Past Judd Fellows
2007 Judd Fellows
Prentice Beadell
College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences (M.Ag. — Horticulture)
Country of Study — New Zealand
Project — Beadell will travel to Massey University and Landcare Research to study scientific, governmental, and indigenous cultural approaches in addressing ecological and conservation issues. The blending of Maori land stewardship with applied current research efforts is providing answers to serious ecosystem problems facing New Zealand. Her goal is to gain knowledge and guidance in applying answers for Minnesota’s ecological and conservation issues.
Christy Boraas Alsleben
Medical School (M.D. — Global Health)
Country of Study — Bolivia
Project — Boraas Alsleben will intern with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and will study the
cost-effectiveness of the rotavirus vaccine and promote its widespread use in Bolivia. She will work with data analysis, assist with presenting information on diarrheal disease and rotavirus vaccination to local and national authorities. She will assist in rotavirus disease surveillance and health care in clinics in La Paz and some of Bolivia's poorest villages and hope to be a part of an integrated medical and public health effort to reduce childhood mortality from rotavirus.
Terra Carey
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Maternal and Child Health)
Country of Study — India
Project — Carey will intern at Kasturba Medical College, one of the top five medical colleges in India. The college has rural maternal health centers and a hospital that offers general obstetric and pediatric care. Carey’s internship will involve observation and data collection in collaboration with nurse midwives and medical social workers in auxiliary clinics and hospitals.
Tara DaPra
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Creative Writing, Nonfiction)
Country of Study — Ireland
Project — DaPra will research her first name Tara in reverse of the ongoing trend in America using one’s own surname to find ancestors in the homeland. She will spend three weeks in Ireland at the Hill of Tara, sea of ancient Irish Kings. She will conduct research at Irish churches, libraries, museums, and pubs. DaPra will interview and observe residents and tourists and will write three lyric essays about the connections between the place for which she is named and herself.
Heather Dean
College of Biological Sciences (M.S. — Molecular Cellular Development Biology)
Country of Study — United Kingdom
Project — Dean will complete her clinical rotation in genetic counseling at the University of Cardiff, Wales. During her clinical rotation she hopes to better develop her clinical knowledge and skills, and learn about the medical systems in the United Kingdom. Dean hopes to expand her cultural horizons, both professional and socially, in order to incorporate these experiences into her own personal counseling style and expand the growing field of international genetic counseling.
Omar Fernandes
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Community Health Education)
Country of Study — Kenya
Project — Fernandes will intern with Nonviolent Peaceforce and its partner organization, Chemchemi Ya Ukweli, in Nairobi. Fernandes will organize the Nonviolent Peaceforce International Assembly, where the organization will conduct a self evaluation. He will also coordinate a community-based youth leadership workshop based on philosophies of nonviolence.
Natalia Abigail Gadea
College of Education and Human Development (M.S.W. & M.P.P — Social Work and Public Policy)
Country of Study — Peru & Honduras
Project — Gadea will travel to Peru with faculty and students from the School of Social Work. She will take a course in advanced policy studies. She will then travel to Honduras to complete an internship with PLAN International Honduras, a non-governmental organization. She will assist with developing a participatory impact system for a nutrition program for women at risk for low birth weight babies and malnutrition. Gadea Batista hopes to acquire first hand knowledge about community organizing and economic development strategies in South and Central America.
Heather Hampton
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — Global Public Policy)
Country of Study — Switzerland
Project — Hampton will participate in the Duke Program on Global Policy and Governance in Geneva. The program is designed for graduate students from around the world striving for an international career in public policy or international affairs. Hampton will complete an internship in Geneva that is focused on agricultural trade policy.
Anna Hersey
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. & M.M. — Musicology & Vocal Performance)
Country of Study — Italy
Project — Hersey will explore how music serves to rouse loyalty and unity in the Siena’s rival factions. Every summer, the citizens of Siena gather in its central piazza to witness a ninety-second horse race - “Il Palio.” Despite the Palio's importance to Sienese culture, the musical aspects if the race have received little scholarly attention. Hersey will address questions about contrada identity, which to the Sienese is intensely bound to a sense of temporal heritage, in relation to the historical Palio folk songs.
Nels Johnson
Medical School (D.P.T — Physical Therapy)
Country of Study — American Samoa
Project — Johnson will complete a physical therapy clinical rotation at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center in Pago Pago, America Samoa. Johnson's goals are to investigate the ramifications culture has on clinical practice, take an active role in equalizing the health disparities that occur in world health care, and challenge his ability to communicate medical interventions in a culturally challenging environment.
Andrew Luckham
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Creative Writing, Nonfiction)
Country of Study — Mexico
Project — Luckham will travel to the town of San Nicolas in Guerrero, Mexico—the birthplace of nearly all the undocumented immigrants who lived and worked in High Valley (in Poway, CA) during the 1980s. He will get a sense of the town and the lives of its people, gauge reactions to the 1986 murder of Asaltacion Carreno, and investigate the series of violent events that resulted.
Anna Martin
College of Education and Human Development (M.S.W. — Community Organization and Advocacy, International Development)
Country of Study — India
Project — Martin will intern with the Highrange Plantation Workers Development Society (HPWDS), an NGO for microfinance and livelihood programs among displaced tea and spice plantation workers. She will help to design and implement a participatory evaluation method using the Internal Learning System (ILS), developed by Professor Helzi Noponen. Martin will assist in the procurement of additional funding and grants for HPWDS.
Johanna Maynard
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — Regional Economic & Workforce Development)
Country of Study — India
Project — Maynard will assist the Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), an NGO system for micro finance and livelihood programs among wild tasar silk producers in the Jharhand state of northern India. She will finalize drafts of Internal Learning Systems (ILS) diaries.
Leigh McIlvaine
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.U.R.P. — Community Practice / Social Policy)
Country of Study — India
Project — McIlvaine will intern with the Highrange Plantation Workers Development Society (HPWDS), an NGO for microfinance and livelihood programs among displaced tea and spice plantation workers. She will assist to design and implement a participatory evaluation method using the Internal Learning System (ILS), developed by Professor Helzi Noponen. McIlvaine will assist in the procurement of additional funding and grants for HPWDS.
