2008 Recipients of The Deans' Award for Academic Accomplishment

Christopher Aakre is a senior in Biology, carrying out his honors research on molecular plant host-pathogen interactions. He is honored for his brilliant work throughout his undergraduate years, including research on the evolution of phosphoglucose isomerase in butterflies and the dissection of the molecular mechanisms that underlie plant pathogenesis.

Working with Professor Mary Beth Mudgett, Chris spearheaded a project to establish a protoplast plant cell system in the lab. His honors thesis explores whether pathogenic bacteria inject protein scaffolds into plant cells to inhibit defense responses and/or to alter plant development.

Chris has received several awards in support of his work, including a UAR Major Grant, 2007 Frank L. Howard Undergraduate Fellowship, and the 2007 American Society of Plant Biology Research Fellowship. Chris will author at least two papers in the next year from his current research and will be a joint author on a paper based on his work with Biology Professor Ward Watt.

Professor Mudgett writes: “Chris’ diverse tool kit and persistence to learn interdisciplinary approaches to tackle biological questions makes him very unique and demonstrates that he is mature scientifically. Moreover, his deep knowledge in diverse areas of biology demonstrates that he is a leader, spear-heading research. Chris is a brilliant student, scholar, and leader on campus.” According to nominator Ward Watt, “The combination of Chris’ depth and breadth of interests, his professionalism and responsibility, and energetic execution of all the scientific opportunities available to him, marks him as destined for a stellar career in science.”

“I do not pretend that it will be trivial to combine social justice work with a career in plant biology, or that I know the best way to achieve this integration.”  These are the words of Emily Abrash, a senior in Biology, honored for combining her efforts in biological research with a commitment to increase awareness about political and human rights.

In the lab of Professor of Biology Dominique Bergmann, Emily initiated a project that addresses how the rules for creating specialized cells change in different parts of the body…identifying a fundamentally novel way that plant cells interact. According to Professor Bergmann, “Emily’s pioneering efforts led to a model that explains part of the mystery of how common signaling systems are differentially controlled in different parts of the organism.”

In 2006-07, Emily worked with peers in a Program in Writing and Rhetoric service-learning course, resulting in a PWR Innovative Research Award for an essay about the Stanford Labor Action Coalition.  This essay was later published as an article.  According to nominator Dr. Melissa Leavitt, an instructor in PWR, it “is a remarkable work of both research and analysis.” During this course, Emily “emerged as a true leader among her peers, evolving in her commitment to issues of social justice and community advocacy.”

Emily has developed her intellect and insight, continuing to impress others as a student, as a lab researcher, and as a person. Dr. Leavitt writes, “It is Emily’s ability to bring her intellectual strengths to bear upon the causes that move her so deeply that make her truly exceptional.”  Professor Bergmann concurs, stating, “she is ambitious and relentless in her pursuit of knowledge, while being committed to improving the lives of others. She has done well, and is striving to also do good.”

Lucas Berla, a senior in Materials Science and Engineering, is honored for his graduate-level academic success and independent research in materials science. His work will contribute to the understanding of integrated circuit electronics as well as fundamental concepts in materials science.

Rare for an undergraduate, Lucas has contributed original theoretical work to a problem related to the reliability of thin metals films. His identification of a new way to numerically solve for the growth of hillocks controlled by non-linear creep processes appears in a published paper with Lucas as first author.

As noted by his nominators, Lucas is widely regarded as one of the best students that Materials Science and Engineering has produced. Professor William Nix regards him as “the most able and mature undergraduate research student with whom I have worked in more than 40 years on the Stanford faculty. He has a modest, unassuming personality that masks his powerful intellect and great personal drive. He is as animated talking about his surfing as he is about his research ideas.” Fellow nominator, Professor Paul McIntyre concurs, stating “he impressed me greatly with his ability to boil down complex problems to simply-stated questions that got to the heart of a topic….Lucas is in a class by himself in terms of intellect and scientific judgment.”

Erica Cherry is a senior majoring in Physics, with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. She has developed not only her interest in fluid mechanics and physics where her work is gaining considerable notice in the turbulent flow simulation community, but also her love for classical music and teaching others. 

As president and concertmistress of the Stanford Wind Ensemble, Erica serves as principal clarinetist and is responsible for all aspects of this organization beyond musical direction. In February, she was a featured soloist.  Sharing her academic interests with other students, Erica has also been very active in tutoring, becoming a resident tutor this year.

