Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2021

Humanities
Winner:
Molly McGuigan, “History in Literary Works: Toni Morrison, Tommy Orange, and Gwendolyn Brooks”
Professor:  Martha Cutter, English

Honorable Mention:
Anusha Attre, “The U.S. Vaccination Crisis, Post-Wakefield 1998: A Recent History of Vaccine Mistrust”
Professor:  Marc Reyes, History

Daniela Flores-Soto, “The Visit”: A Critique to the Swiss Neutrality during the Second World War
Professor:  Danique Hofstede, Literature, Cultures and Languages

Stefan Marczuk,“Marxism and its Application to Black Self-Determination”
Professor:  Jane Gordon, Political Science

Social Sciences
Co-Winners:
Chelsea Erem, “Risk of Suicide in Patients Diagnosed with DSM-IV Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders”
Professor:  Ngozi Adaralegbe, Allied Health Sciences

SeSe Nguyen, “Increasing Gender Equality in Corporate Leadership and its Effect on the Environmental Footprint of the Oil and Gas Industry”
Professor:  Metin Cosgel, Economics

Honorable Mention:
Jaydel Hernandez, “Parental Well Being and Parenting Styles: Understanding the Impact of Caregivers on Children with Developmental Disabilities”
Professor:  Huda Akef, Human Development and Family Sciences

Bo Wicklund, “The Effects of Physical Activity and Social Relationships on Stress Levels in College Students”
Professor: Steven Mellor, Psychological Sciences

 

Science and Engineering
Winner:
Collin Grottke, “The Interplay of Vascular and Skeletal Muscle Function in Obesity”
Professor:  Robert Huggins, Kinesiology

Honorable Mention:
Molly Csere, “Casirivimab and Imdevimab for COVID-19: Results Weakly Positive, Needs More Evidence”PHRX4001W: Current Topics in Pharmacy”
Professor:  Adrian Hernandez-Diaz, Pharmacy  Practice

Avin Sapowadiat, “Lubricin Delivery System via Biomimetic Nano-Matrix for Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration”
Professors:  Charles Giardina (Molecular and Cell Biology) & Yupeng Chen (Biomedical Engineering)

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2020

Humanities
Winner:
Elizabeth Doemland, “Land & Terror: A Manifestly American Identity”
Professor:  Gregory Doukas, Political Science

Honorable Mention:
Jessica Gallagher, The Stigmatized Character: How Scholars Have Responded to Criticism of “The Catcher in the Rye” 
Professor: Emily Cormier, English

Ashley Kane, “Crazy Rich Asians as a Cultural Movement”
Professor: Ruth Yuste-Alonso, Literatures, Cultures and Languages and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Lucie Turkel, “Race’s Role in Rap: How to be Authentically White in the Black World of Hip Hop”
Professor:  Jeffrey Ogbar, History

Social Sciences
Winner:
Isabella Otoka, “Panic Disorder and Parent Child Communication”
Professor: Edna Brown, Human Development & Family Studies

Honorable Mention:
Shanelle Jones, “Sexual Violence among First Nations in the USA: Boarding School Rape, Sexual Exploitation, and Child Trafficking”
Professor: Francoise Dussart, Anthropology

Joyce Nieh, “The Effects of Hippocampal Damage on Spatial Memory in Water Maze and Fear Conditioning in Rats”
Professor: Etan Markus, Psychological Sciences

Nikaash Pasnoori, “Learning to Love my Indian-ness”
Professor: Noga Shemer, Anthropology

 

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Sophia Arruda, “Applications of the Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis to Anxiety Disorders”
Professor:  Daniel Bolnick, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Rebha Raviraj, “The Potential Benefits of Marine Chemical Defense on Humankind”
Professor: Craig Tobias, Marine Sciences

Honorable Mention:
Marisa Karasik, “Convergent evolution of complex cognition in parrots, corvids, and primates”
Professor: Bernard Goffinet, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Emily Kasmar-LaForest, “An Evaluation of the Safety and Effectiveness of Medication-Assisted Therapy with Buprenorphine and Methadone for Mothers with Opioid Use Disorder and their Infants: A Literature Review”
Professor: Deborah Chyun, Nursing

Alexandra Porczak, “Wrapped up in DNA: does epigenetics explain the expression of genes related to Autism Spectrum Disorder?”
Professor: Sarah Knutie, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Avin Sapowadia, “Cartilage Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine?”
Professor:  Yupeng Chen, Biomedical Engineering