Nicole Mesch
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Community Health Education, Global Health Concentration)
Country of Study — Ecuador
Project — Mesch will intern with Fundacion Cimas de Ecuador on a community participatory research project exploring the health perspectives of community members in Pedro Momcayo Country, a rural county in the highlands of Ecuador. She will complete an intense Spanish language immersion program and cultural integration prior to her internship. Mesch believes that involvement and participation in the community level of intervention is the greatest way to learn how public health really works.
Michelle Ney
College of Design (M. Arch . — Architecture)
Country of Study — Turkey
Project — As a city wrestling with issues of modernity and tradition, Istanbul represents a valuable opportunity to understand the role of the built environment in the creation of identity and urbanity in a globalizing city. Ney will participate in a study abroad program in Istanbul. After the program, she will complete a research project that will explore and reveal the varied transformations in action in Istanbul. She will create a graphic representation utilizing photo-documentation, critical drawing, and visual and textual analysis and diagrams. She hopes to use the work that emerges as a precursor to her master’s thesis.
Anne O’Connor
Medical School (M.D. — Medicine)
Country of Study — United Kingdom
Project — O’Connor will intern with the National Health Service (NHS) and will shadow various stakeholders in the system including doctors, patients, allied health professionals, medical students, and policy makers. After she returns to Minnesota, she will write a series of newspaper articles about the NHS and what Minnesotans might learn from this system when implementing health care reform in this state.
Edward Stash
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. — Art History)
Country of Study — Netherlands, Belgium, and France
Project — Stash will research a book of hours produced in 1898 by the French artist and printmaker Louis Legrand. Stash has located three copies of this book: one in Amsterdam in a private collection and one each in the national libraries in Brussels and Paris. He will examine each unique example and explore archives to learn of the genesis of this work. He will also explore the artistic and historical climate of each of the cities he visits. Very little has been written regarding Louis Legrand, so Stash hopes to produce a publishable paper using direct research of Legrand’s works and correspondences.
Drew Thompson
College of Liberal Arts (M.A./Ph.D. — History, Modern Africa)
Country of Study — Senegal
Project — Thompson will conduct archival research in Dakar. In his research he will use the visual arts to examine the dynamic cultural exchanges between Senegal and Arab and French colonial powers. Thompson will study the development of Senegal’s art institutions and art exhibitions. He seeks to determine how Senegalese artists integrated and/or rejected traditional Arab and French teachings in their works. Thompson will research the ways Senegalese artists expressed and continued to display their understanding of colonialism, poverty, and disease. Thompson will present his research at the upcoming African Studies Association meeting that will focus on the visual arts as an analytical lens onto the African colonial encounter.
2006 Judd Fellows
Erin Altemus
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Creative Writing)
Country of Study — Canada
Project — The Boreal forest stretches across northern Ontario
from the 51st parallel north towards Hudson Bay. First Nation communities
of Ojibwe and Cree people dot this landscape, many of which still
retain their traditional, ancestral ways of living. Altemus will
canoe to these remote communities that are only accessible by water
or air. Her project is to record the stories of these people and
their landscape before they are lost. Altemus will write about
their connection to the land and how threats to the Boreal forest
will affect their way of life.
Emily Bright
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Poetry)
Country of Study — Ghana
Project — Bright will intern with the U.S. resettlement program
in Accra, Ghana. The program prepares refugees from Liberia and
French-speaking West Africa to resettle in the U.S. She will work
with the cultural orientation staff, observing and teaching classes.
Bright will work on a design for the children and youth orientation
curriculum, expanding the teaching that presently includes ages
15 and up, as well as their family cultural adjustment curriculum.
Jordan Deckenbach
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs & Law School (M.P.P. & J.D. — International
Law & Foreign Policy)
Country of Study — Egypt
Project — Deckenbach will attend a summer program through
the Seton Hall Law School at the American University in Cairo.
The program includes six credits of American Bar Association approved
law courses, including Islamic jurisprudence and international
criminal law. The program also includes educational excursions
and cultural exchanges with locals Egyptians and students from
around the world.
Matthew DuFrense
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.A. — International
Development, NGO & Nonprofit Management)
Country of Study — Nicaragua
Project — DuFrense will intern with Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners.
He will work with the staff in the Managua, Nicaragua. He will
analyze their current programs, their office structure, and their
organizational design with the aim of better understanding how
these factors interact and contribute to the current challenges
Wisconsin / Nicaragua Partners faces. DuFrense will also assist
the office staff with their summit preparations and planning.
Katherine Esse
College of Public Health & Medical School (M.P.H. & M.D. — Public
Health Practice & Global Health)
Country of Study — Tanzania
Project — Esse will complete a health needs assessment of
the HIV-positive women and adolescents of Dar Es Salaam to evaluate
the healthcare intervention of the Muhimbii University College
of Health Sciences’ effectiveness at meeting those needs
using both quantitative methods by analysis of health indicator
statistics and qualitative methods through surveys of HIV-positive
women and adolescents and surveys of healthcare providers.
Alina Evans
School of Veterinary Medicine & School of Public Health (D.V.M & M.P.H. — Public
Health Practice)
Country of Study — Kenya
Project — Evans will investigate the presence of Rift Valley
Fever among malaria-negative patients presenting for acute febrile
illness to the Garissa provincial general hospital. Evans will
collect information about historical risk factors and determine
clinical signs. Blood samples will be taken to the CDC’s
International Emerging Infections Program Laboratory in Nairobi.
Bacterial cultures, virus isolation, and serology for Rift Valley
Fever, West Nile, yellow fever, dengue, alpha, and influenza viruses
will be done. Evans will calculate likelihood ratios for clinical
signs and historical risk factors to improve targeted screening.
Rebecca Freeman
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — Economic and
Community Development)
Country of Study — Kenya
Project — Freeman will undertake a 12-week internship with
the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK), an
indigenous non-governmental organization that works to improve
the quality of life for disabled individuals throughout Kenya.
She will be based at the APDK Rehabilitation Clinic in Mombasa,
which is comprised of a 60-bed in-patient faculty that serves children
and the Community-based Rehabilitation Program that serves children
and adults. Her responsibilities will consist of designing and
training staff in the use of a health management information system
and enhancing the clinic’s fundraising strategy.
