Yaritza Chavez
Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2023
Yaritza Chavez, from Springdale, AR, is pursuing her master’s degree in engineering design and innovation. Her goal is to pursue design research to eventually work for non-profit organizations in the social impact sector. Her project experiences are strong and varied, including work with Procter and Gamble, Shedd Aquarium, Google, the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, and other entities. In the words of one of Yaritza’s recommenders, Amy O'Keefe, director of Northwestern’s Engineering Design Innovation (EDI)program, "In addition to her academic acuity and technical expertise, Yaritza is among the most thoughtful and empathetic students I have had the pleasure of working with in my ten years at Northwestern. She is a first-generation college student with a strong commitment to family, friends, the Northwestern community, her cultural heritage, and social justice. Her emotional intelligence is truly exceptional. I am constantly impressed by the ways in which she approaches design challenges through the lens of her own lived experience."
9/2023
Carol Liu, Alumnae Scholar
Carol Liu, from Chicago, Ill., Class of 2024, is the recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s Undergraduate Scholarship. This award, established in 1997, provides undergraduate scholarships with preference to a woman whose family member (her brother in this case) has attended Northwestern University. The three-year award, chosen by the Office of Financial Aid, honors a student in good academic standing. Carol is the 9th Alumnae Undergraduate Scholar. Carol’s major is applied mathematics and computer science in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Jeremy Keys
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2023
Re-inventing Mechanical Engineering 240: Increasing engineers’ inductive learning through product archaeology
Jeremy Keys is an assistant professor of instruction in the McCormick School of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Administered by the Office of the Provost, the award recognizes and supports faculty who have innovative ideas for new courses, methods of instruction and components of existing classes.
Keys plans to use the award to revamp an existing class, “Mechanical Engineering 240,” by introducing “product archaeology” labs in which students will disassemble consumer products to learn about the embedded functions of their key mechanical components — a bit like a dissection in biology, but for household products.
Doing so will improve students’ appreciation for common mechanical assemblies as they interpret how engineers achieve desired mechanical functions. During the course, students also will redesign a load-bearing component of an existing consumer product and use advanced 3-D printing methods to create and share their prototypes.
Keys joined Northwestern in the Fall of 2022 as a teaching-line faculty member, having just completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University, where he studied the biophysical mechanisms that control cancer cell migration using microfluidic devices. In addition to “MechEng240,” he teaches the senior capstone course for mechanical engineers as well as “Engineering Analysis 3,” a system dynamics course for second-year engineering students.
The award comes with $12,500 in funding to be split between innovation development ($7,000), stipend ($5,000) and the faculty member’s home department ($500). The two honorees also will be recognized during a reception in the spring.
Northwestern Now, January 25, 2023
Click here for the program from The Alumnae of Northwestern University's 2023 Annual Meeting
Denise Bouras
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2023
Centering the community in advanced Spanish language curriculum -
Denise Bouras is an associate professor of instruction in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
Bouras will use the award to connect Northwestern undergraduates in “Spanish 204: Advanced Spanish II - Artivism in Times of Political Change” with public school students in the Evanston/Skokie District 65’s “Two-Way Immersion” program, which seeks to promote fluency among students in both English and Spanish.
Together, they will learn about the history of Latin America and Spain through the work of artists who have practiced “artivism” — social justice activism through art. The Northwestern students will conduct their own research on Hispanic/Latinx artists to create content to teach the public school students, and work with them in small groups to practice advanced language skills.
Bouras has been teaching Spanish for more than 20 years and has long been interested in engaging students in exploratory and collective learning. Her teaching/research interests include differentiated instruction, second-language writing, the role of emotions in the language classroom and teaching grammar through literature.
Administered by the Office of the Provost, the award recognizes and supports faculty who have innovative ideas for new courses, methods of instruction and components of existing classes.
The award comes with $12,500 in funding to be split between innovation development ($7,000), stipend ($5,000) and the faculty member’s home department ($500). The two honorees also will be recognized during a reception in the spring.
Northwestern Now, January 25, 2023
Click here for the program from The Alumnae of Northwestern University's 2023 Annual Meeting
Carol Liu
Alumnae Scholarship Recipient, 2023
Carol Liu, from Chicago, Ill., Class of 2024, is the recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s Undergraduate Scholarship. This award, established in 1997, provides undergraduate scholarships with preference to a woman whose family member (her brother in this case) has attended Northwestern University. The three-year award, chosen by the Office of Financial Aid, honors a student in good academic standing. Carol is the 9th Alumnae Undergraduate Scholar. Carol’s major is applied mathematics and computer science in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. She was drawn to Northwestern because of its strong disciplines (Applied Mathematics and Computer Science), particularly in STEM, as well as research opportunities. With this scholarship, Carol notes that she can worry less about the financial burden of school and focus more on pursuing her BS in Applied Math and MS in Computer Science. “It encourages me to continue pursuing my passions and makes me more determined to achieve my goals and have a positive impact on the real world.”
Carol has held jobs as a peer mentor for two different computer science courses and is also currently doing research. As a peer mentor, she guides students through computer science courses and helps them, if they are confused, with projects or homework. As a researcher, she is helping improve a model that uses wastewater data to predict the prevalence of diseases like COVID-19 throughout Illinois. “I learned that research is interdisciplinary, so I have to communicate effectively with people who do not necessarily have the same technical background.” Carol Willis, president of The Alumnae of Northwestern University says, “We are so proud to honor Carol Liu with this award and to support an undergraduate researcher, enabling her to focus on her education, mixing both her interests, applied math and computer science.”
Twelve Students Awarded 2023 Summer Undergraduate Research Grants from The Alumnae's Centennial Endowment
Brent E. Huffman
Alumnae Teaching Professorship Recipient, 2023
Brent E. Huffman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a passionate professor of documentary filmmaking. Huffman aims to train “leaders in documentary journalism who will advance the medium creatively and responsibly,” his nomination states. (excerpt from Northwestern News)
Read the complete article about Brent E. Huffman in the Northwestern News.
Click here for the program from The Alumnae of Northwestern University's 2023 Annual Meeting
Brent E. Huffman Receives Teaching Professorship from The Alumnae of Northwestern University
The Alumnae of Northwestern University is proud to announce that Brent E. Huffman is the recipient of its Teaching Professorship in 2023. Huffman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and a passionate professor of documentary filmmaking. Huffman aims to train “leaders in documentary journalism who will advance the medium creatively and responsibly,” his nomination states. (excerpt from Northwestern News)
Wendi Gardner's Social Psychology Spring course for The Alumnae's Continuing Education Program
How's your self-esteem? Assoc. Prof Wendi Gardner is helping Continuing Education students find an answer.
The Alumnae of Northwestern University offers Continuing Education courses open to the public Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. They are in-person and on-line.
Peter Slevin, professor of journalism, with his doppleganger during his Continuing Education course on Dilemmas of American Power.
Peter Slevin, professor of journalism, with his doppleganger (created by The New Yorker magazine) talking to The Alumnae's Continuing Education students about the Dilemmas of American Power.
The Alumnae of Northwestern University offers Continuing Education courses open to the public Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. They are in-person and on-line.