Swearer Center for Public Service

Box 1974

Brown University

Providence, RI 02912

Phone: (401) 863-2338

Fax: (401) 863-3094

Swearer_Center@brown.edu

Gabriela Alvarez ’11
The Cornucopia Project
Gabriela will explore best practices working with The Cornucopia Project, a sustainable food initiative that works with local schools in Hancock, New Hampshire and bring those lessons to a developing, sustainable food initiative at Brown University that will serve low income residents in the Providence community.
Sponsor:Matthew Garcia

Theresa Arriola ’10
Building a Research Network on Military, Society and Environment, in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Theresa will research the long-term effects of colonization and militarization on the islands of Guam and Saipan. She will compile existing research on the negative effects of militarization to provide a resource for locals and outsiders to advocate against military abuse, create community awareness and promote public policy change.
Sponsor:Catherine Lutz

Emma Buck ’11
Mapping Ecological and Scientific Knowledge of the Atlantic Cod in Southern New England to Improve Fisheries Management
Using ethnographic and ArcGIS methodologies with scientists and fisherman, Emma will attempt to create a greater understanding about populations of Atlantic Cod. And in the process forge better communication between the two in order to produce a more nuanced and accurate body of knowledge about Atlantic cod. This communication and knowledge should create a better foundation from which improved fisheries management decisions can be made.
Sponsor:Caroline Karp

Sophie Elsner ’10
Uniting a Community in the Worst of Times: Bringing German Jewish Immigrants to Buenos Aires
Sophie will research two organizations in Buenos Aires, Argentina founded in 1930’s by Eastern Europeon, Jewish Immigrants for German Jews seeking refuge. She will study the role of local, community-based groups in shaping Argentine international and immigration policy and Jewish history.
Sponsor:James Green

Sarah Gibson ’10.5
We Care for the Land: Changing Race Relations on Family Farms in Todd County, Kentucky
Through interviews, photography, and archival research, Sarah will document the complex and evolving relationships among white farm owners, black farm workers, and Latino migrant workers in southern Kentucky. The result will be a multimedia documentary that will combine personal narratives with historical research to explore the ways the community has experienced dramatic demographic, cultural, and agricultural changes.
Sponsor:Keith Brown

Hana Kawai ’10
What We Talk About When We Talk About Community: Conflict Resolution in a New York City Public School
Hana will explore an innovative, classroom based conflict resolution strategy in a 4th grade classroom in New York City. She is particularly interested in how the social context of the classroom impacts conflict and power, as well as how the classroom community uses language to resolve conflicts. Hana hopes to develop a teachers’ guide that both outlines the process and practice of these meetings and provides insights into best practices in a classroom setting.
Sponsor:Peggy Chang

Stephanie Le ’10
The Molecular Mechanisms of Metabolic Response to Desiccation in Drosophila
Stephanie will examine the molecular mechanisms underlying an observed increase in desiccation resistance in a genetically altered strain of Drosophila (Fruitflys). The results will provide a clearer understanding of the interaction between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA and will provide further insight into molecular pathways that underlie human metabolic disorders.
Sponsor:David Rand

Sophie Lynford ’10
Creative Reciprocity between Clement Greenberg and the Abstract Expressionist Painters, Morris Louis and Jack Bush
Sophie will examine the unpublished correspondence between the art critic, Clement Greenberg, and Abstract Expressionist painters, Morris Louis and Jack Bush, in hopes of recreating the personal and aesthetic building blocks of their early relationships and develop a more complex understanding of this seminal critic’s influence on abstract artists and these relationships’ reciprocal effect on Greenberg.
Sponsor:Herve Vanel

Arthur Matuszewski ’11
Development and Expansion of Educational Linkage: Brown University & Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute
Art will build upon the Brown Education Link and Lecture Series in an effort to expand the burgeoning educational link between Brown University and the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. Through rigorous research, organizing and outreach Art hopes to expand and institutionalize a program sharing Brown’s educational resources with the Adult Correctional Institute.
Sponsor:Barrymore Bogues

Colin O’Brien ’10
The Role of TAF4b in Burkitt’s Lymphoma and Potential for Diagnostics and Treatment
Colin will investigate the role of TAF4b in Burkitt’s lymphoma. Burkitt’s lymphoma is a potential deadly malignancy that primarily affects children in Eastern Africa. TAF4b is a molecule critical in cell growth and regulation, and therefore offers high potential as a novel therapeutic or diagnostic target in this disease.
Sponsor:Richard Freiman