Melanie Harris
College of Education and Human Development (M.A. — Department
of Work and Human Resource Education)
Country of Study — South Africa
Project — Harris will intern at a multi-national company
in South Africa. The internship will allow her an opportunity to
gain a comparative view of organizational development and organization
learning and gather data for her plan B research paper.
Teresa Hegge
Medical School & School of Public Health (M.D. & M.P.H. — Medicine & International
and Global Health)
Country of Study — Guatemala
Project — Hegge will intern at the Birhorst Clinic, well
known internationally for its development of primary care and preventive
programs. The clinic offers a curriculum for medical students that
provides hands-on experience in international health surgery and
general medicine. In addition she will gain valuable clinical experience
and explore the theoretical and practical implications of international
development and intercultural issues. She hopes to explore the
effects of general health and nutritional status on progress and
outcomes of surgical outreach patients. Under the supervision of
Dr. William Schubert, Hegge will examine and demonstrate the importance
of public health measures and cultural sensitivity in international
medical outreach.
Moira Hill
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. — Musicology)
Country of Study — Germany
Project — Hill will edit ten music manuscripts at the city
library in Luneburg, Germany, that contain arrangements for organ
of 16th- and 17th-century vocal works written in an obscure notational
system. This work will culminate in modern editions of these pieces
that will serve as the basis for her master’s thesis. This
type of music has been widely neglected by prior research, which
means that her work will contribute valuable information to the
understanding of music from this time.
Christine Hoang
College of Veterinary Medicine & School of Public Health (D.V.M. & M.P.H. — Veterinary
Medicine & Public Health)
Country of Study — Vietnam
Project — Hoang will working with the Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations in Vietnam. She will be working
with the senior adviser on avian influenza.
Paul Kapher
College of Natural Resources (M.S. — Conservation Biology)
Country of Study — Thailand
Project — Kapher plans to develop an energetic model to quantitatively
estimate the minimum daily food required by reproducing and non-reproducing
tigers and use this model to predict rates. Differences in tropic
requirements will be used to infer which habitats are and are not
habit to support reproduction of tigers.
Georgia LaVoie
College of Human Ecology (M.A. — Social Work)
Country of Study — Vietnam and Cambodia
Project — For the first two weeks LaVoie will travel in Vietnam
with a group of social work students to visit a number of social
service agencies and universities. She will then travel to Cambodia
to do a cross-cultural comparison. LaVoie’s specific goal
is to do exploratory research on the history and causes of refugee
resettlement and immigration.
Valerie LeGrand
College of Human Ecology and Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
(M.S.W. & M.P.P. — Community Practice / Social Policy)
Country of Study — India
Project — LeGrand will work with Professional Assistance
for Development Action (PRADAN), a non-governmental organization
livelihood and microfinance program in the state of Jharkhand,
India. She will create a field test and refine an International
Learning System impact production diary, developed by Dr. Helzi
Noponen for the wild silk reading and reeling livelihood programs.
LeGrand will carry out analysis on the system to track wider impact
issues such as collective actions to improve rural area conditions
or change negative social practices such as domestic violence within
local communities.
Gunda Luss
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (M.Ag. — Horticulture)
Country of Study — Iceland and Germany
Project — Luss will first participate in a study abroad course
in Iceland and Germany, which will provide an opportunity for an
international experience and to study the comparison of various
organic and sustainable agriculture practices. She will then travel
to Berlin on her own to study historic gardens. Studying the period
gardens will provide background for her master’s thesis on
landscaping homes from a historic perspective. She is especially
interested in therapeutic horticulture and design; therefore, Luss
will visit the Solheimar Community, a self-sufficient community
for people with special needs. This will help her formulate ideas
for a group home where residents would grow their own organic produce.
Laura Miller
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Community Health Education/Global
Health Interdisciplinary Concentration)
Country of Study — India
Project — Through the Kastuba Medical College in Mangalore,
Miller will be assisting in studies that are focusing on residents
in elderly homes who are suffering from diabetes, hypertension,
and asthma. Study participants undergo modern medical treatments,
exercise on a treadmill, and daily yoga classes. Miller’s
role will be to enroll a new set of one-on-one interviews regarding
quality of life and depression scores. After these patients have
participated in three to four weeks of yoga practice, she will
repeat the measurements and interviews.
Amanda Murray
Medical School (M.D. — Anesthesiology)
Country of Study — India
Project — Murray will participate in a clinical anesthesiology
rotation at St. John’s Medical College in Bangalore, India,
where she will serve as an ambassador of her country and the University,
collaborating with staff and students at St. John’s to create
greater cooperation and exchange between the medical programs.
Murray will also challenge her knowledge of medicine by learning
it in the context of a culture and a patient population very different
from that of her homeland. This opportunity will prove invaluable
in honing skills for the further international work she hopes to
do as a practicing anesthesiologist.
Matthew Pike
Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M. — Small Animal)
Country of Study — China and Korea
Project — Pike will attend a study abroad course with the
College of Veterinary Medicine to China and Korea. Pike will study
traditional oriental medicine and the culture of these countries.
This course is an opportunity to learn as much about how and why
the oldest form of medicine benefits veterinary patients. As the
field of veterinary medicine changes, it is becoming clear that
many instances show the benefits of both Eastern and Western medicine.
Melinda Rostal
School of Veterinary Medicine & School of Public Health (D.V.M. & M.P.H.)
Country of Study — Kenya
Project — Rostal will investigate whether the Rift Valley
Fever virus is circulating in the human population of the Ijara
district in Kenya during the inter-epidemic periods. She will use
assays such as ELISA and PCR to survey for the presence of antibodies
and/or the etiological agent in non-malarial acute febrile patients
at a provincial general hospital in Kenya. She will characterize
these pathogens and determine risk factors for becoming infected
with them. In addition to Rift Valley Fever, Rostal will characterize
a number of other non-malarial febrile diseases in the same manner.
Andrew Schroeder
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Visual Arts and Printmaking)
Country of Study — Macedonia and Bulgaria
Project — Schroeder will conduct research in the Republic
of Macedonia and neighboring Bulgaria, exploring matters of identity
in the rapidly changing Balkans. Schroeder will retrace the steps
of his stolen identity and look into the meaning of the “digital
self” in a region that is Westernizing. The final work will
consist of a multi-media installation made of photographs, drawings,
and audio-video interviews.
