JMU HONORS PROGRAM251 Warren Service Drive
MSC 1501
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Hillcrest House
540.568.6953
540.568.7728
540.568.8079 (fax)
E-mail: honors@jmu.edu
Office hours:
Mon.-Fri., 8:00am-5:00pm
2012 Program News
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Congratulations to Matthew Wallace and Sam Lasky, winners of the 2012 Best Senior Thesis Awards! Matthew, a biology major, won the Phi Beta Kappa award for his thesis entitled Topographic and Patterned Axonal Projections in Control and Mutant Ephrin-B2 Mice Prior to the Onset of Hearing. Sam, an international affairs major, won the Phi Kappa Phi award for his thesis entitled Causes of US Humanitarian Intervention in the Post-Cold War Era. Both winners received a $250 cash prize.
Karen Corbett was recently named a Goldwater Scholarship recipient and Alisa Leavesly earned honorable mention. We congratulate them on this significant accomplishment. The applicant pool for this prestigious national scholarship is highly competitive, so we are extremely proud of Karen's and Alisa's success. (4-18-12)
[photo of Karen]
Kathryn Sinclair, a biotechnology major from the class of 2012, was awarded the Frank G. Brooks award for the best paper presentation at the district Tri-Beta convention. The judging was based on the degree of originality of the project, the organization of the report, the evidence of background knowledge of the project, and the clarity of the presentation. The award was created by the founder of Beta Beta Beta in order to recognize excellence in student research. The first place presenters from each district are eligible to present their research at the biennial national convention with a travel grant which covers most of the cost. That national convention this year is in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (4-18-12)
Student’s Research Challenges E-readers’ Claim - Leah Hartman Densmore, an honors psychology major, made some interesting discoveries concerning the speed with which people can read Nook texts versus paper or computer texts. These discoveries became the basis for her senior honors thesis as she worked with faculty mentor Dr. Jeffrey Andre. (3-16-12)
The inaugural Hillcrest Scholarship winners were announced March 17. Carly Starke won the research scholarship, and Michelle Amaya won the Service/Leadership scholarship. They will implement their projects during the summer of 2013. Learn more >> Finalists for these scholarships were Victoria Awadalla, Tate Burkholder, Brendan English, Michael Partin, and Adam White. (3-23-12)
The Honors Program, led by the following students - Sarah Lockwood, Seana Sears, Katie Garbarini, Sarah Konecnik, Dan Richardson, Melissa Seamon, Anthony Garbarini, and Kelly Ostergren, hosted a Scrabble® tournament for the community, to raise much-needed funds for Skyline Literacy, a local United Way agency dedicated to promoting literacy and learning in the Shenandoah Valley. Participants came from as far away as northern Virginia to compete in an evening filled with fun, food, and prizes. Skyline Literacy was pleased with its first-ever tournament and hopes to form this partnership with the Honors Program again for a similar venture next year. (2-13-12)
Thank you, Kate! Beloved professor, Dr. Kate Kessler, died January 8.
Read more>
Obituary>
(1-9-12)
Biology professor Dr. Reid Harris and several students are researching a bacteria that could combat a fungal disease caused by the fungal pathogen batrachochytrium dendrobatidis that seriously threatens amphibians and has caused extinction in some species. The Smithsonian Channel partnered with Harris and filmed him and the students assisting him for a documentary about Harris' lab research. Jill Myers, an Honors Program graduate, was part of the research team. Read more. (1-13-12)