Naomi Breindel-Oberman ’10
Roots and Routes of Radical Black Feminist Traditions in the United States: The Origins and Legacies of the Combahee River Collective
Naomi will explore the origins of the Combahee River Collective, a radical Black feminist organization active in Boston and Cambridge, MA from 1974-1980. Through the use of primary source material, archives, and interviews with the founders/members of the Combahee River Collective she will explore the group’s foundations and influences, its legacies, and how those legacies have been preserved.
Sponsor:Keisha-Khan Perry

Akshay Rathod ’10
Bollywood and the Emergnec of an Urban Youth Culture
Akshay will explore how the emergence of an urban youth culture has affected Bollywood films since the mid-90s. I will identify the factors and the mechanism through which the urban youth culture in India has influenced the Bollywood industry and in turn, its films.
Sponsor:Patrick Heller

Emily Sorg ’10
What Do the Doctors Say?”: Tracing the History of Prison Medicine in Rhode Island
Mana will study the adaptability of different tree species in northeast United States to excess nitrate deposition caused by urban pollution. The project will attempt to identify which species has the necessary enzyme – nitrate reductase – to assimilate nitrate, which is usually biologically unavailable in temperate forests.
Sponsor:Catherine Imbriglio

Mana Hayashi Tang ’10
A Survey on Nitrate Reductase Activity in a Northeastern Temperate Forest
Emily will research prison healthcare in Rhode Island during the late-19th century. Using the wide variety of prison-related documents that are available at the State Archives, she will compose a creative nonfiction work about this complicated history that is expressive and accessible to a wide public audience.
Sponsor:Stephen Porder

Emily Taylor ’10
What We Talk About When We Talk About Community: Conflict Resolution in a New York City Public School
Emily will explore an innovative, classroom based conflict resolution strategy in a 4th grade classroom in New York City. She is particularly interested in how the social context of the classroom impacts conflict and power, as well as how the classroom community uses language to resolve conflicts. Emily hopes to develop a teachers’ guide that both outlines the process and practice of these meetings and provides insights into best practices in a classroom setting.
Sponsor:Peggy Chang

Annalisa Wilde ’11
A Survey of the Diets of Ghanaian Orphans
Annalisa will study the diets of orphans in six to ten orphanages in locations across Ghana. The information will allow Annalisa to work with in-country NGO’s to develop strategies to maximize and share resources across institutions. Annalisa hopes to develop strategies that increase access to food and create economic industries.
Sponsor:Patricia Risica

Zoe Brennan-Krohn ’09
Life sharing with People with Cognitive Disabilities in Camphill Village Communities
Zoe will study two Camphill Communities in Great Britain, voluntary intentional communities where people with and without cognitive disabilities share their lives. She will write a paper tracing Camphill's methodology during a time of changing attitudes toward disability.
Sponsor:Deborah Cohen

Annie Chunxo Gao ’09
The Mechanism of mRNA Turnover in the Egg-to-Embryo Transition
Annie will perform research on starfish to investigate mRNA changes that occur during hte transition from egg to embryo, and the mechanisms that allow such changes to occur.
Sponsor:Gary Wessel

Ashley Hartt ’10
Obesity: A Critical Analysis of Risk Factors in Sexual Minority Women Compared to Heterosexual Counterparts
Ashley will collect data from a questionnaire administered to a cohort of women ages 43-80 in the Rhode Island area. From this research she will determine strategies to dominish risk factors leading to being overweight and obese.
Sponsor:Melissa Clark

David A. Koweek ’09
A Record of Productivity in Narragensett Bay: Establishing Baseline Levels and Human Impacts
High notrogen levels from fertilizer runoff and sewage output have altered biological activity in Narragensett Bay. David will study sediment cores from the Bay to establish a record of chlorophyll abundance from pre-European settlement to the present, giving scientists and policy makers insight into how the Bay has responded to human impact, and how it may respond to future changes in nutrient loading.
Sponsor:Warren Prell and Heather Leslie