Nia Sopiwnik
College of Human Ecology (M.S.W. — Social Work)
Country of Study — Vietnam and Cambodia
Project — Using a cross-cultural framework, Sopiwnik will
compare the international child welfare policies of the United
States, Vietnam, and Cambodia. While abroad she will visit various
social service, educational, and community development sites. She
will maintain a journal to organize her reflections and findings
regarding the cultural, social, economic, and political policies
pertaining to child welfare. When Sopiwnik returns to Minneapolis,
she will do a presentation and write a term paper based on her
experiences.
Laura Speltz
Medical School (M.D. — Pediatrics)
Country of Study — Ecuador
Project — Speltz will intern with a non-profit volunteer
organization at a pediatric hospital in Quito. She will design
and implement a quality improvement and/or educational program
to facilitate the delivery of healthcare to the children of Quito.
Sonia Sudheimer
College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (M.Arch. — Architecture)
Country of Study — Azerbaijan
Project — Sudheimer will participate in a cooperative program
between the University of Minnesota and Azeri University in Baku,
Azerbaijan. The purpose of the program is to develop the building
preservation inventory of Icheri Sheher, the historic walled city
of Baku that is presently on the endangered list of the UNESCO/World
Heritage Centre. The program offers a unique opportunity to learn
about historic preservation on an international scale. Additionally
she hopes to apply lessons learned regarding building conservation
for use in her thesis next year, tentatively titled, “Sustaining
Heritages; Preservation of Past and Present.”
2005 Judd Fellows
Sinem Arcak
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. — Art History)
Country of Study — Italy
Project — Arcak will conduct research in Venice, Italy, which will
include viewing and interpreting manuscripts that enrich the cultural
history of the Ottoman-Venetian courtly relations in the late 16th century.
She will review the letters of Nurbanu Sultan, Ottoman queen mother, to
the Venetian Republic. At the same time, she will observe the material heritage
and the cultural legacy of the Venetians on site.
Amy Becker
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Public Health Administration and
Policy)
Country of Study — England
Project — The avian H5N1 influenza virus may be poised to unleash
pandemic flu on people. Experts who are working to stop the virus before
it becomes a pandemic face numerous challenges. Becker intends to
work on developing policy papers and primers on pandemic flu, creating partnerships
and activities based out of discussions at the virtual global conference
on July 5-7 and developing public health collaborations with several institutions
and organizations.
Erin Brandt
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — Community and Economic
Development)
Country of Study — Tanzania
Project — Brandt will work with two organizations while in Tanzania:
Heifer Project and the Women Agriculture Development and Environmental Conservation
(WADEC). She will study the socio-economic aspects of the activities of
the Heifer Project to the farmers and the contribution of Heifer livestock
projects in economic growth and development of the region. With WADEC, she
will conduct a needs assessment study in three rural communities in order
to determine how WADEC projects can best meet the needs of those communities.
Elizabeth Braun
Law School and Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (J.D./M.P.P.
— International Human Rights)
Country of Study — India
Project — Braun will work at the South Asia Human Rights Documentation
Centre (SAHRDC) in New Delhi, India. SAHRDC is a network of individuals
across the region who seeks to investigate, document, and disseminate information
about human rights treaties and conventions, human rights education, refugees,
media freedom, prison reforms, political imprisonment, torture, or degrading
treatment.
Jasna Burza
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — International Affairs/Foreign
Policy)
Country of Study — Switzerland
Project — Burza will participate in the 2005 Duke HEI Program on Global
Policy and Governance and an internship program in Geneva, which includes
20 graduate students from U.S. public affairs schools. The program is designed
to expose students to the global governance field and includes a four-week
course. The internships are with United Nations agencies and other organizations.
Nicholas Conbere
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Art/Printmaking)
Country of Study — Peru
Project — In his artwork, Nicholas is interested in portraying locations
of striking natural beauty and showing how human impact is changing the
character of these places. Conbere will conduct research in three destinations
in Peru chosen for dramatic landscapes and the changes happening there:
Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon rainforest. He will collect
images, both drawings and photographs, as well as interview local residents
to give context to the imagery. Upon returning from Peru, he'll combine
and develop the images to create aesthetically engaging artwork that provokes
thought on how humanity is changing our most scenic locations.
Genya Dana
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.S. — Science, Technology and
Environmental Policy)
Country of Study — Switzerland
Project — Dana will participate in an internship with Institute of
Agriculture and Trade Policy's (IATP) Geneva office, which will allow her
to be involved in the international trade policy negotiation process. IATP
advocates for fair trade policies that promote labor and human rights, health
standards, and the environment. In addition to helping them develop policy
positions and prepare for the next round of World Trade Organization talks,
Dana will make beneficial contacts in the international trade policy arena.
Paul Hartzheim
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (M.S.
— Water Resource Science)
Country of Study — Albania
Project — As part of his M.S. thesis work, Hartzheim has been involved
in an NSF-funded Household Survey project, to determine the fluxes of carbon,
nitrogen, and phosphorus in urban households. The cycles of these nutrients
have major environmental implications. He will implement the survey in Albania's
capital city of Tirana to compare the differences in urban consumption patterns
and behaviors in a developing country versus a developed one.
Raya Hegeman
College of Education and Human Development (M.A. — Comparative and
International Development Education)
Country of Study — Ghana
Project — Hegeman will intern with the Girl Child Education Unit in
Asamankese, Ghana. Her internship will include increasing access and participation
of girls, creating awareness in the community, and working with school administration
and teaching staff. She will also collect data for her M.A. research paper
on problems and aspects of girl education in developing countries.
Éireann Lorsung
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. — Creative Writing/Poetry)
Country of Study — Italy
Project — Lorsung will study printmaking and drawing at the Scuola
Internazionale di Grafica in Venice. She will use the city as a source for
drawings and prints, as well as for writing 15 sonnet-like syllabic poems
to complement another garland completed in Minneapolis. These poems will
shape and form a large part of her M.F.A. thesis.
Jonathan Melquist
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of Study — Peru
Project — Melquist will participate in research in novel methods of
detecting tuberculosis, under the guidance of Dr. Bob Gilman who is from
Johns Hopkins but researches at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
in Lima. He will also participate in rotations at Universidad Catolica de
Cordoba.
