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The winners of the 2004 College Awards, said acting executive dean Judi Smith, "truly represent what's best about UCLA."
Honored at the College's annual awards dinner on June 3, three undergraduates were presented with the 2004 Charles E. Young and Sue K. Young Undergraduate Student Award, and three graduate students received the Charles E. Young and Sue K. Young Graduate Student Award. The monetary prizes that accompany these awards are funded by an endowment created by Louis and Evelyn Blau.
Also acknowledged this year were Joy Monkarsh '61, and Jerry Monkarsh '59, who were named College Honorary Fellows for their volunteer and philanthropic leadership.
The six student winners profiled here can boast of distinctive achievements in their young careers. But they also have much in common. They have maintained the highest grades among their peers. Many are breaking new ground in research. Most are engaged in community service outside of academia. And all of them are lauded for their personal interactions with faculty, staff and fellow students that enhance the university community and represent the true spirit of collegiality.
Angela Mazer
International Development Studies
It is no accident that Angela Mazer was drawn to what she describes as the "international vibe" of UCLA and to the global arena in general. She has spent a lot of time in her mother's homeland, Switzerland, her father is Jewish-American, and she grew up surrounded by Mormon culture in Salt Lake City.
"UCLA gave me access to the international academic world and an understanding of international issues," said Mazer, who for the last five summers has volunteered at a camp off the coast of Croatia for children of diverse backgrounds from the war-torn Balkans. "It gave me a strong foundation that prepared me for my year abroad."
Under the auspices of the School for International Training, Mazer spent the year in Geneva studying the role of various United Nations organizations and had an internship with The Hague Appeal for Peace, an international network of peace and justice organizations.
Mazer's senior honors thesis advisor, Stephen Commins, a lecturer in the Department of Urban Planning, praised her "organizational skills and intellectual insights." He also singled out the advance work she conducted through UNICEF contacts before beginning her thesis, which examines the trauma and resilience of children who have experienced war and their needs in the post-conflict environment.
For Mazer, receiving the undergraduate award is "an enormous validation of my passion, and that what I'm emotionally connected to can also be translated to the academic environment." She next plans to travel to Sarajevo for work with an education for peace program, and then will go to graduate school. "I want to be hands-on with children internationally in some way for the rest of my life," she said.
Sean Patrick Klein
Business and Economics
When Sean Klein first came to UCLA in January 2003, his goals were to take advantage of what he saw as the studious but relaxed environment of UCLA and to prepare for a high-powered job with a matching salary. But his studies have changed his outlook.
"I have been given the ability to analyze the world around me, to ask and answer questions about policies, and to benefit the world in which I live," he said. "I have found my true passion, and it has nothing to do with a paycheck."
Klein is simultaneously working toward his bachelor's and master's degrees, a privilege granted to only one exceptional student in the Department of Economics each year. "I have never seen someone who has not had extensive data analytic experience process so much information so effectively and so quickly," said Professor Duncan Thomas, Klein's mentor.
His senior thesis examines if introducing social security programs in countries will have a significant impact on their economies. He himself has had a notable impact on campus. In light of the national corporate accounting scandals, he co-founded a Business Ethics Club at UCLA, which has presented events such as a talk by a Securities and Exchange commissioner.
In winning the award, Klein said he "felt like faculty in the economics department were saying they were proud of me and I made them look good, when usually it's the other way around." Klein appears to be on an awards streak; two days after being told about the award, the UCLA Alumni Association notified him that he had won its Distinguished Bruin Award.
Brian Hong-An Tang
Atmospheric Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Impressed that Brian Tang was performing graduate level research in an undergraduate course on climate modeling and climate change, Professor J. David Neelin, co-chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, invited him to tackle an unsolved question: how does the El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean curtail hurricane formation in the Atlantic?
Using statistical analysis and current theory of atmospheric dynamics, Tang developed findings that were submitted for an article in a scientific journal, and "a number of related things from Brian's research will be of great interest to climate specialists," according to Neelin. Tang's undergraduate advisor, Associate Professor Robert G. Fovell, similarly marvels at his academic ambition, predominance of A+ grades, and advanced knowledge.
"He will enter graduate school with the best preparation I've ever seen," Fovell said.