Deborah Lehmann ’10.5
The Effects of Micro credit on Women's Empowerment and Marital Relations in Salta, Argentina
Debbie Lehmann and Scott Lowenstein will study the effects of participation in microcredit programs on womens' wellbeing and percieved gender roles in Argentina. They will collect quantitative survey data and conduct inteviews with residents in Salta, Argentina, and will prepare a report outlining their statistical findings.
Sponsor:Mark Pitt

Scott Lowenstein ’10.5
The Effects of Micro credit on Women's Empowerment and Marital Relations in Salta, Argentina
Debbie Lehmann and Scott Lowenstein will study the effects of participation in microcredit programs on womens' wellbeing and percieved gender roles in Argentina. They will collect quantitative survey data and conduct inteviews with residents in Salta, Argentina, and will prepare a report outlining their statistical findings.
Sponsor:Mark Pitt

Deborah Lipson ’09
As Seattle Expands: Carbon Stock Changes from Suburban Development in the Greater Seattle Area
Deborah will measure the changes in carbon stocks when forestland in the greater Seattle area is converted into suburban and ex-urban house lots. Her goal is to increase understanding of land use change and its effect on carbon stocks and climate change.
Sponsor:Stephen Porder

Caroline Mailloux ’09
Sigida Jeya: Garbage and Grassroots Governance
The Malian government does not provide waste management services in Sikoroni, a peri-urban slum of 60,000 outside Bamako, Mali, and trash pileup contributes to a number of social, health, and environmental hazards. Project Sigida Jeya (Community Cleanliness) will reorganize and jumpstart a new collection system of waste management, tripling the number of households served. Cari will work on this project and author a bilingual manual to facilitate its continuation.
Sponsor:David Egilman

Benjamin Mandelkern ’09
Grounding Classical Literature in Modern Sustainable Agriculture
Ben will relate Virgil's Georgics and Columnella's de Re Rustica to contemporary agricultural practices, using both academic and experiential research to render the classics more accessible and demonstrate their resonance in the modern world. He will produce a set of Emglish translations as well as a narrative essay.
Sponsor:Joseph Pucci

Shane Mulligan ’09
Developing an Economically Viable, Targeted Drug Delivery System: Synthesis of Functionalized Polynorbornene Polymer Nanocapsules From Nanoparticle Substrates
The synthesis of polymer nanocapsules utilizing gold substrates has been demonstrated. However, the use of gold is cost prohibitive, preventing commercial use of the technology. Shane will work on creating polymer nanocapsules from affordable substrates in an economically viable manner by developing a new nanoparticle-ligand system.
Sponsor:Amit Basu

Kevin Roose ’09.5
Old Songs for a New World: The Future of Barbershop Harmony
The Barbershop Harmony Society is in trouble. The waning popularity and aging membership of the all-male singing organization, combined with heated internal feuding, threaten its continued existence. Kevin will spend the summer meeting with Barbershop leaders, combining the BHS archives, and interviewing young singers to assess the current state of barbershop and make recommendations for its future.
Sponsor:Doug Brown

Nina Safane ’09
Girls Athletic Leadership Schools Curriculum Development
Nina will work with a development team to write the framework of the curriculum for the Girls Atheltic Leadership Schools - an emerging brand of educational institutions predicated on encouraging academic excellence and personal growth among female adolescents through the distinct lens of physical development.
Sponsor:Maureen Sigler

Sushant Wagley ’10.5
Stories from the People's War: The Struggles and Experiences of IDP Families and Families in Slum Neighborhoods
Nepal is currently in a post conflict, transitional state. Sushant will conduct qualitative research examining current IDP status. He will investigate how the changing socio-economic, geo-political, and cultural envornment of Nepal impacts the lives of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and families residing in the slums of Katmandu. His research will be synthesized into a report for the Society for Protection of Women and Children and will be submitted to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Sponsor:Lina Fruzzetti

Shawn Wen ’09
A Man Without Words
Shawn will create a short book and an accompanying radio piece about the life of the mime Marcel Marceau. She will string together invented fictions, creative nonfiction, and interviews with those who knew Marceau.
Sponsor:Elizabeth Taylor

Lauren Williams ’09
Pioneering Love: Interracial Unions in Nineteenth Century New Orleans
Lauren will investigate the presence of interracial unions in New Orleans during the nineteenth century, looking beyond the Black-White standard to highlight the multicultural history of this prosperous Southern metropolis. She will conduct her research at repositories in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Sponsor:Robert Lee