Sara Murphy Thompson
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — International Economic
Development)
Country of Study — Haiti
Project — Murphy Thompson will intern for Fonkoze micro-credit institution,
assisting in opening savings accounts and lending small business loans.
She will also be surveying the needs and opportunities in Caye Jacmel for
a new branch of Fonkoze. She will assist Fonkoze in building economic opportunities
for the rural poor of Haiti.
Cuong Pham
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of Study — Vietnam
Project — Pham will complete a site rotation to create a professional
relationship with Hanoi Medical School and/or Saigon Medical School that
will facilitate positive clinical learning environments for Minnesota medical
students and Vietnamese medical students. A formal relationship will build
a viable study abroad experience for medical students.
Joshua Rhein
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of Study — Uganda
Project — Rhein will spend nine months at the Infectious Disease Institute
(IDI) at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. He will be engaged in a
combination of clinical training in HIV management and research into the
success of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the HIV-positive
Ugandan population. The study will be looking at levels of immune activation
following institution of HAART.
Rolando Rosas
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of Study — Latin America/Caribbean
Project — Rosas will intern with the HIV/AIDS unit of the Pan American
Health Organization. The focus of the experience will be to assist with
the development of interventions for vulnerable groups at risk for sexually
transmitted infections (STI), including HIV.
Sarah Sik
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. — Art History)
Country of Study — England
Project — Sik will conduct research to further two ongoing projects,
both related to the influence of the arts of Japan upon the American Arts
and Crafts Revival. The first project concerns a collection of Japanese
ceramics exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, and
the second pertains to the American designer and devout Japaniste, John
Scott Bradstreet.
Akiko Tanaka
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Maternal and Child Health)
Country of Study — Thailand
Project — Tanaka will be working in the Reproductive Health Department
at Mae Toa Clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand, which serves mostly Burmese refugees
and illegal immigrants in the area. Her main responsibilities will consist
of assisting with the revision and development of service protocols and
training materials related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
David Uejio
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. — Foreign Policy and
International Affairs)
Country of Study — Switzerland
Project — Uejio will participate in the Global Governance Program
in Geneva. Through the program, he will be interning with an organization
formulating policy on global HIV/AIDS. He will also be participating in
a course in global governance.
Darlisha Williams
School of Public Health (M.P.H. — Epidemiology)
Country of Study — Tanzania
Project — Williams will study the impact of water sources on the incidence
of diarrheal disease in southern Tanzania as reported by local clinics.
She will measure the cases of diarrheal disease in villages with pumps and
compare the data to villages that did not receive pumps.
2004 Judd Fellows
Anna Abt
School of Public Health (M.P.H. - Public Health Administration)
Country of study - Ghana
Project – Abt will complete an internship with Ghana Health
Services, providing HIV/AIDS outreach education, conducting home
visits, and participating in other clinical services. Her goal is
to understand the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ghana and to experience a
health system outside of the United States, especially a developing
country.
Brian Beaubien
Institute of Technology (M.S.M.E. - Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering)
Country of study - France
Project – Beaubien will work on a project to develop a technique
to study spine ligament behavior. This technique will later be used
to study ligaments from adolescents with spine deformities. The
results from this research will be used by the Toulouse Biomechanics
Laboratory in mathematical spine models and will be published in
order to help scientists and surgeons further understand juvenile
spine deformities.
Luke Bergmann
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Geography)
Country of study - China
Project – Bergmann will continue his studies of Mandarin Chinese
in preparation to conduct his master’s research next year in China.
His research seeks to examine how theories of geographical uneven
development developed more for the developed world might apply to
uneven development under globalization in the interior of North
China.
Niki Carlson
College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (M.L.A. - Landscape Architecture)
Countries of study - Czech Republic, Poland, Germany
Project – Carlson’s project includes site analysis, language
study, and research of the Black Triangle region at the intersection
of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Brownfields—abandonded
industrial areas—are highly polluted impediments to sustainable
development. The site analysis will include collecting data about
contamination, ecological features, and human circulation among
the brownfields. Czech language study and human geography research
will frame the interview portion of the project for next year. She
anticipates redesigning a brownfield for my master’s capstone project.
Brian Duffy
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Music Performance)
Countries of study - Germany, Belgium
Project – Duffy will complete an internship with Nebojsa Zivkovic,
a renowned marimba and percussion virtuoso. The internship will
include intense private study with Mr. Zivkovic, participation in
the Belgium International Marimba Festival and the Zivkovic International
Marimba Course, and five public concerts with Mr. Zivkovic.
Atreyee Gupta
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Art History)
Country of study - United Kingdom
Project – Concentrating on art exhibitions in London, Gupta
will map the journey of Indian art from categories of ethnographic
objects, or decorative arts, to fine arts commanding a significant
value in the art market. She is interested in documenting how a
newly emerging nation state projects itself in the eve of independence
and in turn how the constructs of its nationhood are perceived or
received by its colonizers.
Lindsey Lesher
School of Public Health (M.P.P. - Epidemiology)
Country of study - Tanzania
Project – Lesher will complete an internship with community
health workers to help achieve local health objectives, focusing
on implementing effective HIV outreach programs and working with
orphanages for children whose families are affected by AIDS.
Amanda Loge
College of Human Ecology (M.S.W. - Social Work)
Country of study - Peru
Project – Loge will complete an international internship at
Hogar de Cristo, a non-profit agency serving street children ages
4 to 17. She will work with the staff psychologist and social worker
to assist with a weekly psychosocial group, educational and social
skill-building courses, and mental health services. She will also
conduct assessments with the children’s families and help plan supportive
interventions.
Melissa Melco
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (M.Ag.
- Landscape Design)
Country of study - United Kingdom
Project – Melco will participate in the Royal Botanical Gardens
Kew Internship program that offers practical experience in horticulture,
supported by access to world-renown plant collections, herbarium,
and library. Melco intends to expand her knowledge of plant taxonomy,
ethnobotany, and garden management while being exposed to new design
concepts.
Daniel Miller
Medical School (M.D.)
Countries of study - India, Tanzania, Nepal, Costa Rica
Project – Miller will produce a photographic documentary of
medical student experiences and community health conditions during
a series of international medical rotations in underserved communities.
