2005 Recipients of The Deans' Award for Academic Accomplishment

Sabina Alistar is a senior majoring in Management Science and Engineering, earning a coterminal Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering. She is honored for exceptional achievement across academic disciplines and in particular for her
research on the Romanian health care system.

Sabina has been a truly outstanding Stanford student. She has taken a heavy, challenging course load every quarter, earning almost all A’s and A+’s. Sabina was drawn to engineering because of its interdisciplinary nature, its rigorous analytical structure and its immediate applicability to real-world problems.

Last summer, Sabina traveled to Romania funded by a major grant under the direction of Professor Margaret Brandeau. She studied the transition from a public to private health care system. Based on archival material and interviews with health care policy makers, employees and system users, her study revealed problems and surprising strengths.

Sabina identified lack of long-term planning, the impact of political factors on hospital management and inattention toward prevention and patients with chronic conditions.

Despite these drawbacks, many physicians in the system provide excellent care, often performing procedures not available elsewhere.

Sabina plans to pursue her most significant insight in a PhD program in Bioengineering — the importance of inexpensive medical solutions for countries with a developing
economy, .

Phillip Dumesic, a junior majoring in Biological Sciences, is honored for his work on the function of kinases involved in epithelial growth and  differentiation. Working in the laboratory of Professor Paul Khavari for the past two and a half years, Phillip took a highly creative, innovative approach to studying skin.

He fused the best available techniques for RNA interference and murine knockout technology with his own novel approach to how skin cells proliferate and differentiate. His work will
advance understanding of the physiology of human skin and its pathologies.

Working with postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Florence Scholl, Phillip designed several experiments to determine the function of pathways governing proliferation and differentiation of skin cells. Phillip and collaborators established the capacity for regulated gain of function and the dominant role of the Ras / MEK / MAP signaling network. Phillip applied this experimental design to discern any difference in the effects of additional factors in this pathway. Phillip co-authored two published papers, one in Cancer Research (2004) and the other in Cancer Letters (2005).

Professor Khavari notes Phillip’s outstanding personal characteristics, motivation and accomplishments, concluding: “Even more striking, however, are Phillip’s accomplishments in scientific research, which have greatly contributed to our understanding of epithelial biology. It is unprecedented in my years at Stanford that one of my students combines these exceptional characteristics.”

Eerik Hantsoo, a senior in Mechanical
Engineering, is honored for his leadership of the
Stanford Solar Car Project (which he captains).
He is also the lead researcher on the development, microfabrication,
and characterization of high elongation polymeric
strain sensors. His work ultimately contributes to 
developing novel processes and devices for
observing nanoscale mechanical behavior. His work also involves the
analysis, design and control of integrated electro-
mechanical systems for applications in biomedicine.

He worked in the lab of nominator Professor Beth Pruitt since
Winter quarter 2004 on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). It was here where he developed a test platform for performing conductive
tensile tests. He devised hardware, software and
testing protocols for recording electrical conductivity
data during a very low load tensile test. This information was used to develop correlations of mechanical strain and resistance in conducting films on polymers.
Eerik presented his work as first author at the
Materials Research Society meeting in Spring 2005.

Professor Pruitt writes: “Eerik is far and away the
most mature, bright, motivated and intellectually
curious undergraduate student I’ve ever met. If he
has a flaw, it is that he doesn’t say no. He embodies
the Stanford ideal of doing it all well.”  

Jason Hom, a senior in Biological Sciences, is honored for his research on basal ganglia function using functional brain imaging. He is also honored for his contribution to veterans at the Menlo Park VA Hospital Geriatric Ward as a member of the Stanford United Students for Veterans’ Health.

Prompted by his experiences with a veteran suffering from Parkinson’s disease at the Menlo Park VA Hospital, Jason sought out nominator Professor Vinod Menon. Jason respects Professor Menon for his expertise in basal ganglia function and dysfunction linked to Parkinson’s disease.  