Erica is honored for her work in Mechanical Engineering with Professor John Eaton to develop a new experimental program on three dimensional separated flows. During the course of this work, Erica has needed to learn new skills and develop tools previously unfamiliar to her.  She was responsible for all aspects of developing a new experiment on complex diffuser flows and worked with a research associate to acquire a highly detailed data set using magnetic resonance velocimetry.  “Her experimental results have become a major benchmark for testing computational flow models, and they will be the focus of an international workshop to be held in Graz, Austria in 2009.”  Professor Eaton says of Erica, “she has become one of our experts in this type of velocimetry and we often ask for her assistance on other graduate students’ projects.”

One of Erica’s experiments produced the most detailed measurements ever of a very subtle phenomenon in turbulence called secondary flow of the second kind. Erica has presented this work at a leading international conference in Munich and her article describing the work has been accepted for journal publication. As nominator Professor Eaton writes, “I have great confidence that Erica will become one of the world’s leading professors of fluid mechanics…. Stanford will be very happy to have her as yet another famous alum.”

William East, a senior in Physics, is honored for his research of particle acceleration in astrophysical plasmas. William’s research results have yielded a paper based on the problem of particle acceleration in clusters of galaxies, which will appear in the Astrophysical Journal and it is likely he will have another paper—either on the solar cosmic rays or another aspect of the clusters of galaxies—ready for publication before he graduates.

As a sophomore, William joined Physics and Applied Physics Professor Vahe Petrosian’s research group with an interest in astrophysics. After reading in this field and learning the physical basis of the model developed in the group, he quickly became familiar with the numerical codes necessary for working with this model.  His published paper resolves the hotly debated issue of production and lifetime on nonthermal high energy electrons in the very hot intra-cluster gas.

William has excelled in his program and, under the academic advisement of Professor Petrosian, has accomplished the “highest research achievement among all the undergraduate students who have joined [his] research group in the past at Stanford.”

William is known for his support of fellow researchers, including his peers. Professor Petrosian notes that William “has the potential of developing into an outstanding researcher in his chosen field.”

Anna Reichardt, a senior in Chemistry, is honored for her research on ambipolar organic semiconductors. Her studies help others to understand correlations between molecular structure and electronic properties of organic semiconductors, a key to designing new molecules with optimized properties.

Excelling in her ability to think independently and innovatively, Anna immediately proved herself a great synthetic organic chemist. Working in Professor of Chemical Engineering Zhenan Bao’s group on synthesis of organic semiconductors for flexible electronics applications, Anna quickly attained the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out organic synthesis independently.  Professor Bao writes: “she has been extremely productive. Anna picks up new concepts fast, patiently analyses problems, and frequently makes good suggestions.” 

Anna took the research project from a concept to a working application. She designed the target molecules and got her idea funded by a UAR Major Grant. Her tenacity throughout the process was evident as she tried at least five different synthetic routes, and after more than 50 different reactions, she finally found an efficient route to prepare the target molecules. The new molecules she discovered are valuable to the field of organic electronics.

Anna has coauthored several publications. Her work will appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, and she presented it as a poster at the Materials Research Societies’ 2008 spring conference.

In her nomination, Professor Bao states, “Her characterization was thorough and her analysis was complete. It was outstanding and unanticipated from an undergraduate researcher. Anna’s research accomplishments and capability are equivalent to our best graduate students.”

A senior majoring in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, prominent Spoken Word playwright and artist Takeo Rivera is honored for his exceptional contributions to this art. His honors thesis analyzes Spoken Word performance and Slam Poetry as a form of cultural memory and brings together his passions for Spoken Word, social theory, critical writing, and scholarship.

Takeo, an award-winning playwright, has received acclaim for his play, Goliath.  Staged first at Stanford by Ram’s Head Theatrical Society, it has won regional recognition from the American College Theatre Festival. Goliath also won third prize in the New Works of Merit Playwriting Competition and will receive an off-Broadway stage reading.

As a leader of the Stanford Spoken Word Collective, Takeo has exercised his commitment to leadership in his activism and his art. He is a leader across campus, serving as a Resident Assistant and remaining very active in creating coalitions of students of color. He was selected as an Institute for Diversity in the Arts Fellow in 2006-07 and in 2007 received a CSRE Summer Research Internship to study the group Urban Word NYC in New York.