The project will involve six-week community medicine clerkships
in Bangalore, India; Moshi, Tanzania; Dharan, Nepal; and San Jose,
Costa Rica.
Timothy Patronski
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.S. - Science, Technology,
and Environmental Policy)
Country of study - Australia
Project – Patronski will interact with and interview experts
and attend a workshop on risk assessment of transgenic fish. The
research activities will complement his thesis work and related
research on feasibility of using genetic-based biological control
methods for fish.
Clint Pecenka
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. - Economic Development)
Country of study - Bolivia
Project – Pecenka will study the involvement of stakeholder
groups in the development of the “Che Guevara Trail,” a cultural
and historical tourism project. He will then compare this involvement
with that of other similar projects and make recommendations for
this and other future tourism projects in Bolivia.
Monica Rani
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project – Rani will participate in an international health
program focusing on the topic of health provider decisions in developing
community health programs. The program emphasizes the integration
of social, political, and economic aspects into health services
and care, with a focus on pool communities or countries.
Noah Rogoff
College of Liberal Arts (M.M. - Cello Performance)
Country of study - Austria
Project – Rogoff will visit the Arnold Schoenberg Center in
Vienna to investigate Schoenberg’s place in this capital of central
European culture. Schoenberg’s music has long suffered from severe
misinterpretation in the hands of performers and critics alike.
Detached from its cultural traditions, Schoenberg’s music has been
subjected to lifeless readings that have ignored the classical and
romantic heritage that his music celebrates. The cataclysmic disruptions
of the two World Wars limited our ability to evaluate Schoenberg
in his proper context; however, the Arnold Schoenberg Center and
the city of Vienna have done much to preserve Schoenberg’s nearly
exterminated world.
Theresa Rosendahl
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project – Rosendahl will participate in a program with CIMAS
director Dr. José Suarez to provide medical students hands-on experience
with international health in resource-poor countries. The curriculum
explores the theoretical and practical implications of international
development and intercultural issues while providing invaluable
field experience in medicine and public health. In addition to cultural
immersion, pre-departure assignments create a common knowledge base
from which the internship builds.
Brent Ryan
School of Public Health, Medical School (M.D./M.P.H.)
Country of study - Ireland
Project – Ryan will serve as a sub-intern at St. Francis Hospice
in Dublin, Ireland. While there he will complete a comprehensive
case study of a patient and family and learn about palliative care
and the differences between hospice care in Ireland and the U.S.
Greg Setliff
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (M.Sc.
- Entomology)
Countries of study - United Kingdom, Germany
Project – Setliff will visit the Natural History Museum in
London and the State Museum in Dresden to revise the Australasian
genus Asytesta Pascoe using modern systematic techniques to determine
the generic limits and reconstruct the group’s phylogeny, and to
complete the first checklist and literature review of New Guinea
weevils.
Robert Strand
Carlson School of Management (M.B.A. - Marketing & International
Business)
Country of study - France
Project – Strand will participate in a semester exchange at
the HEC School of Management Paris to study the global benefits
and costs of globalization from a non-American perspective. His
objective is to develop an operative model that corporations can
use to make better-informed decisions when determining whether to
move into international markets.
Quy Ton
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Peru
Project – Ton will join SES/PIH to help design, analyze, and
publish patient data from the pioneering MDR-TB treatment program
in Peru. One question he will examine is the role of adjuvant surgery
among MDR-TB patients. As this is the largest population of MDR-TB
patients treated utilizing DOT-Plus, this research has the potential
to set guidelines for other current and future DOT-Plus programs
around the world.
Jeff Vockrodt
Law School, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (J.D./M.P.P. -
Labor & International Law/Labor Policy)
Country of study - Switzerland
Project – Vockrodt will intern with the International Labor
Organization’s Freedom of Association branch, which focuses on protecting
and promoting workers’ rights to organize and choose union representation.
He will spend most of his time studying government documents and
practices to evaluate compliance with ILO conventions on freedom
of association that the governments have signed.
2003 Judd Fellows
Christine Ashley
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Vietnam
Project - For the field experience component of her program, Ashley
will assist with epidemiologic studies at the International Vaccine
Institute in Vietnam. The programs are focused on lowering the disease
burden of shigellosis and typhoid fever across Asia. IVI is a non-profit
research institute that works in developing countries.
Jane Brumbaugh
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project - As a healthcare team participant, Brumbaugh will attend
hospital rounds, take patient histories in Spanish, and participate
in community-oriented primary care and patient health education.
Her goals for the experience are to improve her medical Spanish,
to increase her cross-cultural awareness, and to understand the
healthcare policies and practices of a developing country. She will
live with a local family in order to immerse himself in the Ecuadorian
culture.
Sara Bertelsen
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.S. - Science, Technology,
and Environmental Policy)
Country of study - Australia
Project - Bertelsen will travel to Canberra to research and analyze
the implementation process of the zero waste policy, which was implemented
in Canberra, Australia, in 1996 and proposes to reach their goal
of zero waste by 2010. Bertelsen is working with Katie Theisen on
this project.
Christy Boraas
School of Public Health (M.P.H. - Epidemiology)
Country of study - Ghana
Project - Boraas will intern with a non-governmental organization
called Pro-Link in Ghana and other parts of West Africa to advocate
for and empower disadvantaged populations to improve their health,
education, economic, and social well-being, specifically related
to HIV/AIDS. She will help design an outreach program to create
HIV/AIDS awareness and conduct evaluation of a current program(s)
with knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral change studies in communities
served by Pro-Link.
Jennifer Connelly
College of Education and Human Development (M.A. - Comparative
and International Development Education)
Country of study - Palau/ Japan
Project - Connelly will complete a qualitative case study
involving interviews and ethnographic observation to determine how
the JOCV, a program similar to the Peace Corps, is perceived by
its administrator, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
and the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Palau.
Parissa Delavari
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project - Delavari will participate in two programs organized by
Child and Family Health International in Ecuador. The first will
be the Quito Clinical Rotation, during which she will be spending
eight weeks living with a host family, completing rotations in local
hospitals and clinics, and taking medical and conversational Spanish
classes. The second program is based out of Cuenca, Ecuador, where
she will be working on a mobile surgical unit and rotating in clinics
affiliated with the University of Cuenca.