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2019

Humanities
Co-Winners:
Brianna Dyer, “Genocide in Xinjiang” 
Professor:  Jack Barry, Global Training & Development Institute

Rebecca Maher, “On Such a Full ‘C’ ”
Professor:  Clare Eby, English

Honorable Mention:
Lauren Ciulla, “Make an Impression: Emotional Realism in the Works of Thomas Hardy and Virginia Woolf” 
Professor: Sarah Winter, English

Laurane Fumex, “Louis Althusser through a Totalitarian Lens”
Professor: Charles Venator-Santiago,  Political Science

Kanika Malani, “Removal of Children from Their Families and Homes in India as a Result of Child Labor ”
Professor: Francoise Dussart,  Anthropology

Kayla Simon, “Ophelia, I Want a Bigger Boat: Analyzing the Importance of Jordan Peele’s Us in Contemporary America”
Professor: Kathy Knapp, English

 

Social Sciences
Winner:
Frederick Augur, “Six Years to Life: The Impact of Term Length on Judicial Independence ”
Professor: Virginia Hettinger, Political Science & Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Political Science

Honorable Mention:
Julie Brisson, “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as Burnout Prevention for Therapists: A Randomized Controlled Trial”
Professor: Samantha Lawrence, Human Development & Family Studies

Lindsay de Brito, “The Proof is in the Partisanship: How Race Demonstrates Gerrymandering”
Professor: Jeffrey Ladewig, Political Science

Simone Fournier, “Death Anxiety and End of Life Care in Older Adults”
Professor: Edna Brown, Human Development & Family Studies

Jennifer Vincenzo, “Impacts of a Deaf Child’s Age of Language Acquisition and Age of Entry into a Deaf School on Academic Performance”
Professor: Samantha Lawrence, Human Development & Family Studies

 

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Brandon Smith, “Habitat preference of Asian shore crabs (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) in relation to rock size and location within the rocky intertidal zone”
Professor:  Morgan Tingley, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Michael Taylor, “Trophic Cascades: The Dynamics of the Web of Life in a Changing World”
Professor: Carlos Garcia-Robledo, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Honorable Mention:
Stephanie Bleasdale, “Modern Society and Sleep: The Blue Light Warning”
Professor: Colleen Spurling, Molecular and Cell Biology

William Duffey, “Critical Micellular Concentration and Formation in Soap and its Effects on Conductivity of Water”
Professor: KarenAnn Caldwell, Chemistry

Ashley Roy, “Connecticut Conservationist”
Professor: Gabe Morrison, English

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2018

Humanities
Winner:
Brianna McNish, “(Re-)Embodying Illegitimacy, Motherhood, and Cyborg Fictions in Antebellum Myth” 
Professor:  Bhakti Shringrapure, English

Honorable Mentions:
Megan O’Connor, “Writing with a Pulse: Teaching for Radical Vulnerability” 
Professor: Jason Courtmanche, English

Luke Anderson “Ascribing the Value of a Child: Broader Implications of Family Separation Policies and the Alienation of Rights at the U.S.-Mexico Border”
Professor: Francoise Dussart, Anthropology

 

Social Sciences
Winners:
Anneliese Lapides, “Prenatal Health Care Inequities and Adverse Birth Outcomes for African American Women”
Professor: Keith Bellizzi, Human Development and Family Studies

Evan Metzner, “Unfare Transit Systems: A Comparative Analysis of the Farebox Recovery Ratio of  New York City and its International Peers”
Professor: Derek Johnson, Economics

Honorable Mention:
Emily O’Hara, “Oversimplified: The 1968 Ford Dagenham Strike Interpreted by the Modern Feminist”
Professor: Michael Berlin, Political Science, Education Abroad, Birkbeck College London

 

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Taylore Grunert, “A Review of Temperate Forest Phenology Under Climate Change”
Professor: Carlos Garcia-Robledo, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Sophie Lacombe, “Dynamic Thermoregulation of Eusocial Bee Colonies and the Impact of Climate Change”
Professor: Chris Elphick, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Honorable Mention:
Caitlyn Splaine, “Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Women of Reproductive Age”
Professor Steven Zinn, Animal Science

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2017

Humanities
Co-Winners:
Mary Kozan, “Authentic Writing in an Era of Essays”
Professor:  Jason Courtmanche, English