Ben Wolpaw ’09
Initiation and Evaluation of the OPTIONS Intervention
Individuals in the acute stage of HIV infection are not identified by standard testing methods and are 30-40 times more infectious compared to later stages. Ben will implement a study he has designed in order to diagnose individuals with acute infection in order to provide behavioral counseling and promote partner notification.
Sponsor:Mark Lurie

Reem Yusuf ’09
Exhibiting Early Islamic Jerusalem
Reem will work to identify artifacts from the Early Islamic period from Jerusalem, provided by various private and museum collections, excavation and storerooms, and antiquity deposits, primarily located in Israel. These objects will be included in an international loan exhibition traveling between the RISD Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Getty Museum.
Sponsor:Katharina Galor

Adam Backer ’08
Investigating Metamaterials and the Invisibility Problem Using Finite Difference Frequency Domain Simulations
Albany, NY
Concentration: Engineering & Physics
Breakthroughs in both the theory and fabrication of meta-materials have led researchers to speculate about the possibility of designing structures that guide light around objects, rendering them invisible. Using computational simulations, I will explore the physical limits of such devices and assess the material parameters necessary for their realization.

Eddie Blay ’09
Role of FGF2 in Alzheimer's disease
Bronx, NY
Concentration: Applied Mathematics-Biology
The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) contains several growth factors which have various metabolic functions in the brain. Of particular interest to me is the role of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I will determine if excess FGF2 exacerbates AD pathology.

Brendyn Brooks-Stocking ’09
Fishery Management on Wallace's Line: Building Capacity for Sustainable Fisheries Management in the Wakatobi National Marine Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Seattle, WA
Concentration: Economics & Environmental Studies
A group of four students, led by Caroline Karp, will spend eight weeks on the islands of Hoga and Kaledupa in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Here we will apply an interdisciplinary approach to solving the problem of overfishing in this unique environment.

Deanna Chaukos ’08
Bridging the Gap – Natural Killer T Cells and Your Immune System
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Concentration: Biology
I will investigate the role of natural killer T (NKT) cells, a subset of the immune system whose function remains mysterious to scientists. The goal of my project is to determine if NKT cells are regulators of the acquired immune response. My findings may help categorize a third, new branch of the immune response – the bridge between natural and acquired immunity.

Alison Cohen ’09
Cupertino, CA: Conducting Community-Based Participatory Research to Support Community Efforts Forcing Hanson Permanente Cement Kiln to be a Clean Neighbor
San Francisco , CA
Concentration: Community Health
I will conduct quantitative and qualitative research in Cupertino, CA, to detail how the Hanson Permanente cement kiln affects local residents. I will conduct air sampling and interviews to determine possible strategies to reduce cement kiln emissions for the Natural Resources Defense Council and California Communities Against Toxics.

Esme Cullen ’08
Exchanging Indigenous Healthcare for Conservation: Sustainable Medical Garden and Clinic
Madison, CT
Concentration: Human Biology & Literary Arts
I intend to start an organic, community-worked medicinal garden and farm on the edge of Gunung Palung National Park in Borneo. The garden will help support a clinic and future hospital, combining western and traditional medicine, in which local communities can pay for healthcare through conservation and reforestation work-projects.

Laura Dee ’09
Holothurian Fishery Management on Wallace's Line: Building Capacity for Sustainable Fisheries Policies in Wakatobi National Park
Cheshire, CT
Concentration: Environmental Studies
The livelihood and culture of local fishery-based communities around the Wakatobi National Marine Park depend on sustainable fisheries. I propose to study the holothurian (sea cucumber) fishery and alternative co-management practices that can be implemented to reduce harvesting pressures and raise conservation awareness. As species that are sedentary and economically important, sea cucumbers are especially vulnerable to over-harvesting, which is problematic because of their ecological, economic and cultural significance.

Hans Dietrich ’08
Smooth Operator: Cyclops' Nemesis
Visalia, CA
Concentration: Biophysics
Smoothened Agonist (SAG) is known to operate on the protein Smoothened, which is important in limb and neural differentiation, including bone growth. My objective is to engineer a vehicle for the delivery of SAG, thereby stimulating new bone formation, an in the most extreme case, rescuing the condition of cyclopia.