Sam Goblirsch
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Mexico
Project – Goblirsch will work with Mexican Youth to educate
them about HIV/AIDS and sexual education through the San Alfonso
Mission in Juarez, Mexico. He will be working extensively with two
Mexican physicians to help run the educational program and also
to provide as much basic medical care to the youth of Juarez as
possible.
Qiliang He
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - History)
Country of study - China
Project – He’s research will focus on the 1930 American
Tour of Mei Lanfang, one of the leading Beijing Opera actors in
China, exploring the interaction of Chinese “tradition”
and western modernity in an international context.
Stephanie Hauge
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Cuba
Project – Hauge will complete the field experience requirement
of her degree through participation in the Cuban Public Health System
elective offered by Medical Education in Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC).
Brendan Jordan
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.P.P. - Public &
Environmental Policy)
Country of study - Hungary
Project – Jordan will complete an internship with the Center
for Environmental Studies in Budapest, Hungary, and will research
Hungarian environmental regulations and policies in advance of the
European Union expansion, which will carry with it new environmental
guidelines.
Leslie King
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Haiti
Project – King will complete an institutional evaluation of
health equity at L’Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles,
Haiti. Equitable care is that which is delivered according to need
rather than that which is delivered equally to all, recognizing
that the socially disadvantaged often have greater health needs
based on their life circumstances.
Lara Magee
School of Nursing (M.S.)
Country of study - Kenya
Project – Magee will participate in the Minnesota Studies
in International Development Program (MSID). This internship offers
both educational and clinical aspects in the arena of maternal child
healthcare in developing countries. She will assist a program that
provides contraception education and materials to adolescents.
Raymond Maguire
School of Public Health (M.P.H. - Epidemiology)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project – Maguire’s project is an effort to improve
the health care of the impoverished inhabitants who live in
a remote coastal region of northern Ecuador. He will work on a plan
that includes establishing more permanent health care facilities throughout
the communities and offering health care classes for the inhabitants.
Maguire’s role in the project will be working with the Ecuadorian
medical students to establish the dispensaries and teach the classes.
Katie Pratt
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Geography)
Country of study - Chile
Project – Pratt will intern with the National Committee for
the Defense of Flora and Fauna (CODEFF) in the Valdivia region of
Chile. The purpose of the internship is to gain knowledge of issues
related to deforestation of the Valdivian temperate rainforest,
to assist CODEFF with their efforts at managing environmental change
in a sound and just manner, and to develop plans for meaningful
research for her M.A. thesis.
Desiree Roberston
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (M.S. - Entomology, Taxonomy, and Systematics)
Country of study - Bolivia
Project – Robertson will survey the caddisflies of Alto Madidi
National Park in Bolivia. She will also utilize the trip to visit
museum collections to study their caddisfly holdings and establish
professional relationships with the resident biologists.
Rebecca Stepan
School of Public Health (M.P.H. - Epidemiology and Nutrition)
Country of study - Costa Rica
Project – Stepan will participate in a course that seeks to
familiarize students with qualitative and quantitative methods of
evaluating the health and nutrition status of the Monteverde communities.
She will provide a service to local community members and institutions
by collecting and presenting accurate data on priority health issues.
DeAnn Thyse
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Anthropology)
Country of study - Norway
Project – In her Master’s thesis Thyse will investigate
the relationship between human representation in Viking art, and
identity and gender. She will attend the University of Oslo’s
International Summer School and take courses in Norwegian history
and art. She will supplement these courses with excursions to sites
and museums to see relevant places and objects first hand.
Katie Theisen
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs (M.S. - Science, Technology,
and Environmental Policy)
Country of study - Australia
Project - Theisen will travel to Canberra to research and analyze
the implementation process of the zero waste policy, which was implemented
in Canberra, Australia, in 1996 and proposes to reach their goal
of zero waste by 2010. Theisen is working with Sara Bertelsen on
this project.
Carol White
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Guinea
Project – White will assist with program valuation and dissemination
for mental health services for survivors of political violence and
torture from Sierra Leone and Liberia, currently living in refugee
camps. The program sponsor is the Center for Victims of Torture.
2002 Judd Fellows
Christine Albrecht
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Kenya
Project - After her required medical rotations are finished, Albrecht
will observe and work with doctors in a rural Kenyan clinic and
hospital.
Noah Barka
College of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.)
Country of study - Russia
Project - This project is an internship assisting the Russian Farm
Community Project (RFCP) with dairy development in the Dmitrov region
of Russia. Following the goals of the RFCP to help privatize agriculture
and revitalize rural communities, Barka will be working to develop
management systems.
Andrew Barnes
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Guatemala
Project - Barnes will live and work in the rural community of San
Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. He will spend three to four days per week
in the city’s clinic and two to three days per week helping
to provide basic medical services to 23 remote villages in the area.
He will also serve as an intern to the local Spanish-speaking doctor.
Elyse Chadwick
School of Public Health (M.P.H.) - Maternal and Child Health
Country of study - Croatia
Project - Chadwick will take intensive coursework in the Serbo-Crotian
language during the fall 2002 term at the University of Zagreb.
Lisa Dryer
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Lithuania
Project - Dryer will spend three weeks in Vilnius, Lithuania, dividing
her time between primary care in a University clinic, a small family
practice center, and a midwifery center. Her goal is to develop
a better understanding of culturally sensitive medicine with a focus
on women’s health and HIV prevention in Lithuania.
Kimberly Ford
Humphrey Institute (M.U.R.P. - Urban and Regional Planning)
Country of study - Egypt
Project - Ford will document and analyze the Maqattam handmade paper
and paper products project to provide a tangible reference to non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) working with similar development objectives
and financial viability concerns. She will observe participants
and conduct interviews in focus groups with volunteers and participants.
In addition, Ford will conduct research on non-profit management
of economic and community development organizations in order to
address the long-term economic viability of the project, identify
opportunities to expand the scale of operation, and consider possible
strategies to establish market niches for the paper products produced
by the women.
Amy Herman
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Tanzania
Project - Herman will conduct HIV intervention research at the Selian
Lutheran Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania. She plans to train health
workers regarding the intervention as well as to design a protocol
pertaining to the methods of collecting data.