Takeo has a commitment to, and abilities in, using Spoken Word as a vehicle for articulating issues of race, identity, and social change. This commitment stems from his own confrontation with stereotypes and his passion for drama as a means of social change. Beyond his artistic inclinations, Takeo is also an extremely gifted student with an aptitude for synthesizing and applying complex theories to his critical analysis. Drama Professor Harry Elam nominated Takeo stating, “Stanford is full of exceptional students, but even within this environment he stands out.”

Sam Rosenthal, a senior in Materials Science and Engineering, is honored for his contributions to processing techniques used in electronics, photonics and biotechnology.

With Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Alberto Salleo, Sam grew ZnO nanowires using a solid-source metal-organic chemical vapor deposition furnace that had been decommissioned five years prior. With great initiative and little supervision, Sam refurbished the system within two months. Sam’s motivation, determination, and genuine passion for this work have helped turn the project into a major research effort.

Winner of a 2007 Goldwater Scholarship, the most prestigious undergraduate award for basic science, Sam has performed at a level equal to, and sometimes greater than second-year graduate students doing full-time research. Sam’s work in Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Michael McGehee’s research group required him to master sensitive synthesis techniques and use complex characterization tools. Professor McGehee considers Sam “to be at the level of a very good third-year graduate student….he is fearless when it comes to learning new tools and techniques.”

Sam is also well known for his camaraderie in the lab and participation in group meetings. He “has a great attitude and is very willing to help others,” notes Professor McGehee. Professor Salleo adds: “he already shows many of the qualities that distinguish top-notch scientists.”

Benjamin Vincent, a senior in Biology, is honored for his focused, disciplined approach to research resulting in novel, ground-breaking work. As Assistant Curator of the Saccharomyces Genome Database, Ben’s efforts were essential to completing a thorough review of biochemical pathways that exist at SGD pathways that are used daily by scientists worldwide.

In his research work with Biology Professor Martha Cyert, Ben has carried out independent research to characterize a novel yeast gene, Pef1.  This work has led Ben to develop and test a specific hypothesis: that Pef1functions in the trafficking and degradation of membrane proteins through the MVB pathway. His recent observations suggest that this hypothesis is correct and his current studies aim to identify a more specific role for this protein. Professor Cyert writes, “Ben has fully participated in all intellectual aspects of the project as well as carrying out 100 percent of the experimental work. He functions independently in the lab, and the subject of his work is, in fact, quite distinct from other research in the lab.”

Ben has presented his work at the Yeast Cell Biology meeting at Cold Spring Harbor, an international conference where presentations are typically only made by senior graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or faculty members.

Biology Professor W. James Nelson has been “impressed with Ben’s thoughtful approach to gaining experience in basic research problems and approaches.” Fellow nominator Professor Cyert reveals “he is a genuinely creative thinker, who is not afraid to advance his own ideas and is always trying to integrate his observations into a bigger picture.” Eurie L. Hong, Head Scientific Curator of SGD, writes that Ben has “earned the respect of the entire staff through his insightful comments and questions during scientific discussions…. his intellectual contribution and quiet humor will be missed.”

Hao Zou, a senior in Electrical Engineering, is honored for his outstanding research in data transmission and storage.

 The result of a few months of a summer research position, Hao’s work, has already had an impact on 10 million DSL customers in the United States. In his academics, Hao has consistently performed at a high level of excellence among graduate students.   In the fall of 2007, Hao joined Electrical Engineering Professor John Cioffi’s research group, becoming involved in the investigation of re-use of home power lines to transmit data signals at very high speeds throughout a home. Professor Cioffi writes, “The quality of his work is exceptional. He has delved into one of the most complicated mathematical areas of electrical engineering, one involving very sophisticated concepts in optimization theory and modeling of communications paths, found mistakes in the leading work of others in the field, corrected them, and improved significantly the state of the art.”  

Hao has already made several contributions, which have been submitted for publication. He has also passed the Electrical Engineering Department’s annual Ph.D. qualifying examination and will serve as a teaching assistant for Professor Cioffi’s very advanced EE379C. In his nomination letter, Professor Cioffi said of Hao, he “is an exceptional student, leader, and researcher.”

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