Carolyne Guo
STEM Scholarship Recipient, 2015
Carolyne Guo, WCAS, is from Niskayuna, NY. Her major is Chemistry, and she will be a sophomore in 2015-2016. In high school she patented an innovation with a classmate and received the Bausch & Lomb Excellence in Science Award. Carolyne plans on going to graduate school and pursuing a PhD in chemistry.
Lautaro Cilenti
STEM Scholarship Recipient, 2015
Lautaro, McC, is from Beaverton, OR. His major is Mechanical Engineering, and he will be a sophomore in 2015-2016. He was awarded the Research Gateway Award by the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. His goal is a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering .
Elizabeth Gerber
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2014
In a climate of global competition and economic uncertainty, students in diverse disciplines must be equipped with entrepreneurial skills to pursue careers in research and technology. Yet educating students about entrepreneurship can be difficult in a rapidly changing entrepreneurial landscape and alongside already-intensive core curricula. While engineering and business programs increasingly offer entrepreneurship courses as campus-wide electives, these classes typically focus on traditional fundraising approaches, eg. face-to-face pitches to expert panels. Today, however, crowdfunding has made it possible to practice entrepreneurial skills in real world environments through online platforms (ex. Kickstarter). This is particularly attractive to novice entrepreneurs, who otherwise have limited access to traditional financial backing, such as banks or venture capitalists. Because most of the most widely-disseminated crowdfunding platforms only started in 2008 or later, and without existing, tested curricula, it is difficult for faculty to devote development time to such a curriculum. Consequently, few major universities have developed empirically grounded curricula to train students in the use of online crowdfunding in support of entrepreneurial projects. In response to this need, my students and I iteratively developed a self-directed, disseminable curriculum, based on our empirical research, to train Northwestern students to prepare pitch videos for crowdfunding campaigns. We are grateful to the Northwestern Alumnae for making this important work possible.
The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.
Ann Marie Piper
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2014
The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.
Indira Raman (left)
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2015
Thought Experiments: An Exploration of Knowing Through Neuroscience and the Humanities
Susie Phillips, associate professor of English, and Indira Raman, professor of neurobiology, will develop a course to understand the human experience by merging neuroscientific, literary and artistic perspectives -- disciplines generally thought to be at opposite ends of the academic spectrum.
The goal of the course is to teach students how to think with and through very different disciplines, learning how to bridge the gap between subjects that would appear to speak different languages.
“Until a couple of centuries ago, scholars made no distinction between science and literature or science and art,” Phillips said. “Indira and I wondered what it would be like to revive this older paradigm and reintegrate these supposedly disparate ways of thinking about thinking into a single classroom. We’re absolutely thrilled that this award will enable us to do just that.”
Reading works like Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” alongside scientific writing on neurophysiology, neuropyschiatric disorders and animal behavior, students will explore different perspectives on what constitutes thought, what free will is and isn’t, and what tools we have for making sense of some of the most fundamental aspects of human experience -- emotions, memory, perception, ethics and knowledge.
“We laid down a challenge for ourselves in setting the goal of creating a multidisciplinary course -- one that incorporates totally distinct disciplines, methods and perspectives, rather than one that spans the interface between related disciplines,” Raman said. “It is a pleasure to know that those who reviewed the application are interested in that challenge and that they were willing to validate it.”
The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.
Eric Zaslow
Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2015
Quantitative Reasoning
Zaslow’s course will be part of Bridge, a residential five-week program that provides intensive instruction in pre-calculus mathematics and chemistry. Students will learn to apply quantitative skills to a wide range of topics and problems that will not only help them succeed in future courses at the University but also in everyday, real-world situations. The course will develop a student's ability to "argue with numbers,” Zaslow said. “They will apply basic mathematical skills in making reasoned, quantitative arguments to address questions from a variety of real-world concerns and a host of academic disciplines.”
The course will cover, for example, computing compound interest, assessing the value of a college degree, estimating the cost/benefit of undocumented workers and deciding whether health insurance is worth the expense.
“Society continually reminds me how much our citizens need to be able to understand numerical arguments when making personal financial, medical, environmental and political decisions,” Zaslow said. “I am inspired by the idea that creating a course in quantitative reasoning and, more broadly, creating a platform and vehicle for teaching it, might actually make a bit of difference.”
The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.
Jane Y. Lee, Graduate Fellow
Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2010
Master of Business Administration, Kellogg School of Management, 2012 Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and Legal Studies, Weinberg College of Arts & Science, 2005
Described by NU professor as “one of the most impressive alumni I’ve met at Northwestern in my twenty years of teaching here. . . intellect, leadership, vision, energy, presentation, she has it all.” President of ASG her senior year, Jane was extremely engaged with the city of Evanston. When an alderman proposed to redraw his student-majority district, she rallied concerned students and citizens to strike down the proposal, and she organized events to improve town-gown relations. Upon graduation, Jane joined Deloitte Consulting, where she helped build the firm’s Midwest Public Sector practice and led a team that redesigned Wisconsin’s voter registration system. She has shown herself to be a natural leader with a passion for public service. As she pursued her MBA at Kellogg, she worked concurrently on a MPA (Master in Public Administration) at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Mary Elizabeth Holden, Graduate Fellow
Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2010
Master of Medical Science, Physician Assistants Program, Feinberg School of Medicine, 2012 Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering, 2008
As an undergraduate, Mary Beth spent Spring Quarter 2007 in South Africa through the Global Healthcare Technologies Study Abroad Program. There she reported "encountering the stark disparities between regional healthcare resources . . . patients being treated in a modern hospital and those in a crowded free clinic.” Working with healthcare providers and mothers, she designed a Premature Infant Apnea Monitor that was awarded the Best BME Design Project. That summer as an intern at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, she helped develop a robotic device to assist stroke patients in regaining upper extremity mobility. After graduation, Mary Beth worked as a Clinical Research Associate at a pharmaceutical advertising agency and volunteered at LaRabida Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL. Inspired by the children being treated there, Mary Beth decided to pursue a career as a physician’s assistant.
Colby Witherup, Graduate Fellow
Graduate Fellowship Recipient, 2009
Masters Program in Plant Biology & Conservation, 2011 Bachelor of Arts in Conservation Policies and Methods, 2008
Having worked 5 years at farms in the U.S. and England, Colby discovered a “passion for sustainable agriculture” that led to her creating an ad hoc major in Conservation Policy and Methods. Before beginning her Masters Program, she worked as a field assistant at the Chicago Botanic Garden and ran educational environmental programs for children through the Chicago Park District. Along with being a student, she was a Research Assistant, in the Genetics Lab, at the Botanic Garden, and developed skills in DNA technology for her research in Bangladesh to conserve a native food crop.
Paula Bernhardt
Alumnae Scholarship Recipient, 2011
The Alumnae Scholarship is a three year award, which is funded by an endowment, and goes to a freshman woman.