Award Recipients

2012-13

Rand Ghayad, doctoral candidate in economics
Rand’s research concerns the Beveridge curve, which describes the relationship between job vacancies and unemployment. Findings from his work have generated strong interest from researchers and policymakers because of the implications for setting the conduct of monetary policy. Rand served as an economic consultant at the Brookings Institution last summer, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, an honor generally reserved for distinguished faculty members.

Catherine Matassa, doctoral candidate in biology
Catherine’s research focuses on the ways that predators can affect ecological communities by scaring their prey, rather than eating them. Her manipulative experiments on the rocky shores of New England have produced some of the first experimental tests of theory on how prey manage such risks and the ecological consequences of their behavior. Catherine is a co-author of six articles in top peer-reviewed journals and has five first-authored papers in preparation.

Gregory Peim, doctoral candidate in physics
Gregory is recognized nationally as one of the 50 most promising young researchers in theoretical elementary particle physics. He works in two areas of particle theory: the early discovery of new physics at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, and on analyses to determine the nature and identification of dark matter in the universe. Gregory is a co-author of 13 papers published in leading peer-reviewed journals.

2011-12

Kristin Bell, doctoral candidate in criminology and justice policy
Kristin’s research, which centers on interpersonal violence, has transformed the way scholars understand the Armenian genocide. One of her most recent papers, under review for publication at Gender & Society, will be the first article in the field of criminology to examine the relationship of gender and genocide.

Bo Li, doctoral candidate in mechanical and industrial engineering
Bo’s most recent research in nanomaterials technology has led to the development of a unique method of fabricating suspended single-walled carbon nanotube micro/nano structures on three-dimensionally micropatterned hybrid structures, a technique that had never been demonstrated. He has also authored four papers that have been published in top nanoscience and nanotechnology journals.

2010-11

Jolie Baumann, doctoral candidate in psychology

Tao Wang, doctoral candidate in pharmaceutical sciences