As for the award, Tang said, "It means a lot to be able to contribute to the overall knowledge of the field of atmospheric sciences as an undergraduate, and to be better prepared for graduate school studies, which I'll start in the fall."
At the same time, Tang has demonstrated his concern for the university and larger communities. As president of his dormitory, he coordinated several community service programs. He also has held leadership positions in the co-educational Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, participating in events that included soup kitchens, food banks, beach cleanups, an AIDS walk, and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
Sally Dickerson, graduate student
Social Psychology
Sally Dickerson had originally planned to become a physician. "But, because I got so involved in health psychology research early in my undergraduate career, I became more interested in the broader issues related to health and disease than in organic chemistry and other subjects that prepare you for medicine," she said.
That curiosity appears to have set the stage for her to blaze an investigative trail of her own. With major scientific breakthroughs expected at the intersection of multiple fields, Psychology Professor Shelley Taylor noted the qualifications that researchers will need and that Dickerson brings to the work: "expertise in multiple fields, the ability to pose questions that have never before been imagined, much less asked, and a fearless willingness to move into uncharted territory."
The goal of her doctoral dissertation is to understand the types of stressful conditions that are capable of eliciting physiological changes in the human body. Dickerson wants to see how the body responds to stress early in the process, before conditions like stroke and obesity develop, with an eye toward prevention.
"She is an extremely talented researcher, a sophisticated theorist, and a gifted teacher," said Assistant Professor Shelly L. Gable, Dickerson's dissertation chair. Speaking about her own teaching experience, Dickerson said, "It's very rewarding to see students get excited about the research process and about projects that excite me too."
Having been attracted to UCLA because of the strength of the health psychology program and faculty in psychoneuroimmunology, her view of the award is that "it not only honors work that I am proud of, but it also honors those who have made this research possible-my mentors, colleagues, and students."
C. Jason Throop, graduate student
Anthropology
"One of the hardest things an anthropologist can do is to find an appropriate research site for studies," said Professor Douglas Hollan, chair of the Department of Anthropology and chair of Throop's dissertation committee. "Jason passed this test with flying colors."
Throop, who came to UCLA because of the department's reputation for psychocultural studies and medical anthropology, chose a research challenge that even more experienced scholars would find daunting. His dissertation explores how people in Yap, one of the federated states of Micronesia, come to understand pain, how it fits into their general understanding of health, illness, and suffering, and how that serves to structure their everyday interactions.
For the field work, he spent a year in Yap, where he established close ties with Yapese scholars from around the world, obtained hard-to-get research visas, found a suitable rural village in which to live and work, became fluent in the Yapese language, and established strong relationships with his neighbors and collaborators. Hollan noted that he also helped develop a research proposal that will bring nearly $1 million to Yapese youth over the next five years.
Throop has a résumé filled with published articles, conference presentations, and teaching experience, and has received very positive teaching evaluations for a variety of anthropology courses in which he served as a teaching assistant and a teaching associate. He also is a founding member of Mind, Medicine, and Culture, a popular discussion group that brings together faculty and students with interests in issues of psychocultural and medical anthropology.
"UCLA has given me access to a very unique intellectual community," Throop said. "The award is a huge honor. It's not often that you get recognition on an institutional level for something that otherwise feels like a very private experience."
Charles Hiroshi Garrett, graduate student
Musicology
Many jazz historians view Louis Armstrong as a founding father of jazz. Through his research, Garrett has determined that he was also a symbol of capability and success for African-Americans who had migrated from the South to Chicago in the 1920s. That's just one finding in an award-winning chapter of his dissertation, which examines American nationalism and musical expressions of identity.
"I am convinced that my scholarly career would not have taken the same shape anywhere other than UCLA," said Garrett, who joined the musicology faculty at the University of Michigan earlier this year.
He credited his award to the support given to students by the musicology faculty. "The department pushes its graduate students to professionalize early and become part of our discipline right away," Garrett explained.
To Professor Susan McClary, who sat on Garrett's dissertation committee, his numerous presentations of papers, publication in peer-reviewed journals, and impressive teaching skills are just a few indications of his promise as an academician. "Chuck is nationally recognized as a rising star, sure to become an innovative scholar, an influential teacher, and a champion for diversity," she said.
Although now entrenched in the midwest, Garrett looks forward to returning to California to write his next book project, which will focus on the contemporary music scene in Los Angeles.
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