self-reported empathy test, and comparing the results, she hopes to determine whether empathy levels are affected over the course of the premedical experience.  To determine the mechanism by which these changes may occur, she will conduct interviews with both current premedical and former premedical seniors, asking
them to reflect on how they have changed over the course of the premedical curriculum.

Daphne Ann Demetry won the prestigous Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program which support dissertations in the area of entrepreneurship (2012-2013). Daphne's dissertation is broadly examining temporary, project-based organizations. She is conducting an ethnography of pop-up restaurants and underground supper clubs (temporary restaurants that take place in people’s homes and other unusual locations) to better understand how these transitory forms of work are organized and utilized by emerging entrepreneurs.