Nicolas Ochart, “Functions and Influences of Soviet Montage in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream”
Professor:  Christopher Bonner, Literature, Culture and Languages

Honorable Mention:
Holly Kasem-Beg, “Sherlock’s Science of Induction”
Professor:  Pamela Bedore, English

 

Social Sciences
Winner:
Adam Kuegler, “Don’t Steal My Seat! Incumbent Vulnerability in U.S. House Elections”
Professors:  Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Political Science
Thomas Hayes, Political Science

 

Science and Engineering
Winner:
John Bear, “Native collybistin SH3- in a subset of rodent brain and spinal cord interneurons recruits gephyrin to the inhibitory postsynapse”
Professor:  Angel L. de Blas,  Physiology and Neurobiology

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2016

Humanities
Winner:
Nicolas Ochart, “Reflection and Projection: Martin Wong and the Melting Pot”
Professor: Margo Machida, Art History

Honorable Mentions:
Megan Handau, “Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Political Intersectionality and A Forgotten Legacy”
Professor: Evelyn Simien, Political Science

Nataliya Kostenko, “Seeking Death in the Photograph: Landscape Photography, Post-Memory, and the Legacy of the Holocaust in Germany and Ukraine”
Professor: Sarah Winter, English

Anna Middendorf, “Constructing the World Cup Stadium: Migrant Workers’ Labor Rights in the Spotlight”
Professor: Shareen Hertel, Political Science

 

Social Sciences
Winner:
Samantha Guarneri, “The Impact of Poverty on Adolescent Anxiety, Depression, and GPA”
Professor: Keith Bellizzi, Human Development & Family Studies

Honorable Mention:
Francesca Chieffo, “Inequality Towards Women: In and Beyond the Workplace”
Professor: Gerald Hikel, Sociology

 

Science and Engineering
Winner:
Filip Bergabo, “Uranium Decay and the Random Process Model”
Professor: Alan Wuosmaa, Physics

Honorable Mentions:
Christopher Lewicki, “Boolean Algebra: Its Origin and How It Accelerated Modern Science”
Professor: Thomas DeFranco, Mathematics Education

Connor Occhialini, “Normal Modes of Coupled Oscillators”
Professor: Alan Wuosmaa, Physics

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2015

Humanities
Co-Winners:
Linnea Logie, “State Secrets: The U.S. and Great Britain in the Crosshairs of Nazi Espionage”
Professor:  Charles Lansing, History

Eric Medawar, “The Construction of Lebanese National Identity through History Textbooks”
Professor:  Fakhreddin Azimi, History

Honorable Mentions:
Daniela Aguila, “Safe Haven: Suggestions for Protecting, Advocating, and Meeting the Needs of Undocumented Children in the U.S”
Professor:  Anne Gebelein, Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies

Linnea Logie, “Navigating the Second Nuclear Age”
Professor:  Stephen Dyson,  Political Science

Brian Passeri, “How World Literature Can Help Revitalize the English Classroom”
Professor:  Jason Courtmanche, English

 

Social Sciences
Winner:
Eeman Abbasi, “Health as a Commodity in a Globalized World”
Professor:  Barret Katuna, Sociology

 

Honorable Mentions:
Luke LaRosa, “Selling Downtown North: Place Branding, Citizen Involvement, and the Creation of a Neighborhood”
Professor:  Carol Atkinson-Palombo, Geography

Aaron Lattanzi, “Environmental Advocacy in the 21st Century – Greenpeace and Save the Arctic”
Professor:  Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Victoria Sylvestre, “Type 1 Diabetes: The Liminal Space Between Ability and Disability”
Professor:  Erin Eighan

 

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Matthew Greenwood, “Investigation Of The Lipid Dependence Of Respiratory Complex IV Activation Using Nanoscale Bilayers”
Professor:  Nathan Alder,  Molecular and Cell Biology

Justin Sardi, “Alternative Splicing of Gucy2e as an Adaptive Response to Retinitis Pigmentosa”
Professor:Rahul Kanadia, Physiology and Neurobiology

Honorable Mentions:
Anthony DeLeone, “Cross-time PCR analysis reveals early upregulation of the Cngb1 in response to Retinited Pigmentosa-like pathology”
Professor: Rahul Kanadia, Physiology and Neurobiology

