Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity
Meet our 2011-2012 Early Identification Program Presidential Scholars!
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Fawziah H. Al-Hlaly
Faculty Mentor: Professor Terri
L. DeYoung
I am a senior in Near Eastern Language and Civilization,
andI will graduate in 2012. I transferred from Seattle
Central Community College after receiving an Associated of
Arts degree (AA). During the 2011-2012 academic year I will
conduct research for my honor’s thesis, which is titled
“Poetry of Rafidin Valley in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries”, with the subtitle, “Iraqi Poetry from al-Rusafi
(1875-1945) to al-Jawahiri (1899-1997)”. I will present my
findings at the undergraduate symposium. I will then apply
to a Master’s program after that pursue my Ph.D. in the
same field.
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Alexander Catchings
Faculty Mentor:
Professor Sonnet Retman
Alex Catchings is an English major who wants to navigate
the antonymous literary space between the terms "slavery"
and "humor." After years of reading history books on
slavery, he wants to see how fiction can confound
traditional representations of slavery, and whether such
confounding can be productive. His current research focuses
on the intersections between pastiche, neo-slave narrative,
and rote history. He is reading several novels addressing
slavery penned in the latter 20th century (neo-slave
narratives). Some of the novels will be straightforward
re-renderings of the slave narrative form tinged with
satiric points, and others could be deemed gut-bustingly
politically incorrect. Upon completing his reading, he
will extract passages from said novels, sift through
literary archives to glean how the authors incorporate
history in their historical fiction, and attempt to magnify
how the authors use the discomfort (and other surprisingly
paralleling responses) of the "politically incorrect" to
manipulate readers' gazes from traditional renderings of
slavery. Alex hopes to unearth valuable knowledge that can
be used in the field, but also that he can utilize as a
creative writer. He is grateful to support his research
with the EIP Presidential scholarship. Aside from writing,
Alex enjoys composing, producing, performing and partaking
in music (folk, jazz, pop, and opera can be indiscriminately
applied to any of the preceding verbs). He is particularly
inspired by his supportive family as well as his phenomenal
research mentors, Professors Sonnet Retman and Habiba
Ibrahim. Alex would like to earn his Ph.D. in English and
become a professor and community activist. He attributes
the good fortune of the EIP Presidential scholarship as a
direct effect of all the positive role models in his life,
and intends to pay their actions forward by encouraging
young people in underprivileged communities to identify
their passions, tap into their curiosity, and pursue higher
education.
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Alma Emadi
Faculty Mentor:
Professor Magnus Feil
Alma comes from a very diverse background. She has lived in
many cities ranging from Tehran, Iran to Orange County,
California, and of course Seattle. Alma is a senior double
majoring in Industrial Engineering and Mathematics. Although
she has senior standing, she will be starting her third year
of college in Autumn 2011. She is planning to spend her
third year exploring her interests in regard to her graduate
studies through conducting research and independent studies.
She is passionate about human-centered design and hopes to
pursuit a PhD in Engineering Design, but is still deciding
between small-scale design such as product design or
large-scale design such as Systems Design. While taking a
full coarse load, Alma spent her first three quarters at the
University of Washington conducting research at the Boeing
Company first in route optimization for delivery employees
and then in decision analysis. The result of her later work,
labeled “A Decision Analysis Matrix for Trade Studies”, was
published and presented in the POMS 2011 annual Conference
in Reno, NV. She conducted a research project this summer
(2011) at University of Washington Medical Center in regard
to utilization of industrial engineering techniques for
increasing efficiency in the Health Care Systems. In
addition to her plans for working in the Industry after
attaining a PhD, she has aspirations for teaching part-time
at a community college to inspire more students in realizing
the value of a higher education.