Alan Gabel ’08
Electrostatic Manipulation of Charged Biomolecules in Nanofluidic Channels
Little Silver, NJ
Concentration: Physics
In this project, we will explore how biological molecules, like DNA, behave when confined in a small space and subjected to electrostatic forces. This will allow us to study various properties of DNA as well as how electric forces can be used to control the molecules.

Lindsay Hagamen ’08
Water Contamination in the Tempisque Watershed, Costa Rica
Deerfield, MA
Concentration: Environmental Science
I will be conducting an analysis of fresh water quality in the Tempisque Watershed in the Pacific Northwest of Costa Rica. Heavily impacted by agriculture, this region struggles to balance demands for development with ecological conservation. A better understanding of regional water contamination will help stakeholders develop appropriate natural resource management plans.

Anna Hermann ’08
Rebuilding a Nation: The Impact of the Re-Education Process on Repatriated German Prisoners of War
Portland, OR
Concentration: History
This project aims to identify and interview twent-five of the German prisoners of war kept at camps in Rhode Island during WWII as a part of a special program to “re-educate” nationalist socialis Germans in the ways of democracy. The interviews aim to learn about their experiences at the camps, and what effects these had on their lives once repatriated. The goal is to determine what impact, if any, the re-education had on the prisoners, and by extension, on post-WWII Germany.

Jeffrey Hofmann ’08
The Role of Mitochondrial Genetic Factors in Parkinson’s disease
Barrington, RI
Concentration: Computational Biology
Parkin is a gene in humans and Drosophila whose absence causes ARJP. My hypothesis is that mitochondrial genotype alters the phenotype of parkin mutants. To test this, I will introduce different parkin mutations into several Drosophila stocks that have identical nuclear genotypes, but different mitochondrial genotypes, and conduct phenotypic assays

Ailish Kress ’08
Craters on Glacier Remnants: A Clue to the History of Water on Mars?
Newton, MA
Concentration: Geological Sciences
To further the knowledge and understanding of global climate change on Mars' recent past, I intend to research a type of surface feature on Mars called “oyster-shell” craters. Oyster-shell craters may help reveal the history of water on Mars in the past hundred million years.

William Krimmel ’08
Male Host-Guarding in the Male Icheumonid Mesostenus Thoracicus
Tucson, AZ
Concentration: Human Biology: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
I will be working at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, ME. I will make field observations, formulate hypotheses, and design experiments to test hypotheses both in the field and in the laboratory. My research will focus on the behavior of four species of parasitoid wasp.

Nathaniel Sloan ’09
Jewish Liturgical Music in the 20th Century: The Park Avenue Synegogue Commissions
New York, NY
Concentration: Music
From 1943 to 1976, the Parck Avenue Synagogue in New York annually commissioned works of Jewish liturgical music from distinguished contemporary composers. Nate will examine the archives of this forgotten project from a musical and historical perspective, and describe the motivations behind this unique attempt to create a body of modern sacred music.

Elizabeth Stern ’08
Literary Perspective on Ballet in early 20th Century Russia: Synthesis of Western Philosophy and Russian Spirituality
Harpswell, ME
Concentration: Comparative Literature & Slavic Studies
I am studying the work of critics Alexander Bonois and Akim Volynsky on ballet in early 20th cantury Russia. My goal is to elucidate how these two writers marry the West's prdominantly secular artistic tradition with the emerging paradigm of Russian modernism with its strong spiritual component.

Ho-Shia Thao ’09
Change in Gender Disparities in the American Hmong Family and its Effects on Healthcare Compliance in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota and Sacramento, California
Sacramento, CA
Concentration: Human Biology and Anthropology
This research project will evaluate the cultural change in gender disparities of Hmong families living in Minnesota and California since their arrival in the United States in the 1970’s and how the change has influenced the family’s decision-making process pursuant the issue of compliance in the US Healthcare system.

Tyler Whitmire ’08
“If I Can't Love Hitler I Can't Love At All”: A. J. Muste's Life and Impact on Nonviolent Resistance from Tanganyika to Montgomery
Arlington, VA
Concentration: History & Classics
Using the Sarthmore Peace Archives and personal interviews, I propose to research A. J. Muste's role as a conscientious objector and teacher of nonviolence, participant in the Civil Rights movement, leader of Vietnam protests, and involvement in decolonizing Africa. My studies will culminate in a written thesis.