Winners of the Woodruff and Rose libraries Undergraduate Research Awards are, from left, top row: Bethany Greene, Jennifer Wang, and Xavier Sayeed; middle row: Abbe McCarter, Tiera Ndlovu, Rikki Weiss, and Ramsey Baden; bottom row: Paula Quezada, Hannah Fuller, and Ellie Coe. Not pictured: Yi Xie.
Eleven Emory students recently received Undergraduate Research Awards from the Robert W. Woodruff Library and the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library for research they conducted either in the Emory Libraries or at another library.
“One of the Libraries’ primary responsibilities is providing trusted resources to fuel the research enterprise, and we are so very pleased to be able to sponsor and provide these undergraduate awards,” University Librarian Yolanda Cooper said. “We are also grateful to our award donors who see the benefit of adding research to the undergraduate experience and have generously provided support.”
The Woodruff Library’s Elizabeth Long Atwood Undergraduate Research Award recognizes Emory College undergraduate students in all disciplines who use the Woodruff Library’s collections and research resources in their original papers, digital projects, or posters, and show evidence of critical analysis in their research skills (such as locating, selecting, evaluating, and synthesizing information). The winners are:
- Ellie Coe, class of 2022, history and Russian and East European studies major, for “The Soldier’s Queue in the Eighteenth Century.”
- Hannah Fuller, class of 2020, history major, for “Jemima Wilkinson: The Genderless Feminist of the Enlightenment.”
- Jennifer Wang, class of 2020, neuroscience and behavioral biology major, for “Cities Within Cities: A Comparison of Rockefeller Center and Peachtree Center.”
The Rose Library gave research awards in three categories:
The Bradley Currey Jr. Seminar Award is open to undergraduates in all years of the honors program in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, or any upper level student who is conducting original research. Students who meet the established criteria receive grants to help defray the costs of conducting original research in an archival repository.
The winners and their research projects are:
- Ramsey Baden, class of 2019, English and creative writing major, for “Graphic Journalism: The White Terror in Taiwan.” Read more about his project here.
- Abbe McCarter, class of 2019, anthropology and human biology double major, for “Food Insecurity on the Cattaraugus Reservation.”
- Xavier Sayeed, class of 2020, music major, for “The Israeli Andalusian Orchestra of Ashdod.”
- Yi Xie, class of 2019, history and English double major, for “Becoming American in a Multiracial Context: Chinese ‘Sojourners’ and African Americans’ Battle for Inclusion in a White Republic, 1868-1904.”
The Alan Rackoff Prize was established through the Betsy and Wayne Rackoff Fund and named in honor of Rackoff’s late brother, an Emory student in the class of 1973. Wayne Rackoff (class of 1975), vice president of clinical oncology at Janssen Research & Development, was among the first generation of Emory students in English courses to have access to primary materials in what was then known as Special Collections (now the Rose Library). The experience left a lasting imprint on his intellectual life, and he became a longtime supporter of the archival collections.
The prize is awarded to students for the best papers, projects, or honors theses written on the basis of primary source material related to a class or course of study in any academic department except the Department of English.
- Tiera Ndlovu, sophomore at Oxford College, class of 2021), art history and history major, winner for “Fraternally Yours: Examining Early Emory Social Life Through the Culbreath Collection.” Read more about her research here.
- Bethany Greene, class of 2020, economics major, honorable mention for “An Unexpected Pairing: The Villa Müller and Cannon Chapel.”
The Schuchard Prize was established through the Betsy and Wayne Rackoff Fund and named in honor of Wayne Rackoff’s archival mentor, Ronald Schuchard, Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus of English. The Schuchard Prize is awarded to students for the best papers, projects, or honors theses created on the basis of primary source material related to a class or course of study in the Department of English.
- Paula Quezada, class of 2019, African American studies major, winner for “F is for Freedom: The Black BC’s, Evoking the Black Aesthetic and Developing the Youth’s Black Consciousness.”
- Rikki Weiss, class of 2021, English and film studies double major, honorable mention for “Rediscovering Zora: A Genius of the South.”