Kevin Grassie, “Damped, Driven Harmonic Oscillator Response with Different Driving Force Waveforms”
Professor:  Richard T. Jones, Physics

Nicole Furman, “S100B and Tau as biomarkers of sport induced concussion”
Professor:  Elaine Choung-Hee Lee, Kinesiology

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2014

Humanities
Winner:
Samantha Ruggiero,  “Muriel Rukeyser’s Poetics of Documentary in The Book of the Dead“
Professor:  Donna Hollenberg, English

Honorable Mentions:
Julia Berry, “Richard Wright’s Jagged Grain: An Abiding Dark Score”
Professor Pamela Bedore , English

Emma Czaplinski, “Reading Through the Rabbit Hole”
Professor:  Jason Courtmanche, English

 

Social Sciences
Co-Winners:
Patrick Hannon, “If it Doesn’t Make Dollars it Doesn’t Make Sense: A Practical and Principled Approach to Improving Royal Dutch Shell’s Business practices in the Niger Delta”
Professor:  Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Marissa Piccolo, “Redefining the Role of Mental Health Services in Public High Schools: An Exploration of Mental Health Care Access in Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Framework”
Professor: Jennifer Freeman, Educational Psychology

Honorable Mentions:

Robyn Caron, “Sprechen Sie Englisch? How English-German Bilingualism is Reshaping German National Identity”
Professor:  Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Political Science

Michael Cinque, “Are Small Businesses the Biggest Producers of Jobs?: A Critique of David L. Birch’s Theory of Labor Statistics”
Professor:  Kathleen Segerson, Economics

Svitlana Shevchenko, “The Politics of Whaling and Inuit Stewardship”
Professor:  Alexia Smith, Anthropology

 

Science and Engineering
Winner:
Mackenzie Poskus, “Peptides with Switchable Mechanical Properties at Fluid-Fluid Interfaces”
Challa Kumar, Chemistry

Honorable Mentions:
Brenna Daly , “Diagnosis and Treatment of Hyperadrenocorticism”
Professor:  Steven Zinn, Animal Science

Matthew Fox, “Do Current Clinical Trial Regulations Satisfy the FDA’s Mission?”

Katery Hyatt, “Developmental regulation of Calm2 expression in Mus musculus cardiac and retinal tissue”
Professor:  Rahul Kanadia, Physiology and Neurobiology

Emma LaVigne,“The Effects of Interleukin-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy and Repair”
Professor:  Steven Zinn, Animal Science

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2013

Humanities
Winner:
Kathleen Lynch, “Section Two: Escaping the ‘Devil of Fever’–Tropical Medicine and the East African Campaign” (Excerpt from Honors Thesis entitled: “The Clean Campaigns: Tropical Medicine and the British Army during World War One, 1914-1918”
Professor:  Sylvia Schafer, History

Social Sciences
Winner:
Gregory Smith, “The Significance of Nuclear Proliferation: A Case Study of North Korea”
Professor:  Jennifer Sterling-Folker, Political Science

Science and Engineering 
Co-Winners:
Alison Bush, “Intrauterine Growth Restriction Due to Poor Maternal Nutrition and its Effect on Adipogenesis in Sheep”
Professor:  Steven Zinn, Animal Science

Meredith Milligan, “The Future of Freshwater Fish”
Professor:  Chris Elphick, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2012

Humanities
Co-Winners:
Rebecca D’Angelo, “Of Choice and Necessity: Perceptions of Agency Amongst Late 18th and Early 19th Century Seamen in Maritime History”
Professor Matthew McKenzie, History, Avery Point Campus

Nathan Fletcher, “Religious and Evangelistic Iconography in Chagoya’s Return of the Macrobiotic Cannibal”
Professors:  Robin Greeley & Michael Orwicz, Art History

Social Sciences
Winner:
Stephen Petkis, “The Economics of Rights Fulfillment: A Critical Look at Fair Trade”
Professor:  Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Honorable Mention
Tatiana Mercado, “Mental Illness Stereotypes in Film and Television”
Professor:  Margaret Flynn, Communication Sciences

Science and Engineering
Winner:
Taylor Meltzer,  “To Eat or not to Eat? An Ethical Analysis of GMO Usage and Their Effects on the Environment”
Professor:  Theodore Taigen, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Awards 2011