Richard Hermes
College of Liberal Arts (M.F.A. - Creative Writing)
Country of study - Ireland
Project - This archival research project will support Hermes’
M.F.A. thesis, a book-length manuscript of autobiographical fiction.
At four libraries in Dublin, Hermes will gather primary source material
on places and events associated with his maternal family’s
history. Subjects of his research will include Dublin’s Cabra
West neighborhood, St. Mary’s Hospital in Phoenix Park, and
the Irish Tuberculosis epidemic of the mid-1900s.
Eric Johnson
College of Education and Human Development (M.A. - Comparative
and International Development Education)
Country of study - Kazakhstan
Project - Johnson’s research will evaluate the outcomes of
the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) in Kazakhstan. The U.S.-government-funded
program exposes Kazakhstani high school students to U.S. culture,
democratic government, free press, and the rule of law. His research
aims are to trace the alumni and alternates and chronicle their
career and lifestyle choices, measure their relative intercultural
sensitivity, and ethnographically describe the experience of FLEX
alumni.
Kris Johnson
College of Natural Resources (M.S. - Conservation Biology)
Country of study - Mexico
Project - Drawing upon both ecological and social methods, Johnson
will investigate the connection between land tenure and the conservation
and management of forest resources. This research will enhance the
understanding of the complex relationship between the human and
natural systems within a national park in Mexico.
Melanie Kleiss
Law School (J.D.)
Country of study - Netherlands
Project - Kleiss will study at Tilberg University Faculty of Law
in Tilberg, Netherlands. She will focus on comparative and international
environmental law and policy to gain an in-depth understanding of
environmental relationships within the European Union (EU), between
EU members, between the EU and the United States, and within the
greater global arena.
Jeannette Lager
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - England
Project - Lager will pursue a Diploma of Reproductive Health in
Developing Countries at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
This will enable her to gain knowledge of international women’s
health, which she plans to apply to her future career in obstetrics
and gynecology.
Anthony Larson
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Ecuador
Project - Larson will spend ten months in a medical and multicultural
internship in Ecuador with Dr. Jose Suarez-Torres, director of Fundacion
Cirnas del Ecuador. Cimas is a private, non-profit organization
committed to the study of Ecuador’s environment, economic
development, and health issues. Larson will work with Ecuadorian
health professionals in clinic and hospital settings and will live
with local host families and study the Spanish language and local
culture.
Shirley Leiphon
College of Music (D.M.A. - Vocal Performance)
Country of study - Italy
Project - Leiphon will participate in a program of intensive language
study and practical musical training. This program is specifically
designed to facilitate singers to become immersed in the language
and culture of Italy to benefit their knowledge of the language
as well as bringing onto the stage a better understanding of the
cultural environment and history surrounding Italian opera. As a
final project, Leiphon will perform a leading role in a fully staged
opera.
Maren Olson
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Tanzania
Project - Olson will complete a medical internship at Selian Lutheran
Hospital in Tanzania. She will be under the direction of a U.S.
physician and will be caring for patients at the hospital and accompanying
medical staff as they do medical outreach in the surrounding rural
areas, helping with preventative health care and treating acute
illness. She will also carry out an independent project focused
on pediatrics and public health.
Jason Paltzer
School of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Country of study - Kenya
Project - Paltzer will work with the Makindu Children’s Center
(MCC), a day resource facility for orphan children in Kenya, to
learn more about the global issue of international health and human
rights. His research will focus on the effectiveness of such centers
in supporting the human rights of the orphans, keeping them off
the streets and in school, and in giving them the “basic”
necessities for life, survival, and a sustainable community. This
research will provide a framework for existing organizations to
replicate this model in other areas.
Rio Roland
Humphrey Institute (M.U.R.P. - Urban and Regional Planning)
Country of study - Poland
Project - Roland will complete an internship looking at the environmental
and growth policies Poland must implement to comply with the European
Union’s regulations. It involves modeling and mapping urban
growth based on these policies to determine the impacts these changes
will have on urban regions and their associated natural environments.
Vanessa Steele
College of Education and Human Development (M.Ed. - Youth Development
Leadership)
Country of study - Brazil
Project - Steele’s project is a combination of study in African-Brazilian
arts and culture and youth programming research in Salvador, Bahia
- Brazil. For three weeks she will study three African-Brazilian
dance and music traditions (capoeira, samba, and orixa) as part
of an international cultural immersion project called Quilombo,
a project of the Powderhorn Phillips Cultural Wellness Center in
Minneapolis. The goal of the Quilombo project is to immerse youth
and adults from the Twin Cities in African-Brazilian arts and culture
and enrich their perspectives on international issues and communities.
Aimee Thostenson
College of Education and Human Development (M.A. - Comparative
and International Development Education)
Country of study - China
Project - Thostenson will travel to An Shang, China, to participate
in a Global Volunteers program to build a school. While there, she
will conduct research for her Plan B paper in the Comparative &
International Development Education master’s program. Through
the use of participant observation, she will gain a depth of understanding
of the program, the other volunteers, and the volunteer site. The
information that she gathers will provide rich, descriptive data
about the volunteer experience to inform the survey data that she
collects.
Elizabeth Valitchka
School of Public Health (M.P.H. - Maternal and Child Health)
Country of study - Cuba
Project - Valitchka will complete an elective in women’s health
through Medical Education in Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC). She
will observe and evaluate women’s medical and public health
care in Cuba through site visits and clinical observations in both
urban and rural settings.
Sterling Paul Wilson
College of Liberal Arts (M.A. - Art History)
Country of study - Finland
Project - Wilson’s research will focus on the institutional,
aesthetic, and political underpinnings of commissions by the Finnish
Art Society and the Finnish Artists’ Association for self-portraits
of Finnish artists in 1914 and 1916. His research will be based
in the study of archival records and artworks at the Finnish National
Gallery in Helsinki, Finland.
Ted Wissink
Medical School (M.D.)
Country of study - Guatemala
Project - Wissink’s project will involve a six-week intensive
language study of medical and conversational Spanish in Antigua,
Guatemala, followed by an internship working with an established
health project in San Lucas Toliman. The project has a central clinic
and also provides mobile health services to surrounding underserved
rural communities.