June 3, 2002 Accolades Undergraduates honored at Student Awards Ceremony By Ann M. Gibb Steck Award winner Blake Johnson (center) with his faculty mentor Jonathan Beecher (left) and UCSC alumnus Loren Steck, whose family endowed the annual award honoring the best senior thesis. Photo: Ann M. Gibb Santa Cruz Mayor Christopher Krohn opened the Student Awards Ceremony by officially proclaiming May 31, 2002, as "UCSC Student Achievement Day." Undergraduate winners of campus, state, and national awards, their families, and faculty mentors were hosted by Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood at the annual event, held on the grounds of University House. The ceremony capped a week of events highlighting undergraduate achievements in research and the performing, visual, and literary arts. Awards announced included the UCSC Deans' and Chancellor's Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements by undergraduate students within an academic division (Arts, Engineering, Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences). Ten Deans' Awards are granted within each division. Of those students, up to three in each division are selected to receive a Chancellor's Award. These winners and other campus and national awardees are listed below. Steck Award Endowed by UCSC alumnus Loren Steck and his family, this award honors the finest senior thesis completed during an academic year. The award, which includes a $1,000 prize, is open to all academic divisions, and the winner is chosen from the Chancellor's Award candidates. (Recipient: Blake Johnson) Donald A. Strauss Scholarship The Strauss Foundation awards scholarships to students from selected four-year California colleges and universities, who have demonstrated an interest in public service, have outstanding leadership potential, and are in the upper one-third of their class. (Recipient: Morvarid Ebrahimi) Morris K. Udall Scholarship This national award honors a second-year student who is committed to preserving and improving the environment. (Recipient: Liv Nevin) Goldwater Scholarship The Goldwater Scholarship supports and encourages excellence in education. Winners must have outstanding potential and must intend to pursue careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering. (Recipients: Emily Sievers and Bentley Lim) Thimann Scholarship The Thimann Scholarships are awarded to graduating UCSC seniors who have been accepted to graduate school and show the most promise as future scientists in one of the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, or Earth sciences. (Recipients: Jan Freiwald, Andrew Schmidt, Jenny Bratlien, Andrea Bangert, and Nathan Casebeer) Fulbright Grants The Fulbright Program was founded in 1946 to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange. (Recipients: Meghan Beitiks and Andrew Stanbridge) Huffman Prize This award, honoring the memory of David A. Huffman, founding UCSC faculty member in computer science, is given to a student for general excellence in computer engineering or computer science. (Recipient: Krishna Roskin) Regents Scholarship The Regents Scholarship is the most prestigious scholarship awarded to incoming students. It is a renewable award that covers the student's full financial need, less any other grants the student is receiving, up to $10,000. Students with no financial need receive an honorary award. This year there are 176 UCSC students who are new or continuing Regents Scholars. Deans' & Chancellor's Award Winners Each student received invaluable guidance from a UCSC faculty mentor. These mentors are listed in parentheses after the name of the student. Chancellor's Award winners are listed in italics. Arts Division Meghan Bahn (Jennie McDade) Nathan Brunskill (Amelie Hastie) Elisabeth Cernadas (Patrice Maginnis) Adam Cotton (David Cope) Rebecca Frediani and Kaytea Petro (Norman Locks) Stephanie Garland (Sarah Betzer) Colleen Haugen (Patrice Maginnis) Alyse LeValley (Allan Langdale) Derek Ostensen (Sharon Daniel) Austyn Steelman (Amelie Hastie) Baskin School of Engineering Ajay Bharadwaj (John Vesecky) Jonathan Casper (Kevin Karplus) Alexandra Carey (Richard Hughey) Jenny Draper (Kevin Karplus) Saar Drimer (Peyman Milanfar) Pong Lau (Jack Callon) Tam Nguyen (Ali Shakouri) Krishna Roskin (David Haussler) Dan Steinbock (Craig Kaplan) Andrew Woodruff (Craig Kaplan) Humanities Division Max Bell Alper (Ann Lane) Benjamin Bush (Micah Perks) Aron Ford (Carla Freccero) Brendan Hogan (Mark Traugott) Blake Johnson (Jonathan Beecher) Bliss Kern (Kasey Silem Mohammad Hicks) Kaytea Petro (Dilip Basu) Natural Sciences Division Ana Aguilar-Islas (Kenneth Bruland ) Tessa Andermann (Karen Ottemann) Rozalind Antrobus (Baldo Marinovic) Ana Gonzalez (Russell Flegal) Michael LeFrancois (Gary Glatzmaier) Nathaniel Martinez (Bakthan Singaram) Haivan Ngo (Ingrid Parker) Corey Null (Anthony Tromba) James Rivers (Lisa Sloan) April Sawvel (Russell Flegal ) Social Sciences Division Jacqueline Bishop (Weixin Cheng) Elijah Davidian (Daniel Press) Samuel Dean (Jonathan Fox) Seth Fischer (Michael Urban) Kaili Gray (David Kaun) Roberto Jimenez (Dane Archer) Kim Kissler (Nancy Stoller) Allison Penner (Mara Mather ) Carolyn Swift (David Wellman) Anna Ward (Sonia Alvarez) Other Awards The following is a listing of other awards and scholarships won by UCSC students: Alumni Associations of the University of California (AAUC) Research Award Holly Day Barnett Memorial Scholarship Joseph Bunnett Research Prize Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) Mini Grant Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) Research Grant Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) James Stuart Chanley Scholarship CONCUR Grosvenor Cooper Music Scholarship Dante Essay Prize Sol & Esther Draznin Classics Endowed Scholarship Douglas Drexler Chemistry Scholarship Eltinge Scholarship Terence Freitas Award Fridley Scholarship Fulbright Grant Geoscientist's Outstanding Woman Geologist History Department Chair's Award for best essay in premodern history Hitchcock Award HUGRA (Humanities Undergraduate Research Award) S. B. & W. H. Irwin Scholarship Kretschmer Music Scholarship Kathryn Merriam Education Scholarship Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) Program National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) Scholarship Priscilla Newton Fellowship Phillips IRT Fellowship Karl S. Pister Leadership Opportunity Award (LOA) Plantronics Scholarship Porter College Music Scholarship Porter College Student of the Year Benjamin F. Porter Memorial President's Undergraduate Fellowship (PUF) Regents Scholar Ellen Renard Endowed Memorial Scholarship Roche Bioscience Undergraduate Prize Skolnick Music Scholarship Amy Beth Snader Memorial Scholarship Social Sciences Media Recognition Award I. F. Stone Award for Journalism Student Project Fund Surfrider/Skye Ksander Memorial Scholarship Laurie Switzer Memorial Music Scholarship Frank Talamantes Prize E. M. & R. M. Tanner Award Kenneth & Ann Thimann Scholarship UCSC Endowment for Classical Music UCSC Music Department String Competition & Ensembles Weber/Holt Grant J. W. T. Youngs Mathematics Prize Hortense Zuckerman Music Award Back to top Return to Front Page