Jason joined Professor Menon’s laboratory in its study of the role of basal ganglia in movement control. He participated fully in experimental design, stimulus selection, task programming, subject recruitment, MRI data acquisition, data analysis and manuscript preparation. His research skill is matched by his keen ability to think critically through complex questions and their social implications.

His research will be presented in three articles, including two first-author publications in international peer-reviewed journals. He will pursue a medical degree, having been admitted to several top medical schools.

Professor Menon writes: “Jason is the best student and research assistant I have ever had. He is quite simply an outstanding student and human being.”

Piotr Kosicki, is a senior in History. He is honored for his study of the intellectual history of the European Union, specifically the impact of Christian Democratic ideology on European integration. He is also honored for contributions as editor of the Stanford Review and Herodotus, the Stanford Department of History student journal. In addition, he is honored as Publications Director of the Associated Students of Stanford University.

Working with nominator Professor Norman Naimark, Piotr began his research as a sophomore by examining post-communist Polish Catholicism. He interviewed leading figures in Polish state and society as well as at the Vatican. His initial study expanded into his honors thesis. It considers the “Christian” intellectual origins of the European Union based on analysis of the Robert Schuman papers in Geneva and Alcide de Gaspari in Florence.

Piotr’s research on the influence of Catholicism on the entry of Poland into the European Union is published in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. He received the prestigious James Lyons Awards in recognition of his work as a tutor and a leader in the development of student publications.

Co-nominator Professor Jack Rakove writes: “His intellectual performance places him within that very top one or two percent of students who truly grasp the mission of a university like Stanford, and who meet and surpass our highest expectations.”
According to Professor Naimark, “He has given to the Stanford community even more than he has been able to take from it and that is a great deal, indeed.”

Victoria Parikh, a senior in the Program in Human Biology, is honored for her work on the role of endocrinological responses in behavioral coping strategies. Victoria joined the laboratory of Professor
Russell Fernald in her sophomore year and learned a wide variety of techniques.

She found answers to questions about the internal physiological state and the external environment interacting to produce social status in the fish, Haplochromis burtoni. In collaboration with Dr. Tricia Clement, Victoria linked endocrinological processes to behavior, using video images to test an animals’ response to social challenges. She identified changes in the circulating hormones and social status in animals that are challenged.

Victoria presented her work at two national Meetings. She is coauthor of a paper published in March 2005 in the leading journal in this field, Hormones and Behavior. Victoria is also the first author on another paper that has been submitted. She is now completing her honors research, measuring the levels of gene expression in response to social challenges.

Professor Fernald writes: “She is one of the top three honors researchers I have had the pleasure of advising. Vicki has been working at the level of a graduate student for some time and richly deserves a Dean’s Award as recognition of her initiative and success.”

Julia Rosen, a senior in Geological and Environmental Sciences, is honored for research into the paleoenvironments of the Sibininachocha watershed in Cordillera Vilcanota, Peru. This could ultimately inform policy discussions on climate change.

She is also honored for athletic accomplishments as Captain of the Stanford Women’s Ski Team. Her participation in the Stanford Outdoor Education Program is in teaching skills that enable students to travel and perform research in the wilderness.

Julia’s intellectual achievement across disciplines is reflected in her President’s Award for Excellence in the Freshman Year and a nomination for the Boothe Prize for Excellence in Writing. She is also a talented singer who recently gave a senior voice recital that consisted largely of opera music.

With Professor Rob Dunbar’s guidance, Julia joined a University of Colorado research expedition to the Peruvian Andes during the summer of her sophomore year. She spent several weeks above 14,000 feet, collecting lake sediment samples at an altitude that makes breathing difficult. Julia used these samples to track variation in the vegetative response to climate change over the last 500 to 10,000 years. This research forms the basis of her honors thesis.