Humanities
Co-Winners:
Zachary W. S. Langlois,  “The Wolf of the Capitol: Kemalism as an Alternative to Fascism in Inter-War Authoritarian Trends”
Professor:  John Davis, History

Shepherd Stearns,  “Backward Through the Veil:Individual and Group Identity in Dreams from My Father”
Professor:  Shawn Salvant, English and African-American Studies

Honorable Mention
David Schwegman,  “A Ecrire par Devoir de Memoire: Memory and the Rwandan Genocide”
Professor: Glenn Mitoma, History

Social Sciences
Winner:
Danielle Millar,  “Motherhood and Mental Illness: A Literature Review”
Professor:  Cheryl Beck, Nursing, and Heather Evans, Teaching Assistant

Honorable Mention:
Olivia Bogucki,  “A Critique of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a Treatment Method for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder”
Professor:  Louisa Baker, Human Development and Family Studies

Science and Engineering
Winner:
Karen Ren, The Evolutionary History of Avian Flight
Professor:  Carl Schlichting, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Honorable Mentions:
Anna Goodheart, “The Role of Dopamine in Adult Neurogenesis”
Professor:  Joanne Conover, Physiology and Neurobiology

David Robitaille,  “Bimetallic Core-Shell Catalysts: A Review”
Professors:  Brian Willis, Chemical, Materials & Biomolecular Engineering, and Steven Suib, Chemistry

Stephanie Marie Tornaquindici,  “Embryonic Diapause in the Tammar Wallaby, Macropus eugenii: An Adaptation of Development”
Professor:  Steven Zinn, Animal Science

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Award- – Fall 2010

Humanities
Winner:
Arman Azimi,  “Orientalism in Camus’ The First Man”
Professor:  Roger Buckley , History

Honorable Mention:
Shepherd Stearns,  “Traversing Metaphors of Power in Iola Leroy”
Professor:  Shawn Salvant, English & African American Studies

Social Sciences
Co-Winners:
Kevin, McQuade, “Contemporary Kurdish Struggles for Self-Determination”
Professor:   Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Blayne Sapelli,  “Another World is Possible: The World Social Forum, Its Evolution and Purpose”
Professor:   Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Honorable Mention:
Christian Hofer,  “Carbon Finance & Cattle Externalities in the Brazilian Amazon: Pricing Reforestation in terms of Restoration Ecology”
Professor:  Robert Martel, Economics

Honorable Mention:
John Dearborn, “Pablo Picasso’s Guernica: A Convergence of War, International Relations, and Feminism in Art”
Professor:  Christine Sylvester, Political Science &Women’s Studies

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Elsa Anglin,  “Manx Syndrome of the Domestic Cat”
Professor:  Steven Zinn , Animal Science

John Peters, “Primate Alarm Calls: The Selfish Side
Professor:  Kent Holsigner, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

 

Aetna Writing in the Disciplines Award- – Fall 2009

Humanities
Winner:
John Bailey, “Straight but Searching: Queering the Male Gaze in Lesbian Pulp”
Professor:  Margaret Breen, English

Honorable Mentions
Kaitlyn Harley, “The Odyssey’s New Epic Hero” 
Professor:  Roger Travis, Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies

Lisa A Tess, “Gender Stereotyping In Popular Children’s Literature”
Professor:   Kathleen O’Reilly, Sociology

Social Sciences
Winner:
Matthew  M. Santacroce,  “El Agua es Nuestra: The Bolivian Water War and Anti-Neoliberal Popular Mobilization”
Professor:  Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Honorable Mentions
Brittany Bauer, “ Children’s Ability to Recognize Six Universal Emotions”
Professor:  Letitia Naigles, Psychology

Kenyon Colli, “The Effectiveness of the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet”
Professor:  Inge-Marie Eigsti, Psychology

Cara Flynn, “Personality and Perception: The Effects of Personality Traits on Gender Role Endorsement”
Professor:   Randi Garcia, Psychology

Science and Engineering
Co-Winners:
Joseph Keller, “Mimicry: Shades of Gray”
Professor:  Chris Elphik, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Alexander Ocampo,  “Shortened Telomeres as a Root for Cancer”
Professor:  Mary Bruno, Molecular and Cell Biology

Honorable Mention
Melissa Cilley, “Anti-Carcinogenic Properties of Anthocyanins in Breast Cancer Prevention”
Professor:   Richard Bruno, Nutritional Science