2016-2017 Senior Fellows

Hometown

Hanover, New Hampshire

Project Title

Literary Advocacy: Constructing the Human in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Description

In my senior fellowship project on Frankenstein and the human, I propose to address the grand challenges of personhood, human rights, and environmental destruction.  Using a variety of research methods including archival research, travel, journalistic interviews, and textual analysis, I will build on long critical and artistic traditions of revising and returning to the novel. 

The enduring narrative of Frankenstein addresses many of the political and philosophical questions that confront humanity today, and this project is my chance to really drill deep into romantic history, literature and politics in search of fresh insights for the present.  I am not sure of exactly what I will eventually have to say about all of this, but I love the process of trying to synthesize literature, history, political science, environmental science and women, gender and sexuality, all within the crudely stitched together frames of advocacy and the human. 

Extracurricular Interests

On campus I am an active member of the parliamentary debate team. I work as a lifeguard, and I enjoy long runs, iced coffee, and reading the Guardian.

Future Plans

I am in the process of applying to graduate school to study literature and human rights.  Eventually, I hope to become a human rights lawyer.

Hometown

Columbia, SC

Project Title

Bridges: Exploring Collaboration Across Cultures & Continents

Description

My project is an exploration of intercultural musical collaborations. I am examining the ways music can facilitate and sustain relationship, how it can serve as a social space, & how the significance of these interactions may extend beyond music. I believe such encounters can prompt meaningful interaction, transcending cultural and linguistic differences. I will reflect on my own evolving worldview, and the value I have found in building a cross-cultural musical network. The project will actively engage the collaborative process, as I virtually co-compose pieces with artists I have forged relationships with across the African continent and diaspora. The product will be a professionally recorded, full-length album featuring a variety of artists, genres, and musical traditions. It will be accompanied by an ethnography, exploring the aforementioned themes and inquiries.

Extracurricular Interests

On campus, I enjoy singing with the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble and in an a Cappella group. I also serve on the executive board for Bethel Campus Fellowship, and co-direct the African Chorus. Beyond these activities, I enjoy writing poetry, learning languages, studying jazz piano, and playing tennis.

Future Plans

I am interested in continuing to develop my craft, and may pursue higher education through a Masters Program at the Berklee College of Music. I ultimately aspire to establish a career as a professional musician.

Hometown

Hong Kong

Project Title

The Pharm Project

Description

The Pharm Project aims to develop a streamlined and simplistic extraction process for curcumin from turmeric, so that rural and underserved communities can essentially grow and make their own ibuprofen substitutes. The Pharm Project is grounded on recent clinical trials that have shown the efficacy of curcumin in reducing inflammation and other symptoms, so I myself will not be conducting any clinical aspect. The Pharm Project looks only at the extraction process and explores how it may be redesigned to be put into homes and ultimately change the relationship between patients and medicine. 

Extracurricular

I've been a Board Member for Dartmouth EMS since my Freshman Year, so besides taking shifts and teaching First Aid/CPR classes, I manage all 40+ AED's around campus. I play jazz violin under Prof. Haas so you might catch us sometime at the Canoe Club, and I play for the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble. I also recently started a company so we're 

Future Plans

Launch my for-profit company in the Fall, start a non-profit organization (perhaps out of the Pharm Project), grow both, sell the for-profit company, "retire" and focus on the non-profit endeavor, then pay for med school using the money I earned through the for-profit venture. But if the business fails, then I'll just go straight to med school.

Hometown

Dowagiac, MI

Project Title

Three Fires Verbal Morphology and Grammatical Description: Implications for Potawatomi Pedagogy

Description

First, I would like to preface my description by saying, this project is not for the consumption of others or working to validate Potawatomi language and epistemology within a western academic framework; it is for my people. My project is rooted in an obligation to help preserve and revitalize my heritage language, Potawatomi. Potawatomi is an endangered Algonquian language in the Great Lakes region, and it is closely related to Ojibwe and Odawa. My project will have two parts: first, a comparative analysis of verbs in Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Odawa and second, an outline of the Potawatomi grammar focusing on verbs. All of my research will transfer to pedagogy and other revitalization efforts as well. I will interact with my tribe’s Language and Culture department to help create learning and teaching materials. Wéwéne.

Extracurricular Interests

On campus, I am the co-social chair of Native Americans at Dartmouth, I am a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow,  I am in the boxing club, and I am a member of Sigma Delta sorority, despite my qualms with the Greek System. I also run around campus and spend a lot of time on the Collis Porch.

Future Plans

I am going to go home and work for my tribe while learning as much Potawatomi as I can for a year or two. Then, I plan to go to graduate school to pursue my Ph.D., in linguistics.

Hometown

New York, NY

Project Title

Revolutionizing Philanthropy: Basil O'Connor's Crusade to End Polio

Description

My proposed Senior Fellowship project is to write a book entitled Revolutionizing Philanthropy: Basil O'Connor's Crusade to End Polio. Indeed, O'Connor, Dartmouth Class of 1912 and FDR's law partner, played a crucial, though forgotten, role in directing the polio elimination effort. As president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, O'Connor organized the first mass philanthropic crusade that relied on contributions from donors from all segments of society. Ultimately, I will argue that O'Connor's polio effort prompted a vast expansion of the federal government's role in providing healthcare and funding scientific research.