Co-nominators Professor Dennis Bird and Lecturer Anne Egger of Geological and Environmental Sciences write this of Julia. “Julia possesses all the qualities of Stanford students with whom we most enjoy working: intelligence, integrity, an untiring drive to learn and understand, compassion for others, a fine sense of humor and a love for the out-of-doors.”

James Schroeder, a senior in Biological Sciences, is honored for using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) to detect changes in tissue metabolism, particularly exercising muscle. He is also honored for his athletic achievements as a member of the Stanford crew and participant in the 2004 Olympic Games. James’ research will contribute to the application of new MRS imaging techniques that will increase knowledge of biomechanics and the physiology of muscle and joints.

James began working with nominating Professor Garry E. Gold as a sophomore through an elective directed reading in Radiology. He was one of the top
undergraduate students in Professor Gold’s course on “Introduction to Imaging and Image-based Human Anatomy.”

As lead investigator, James performed two-dimensional spectroscopy in the muscle of exercising athletes. He recruited subjects, defined the exercise protocol, helped run the MRI scanner and performed the data analysis. James was recently admitted to the Bioengineering Master’s program at Stanford.

He will be first author on an abstract for the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He is also first author on the subsequent paper he is preparing with Professor Gold for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Professor Gold writes: “Over the years, I have been very fortunate to work with some of the best undergraduate and graduate students here at Stanford. James is simply the best undergraduate student I have ever worked with. His research and academic skills are on a par with some of the best graduate students in engineering, biology and bioengineering that I have worked with and his maturity and work ethic places him in an elite group of students.”

Gabriel Swank, a senior in Political Science, is honored for his work on economic policy in the European Union. It has implications for our understanding of how international involvement affects states as they evolve, including nascent democracies.

Gabe’s work with visiting Professor Tim Büthe during his junior year earned an A+ (only the second Professor Büthe has awarded in five years of teaching).

Gabe examined US - EU conflict and cooperation in the regulation of mergers. His careful
analysis unseated the widespread belief that the EU prohibiting the merger of General Electric and Honeywell on antitrust grounds was highly politicized.
 
Gabe demonstrated through a comparative study of other
multinational corporate mergers that the EU decision was consistent with previously established doctrine. The different conclusions reached by US and European regulators were primarily differences in market structure and the dissimilar pace of deliberations on each side of the Atlantic. Gabe followed up with a environmental regulation impact study on trade in the EU and internationally.

Gabe received a rare invitation for undergraduates: to present his work with Professor Büthe at the international conference of the European Union Studies Association. His paper will be published subsequently in a major peer-reviewed journal.

Nominator Professor Büthe writes: “His combination of superb analytical skills, great motivation and boundless intellectual curiosity make him truly outstanding even among his peers at Stanford.”

Jeffrey Treviño, a senior in Music, is honored for his work in composition, performance musicology, and his commitment to the Stanford student arts community.

Jeffrey’s compositions demonstrate his creativity and skill in varied genres and with diverse media, from music for dance performance and animation to experimental works. “Eight Legs Each” for tuba and two prerecorded tubas investigates a range of tuba microsounds he explored and catalogued in a unique
way. To score this work, Jeffrey devised a hybrid notation of conventional symbols and invented pictographs. He produced nine etudes, each focusing on a different skill, for Professor Mark Applebaum’s curriculum, Musique Concrète in the Digital Era.

Jeffrey also worked with musicologist Tobias Plebuch on the original manuscripts of classic films scores at the Warner Brothers film archives. He initiated the Stanford University “Henry Cowell Student Lectures in Music” series.

Jeffrey performed his music at The Northwest Electroacoustic Music Organization, a regional conference that enjoys a national and international following. He also performed at the International Computer Music Conference, the most prestigious international organization that presents leading-edge, experimental electroacoustic music selected by an international jury.

Professor Mark Applebaum writes: “Jeffrey is indeed a person of integrity, a role model for his colleagues, a composer of great promise and an individual who will make a superb teacher in the near future. He is quickly becoming a noteworthy figure with a regional, national and even international reputation.”

Back to Top