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Vicky Herrera
Faculty Mentor:
Professor Horatio de la Iglesia
Vicky is a senior majoring in Biochemistry with a minor In
Chemistry. For almost a year, she has been thrilled every
day to be contributing to scientific discovery. She works in
the Horacio de la Iglesia Laboratory, which focuses on the
pathways, molecular and neural, by which the central nervous
system uses to control the timing of behavior and
physiology. She started in the laboratory through the Amgen
Scholars Program, and continued working in the lab as a Mary
Gates Research Scholar. And this year was named a McNair
Scholar. She is also currently a Jeffrey Brotman Diversity
Scholar. She is working on establishing how
desynchronization of SCN neurons and the associated
disruption of sleep stages affect memory consolidation. Her
experiments will provide mechanistic insight into how
disrupted sleep architecture interferes with memory
consolidation. This research is significant for people with
abnormal sleeping behavior, such as, truck drivers, and
people who work night shifts. She loves sharing her work
at local and national conferences throughout the year. Last
summer she has was selected to conduct research in the
University of Valencia in Spain as part of the Minority
Health International Research Program (MHIRT) program. Her
research in Spain involved neural stem cell proliferation.
Vicky’s research is currently being supported by the EIP
Presidential Scholarship. Apart from her studies, Vickyis a
part of Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and Louis
Strokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), as well
as being a Undergraduate Research Leader (URL). She is also
the founder of the University of Washington in Bothell’s
Pre-Health Society.
Vicky is a first generation college student who comes from a
family of migrant workers. She hopes to continue conducting
research in neuroscience and earn her PhD and teach a class
full of students. Her interests include hiking, reading and
being outdoors. Vicky is very thankful to receive support
from EIP and the McNair Scholars Program.
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Marvin Nayan
Faculty Mentor:
Professor Jay Parrish
Marvin Nayan is a junior majoring in Biochemistry who seeks
to unravel the mysteries of the nervous system. His current
research focuses on identifying and characterizing genetic
factors that regulate nervous system development. Marvin is
especially interested in dendrites, which are branched
projections of a neuron that function to receive information
from its surroundings. This is important because optimal
neuronal function depends on proper spatial arrangement of
the neuron’s dendritic arbor. Due to the importance of
dendrite patterning to nervous system function, dendrite
abnormalities have been linked to neurological diseases such
as Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s
disease. Currently, little is known on how neurons maintain
proper dendrite morphology. Marvin hopes his research will
lead to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of many
mental disorders. Since freshman year, Marvin has been
engaged in research at the Parrish Laboratory. He was hooked
on the nervous system the moment he imaged his first image
of a sensory neuron. Marvin was particularly impressed by
the sheer complexity of the neuron’s branching pattern. At
that moment, Marvin became determined to investigate the
genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible in regulating
dendrite branching. Marvin’s research has guided him to be
recognized as a Mary Gates Research Scholar, EOP Scholar,
and recently, a Levinson Emerging Scholar. Marvin also
participated in the UW-HHMI Integrative Research Internship
program, as well as the Biology Fellows program. Marvin is
very thankful the EIP Presidential Scholarship is supporting
his research. When not in the lab, Marvin enjoys playing
basketball and loves to run. Marvin intends to continue his
research in graduate school and plans to pursue a career in
academia.
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For further information related to Presidential and
Boeing Scholarships please click theses links:
Presidential Scholarship Information
Boeing Scholarship Information
Presidential and Boeing Scholars : Proposal Update
Presidential and Boeing Scholar Contract
Presidential and Boeing Scholar Timelines
(Approximate)
2010-2011 Presidential Scholars
2009-2010 Presidential Scholars
2008-2009 Presidential Scholars
2007-2008 Presidential Scholars
2006-2007 Presidential Scholars
2005-2006 Presidential Scholars
2004-2005 Presidential Scholars
2003-2004 Presidential Scholars
2002-2003 Presidential Scholars
2001-2002 Presidential Scholars
2000-2001 Presidential Scholars
1999-2000 Presidential Scholars
2010-2011 Presidential Scholars
2009-2010 Presidential Scholars
2008-2009Boeing/OMA Scholars
2007-2008 Boeing/OMA Scholars
2006-2007 Boeing/OMA Scholars
2005-2006 Boeing/OMA Scholars
2004-2005 Boeing/OMA Scholars
Contact us today!
EIP is sponsored by The
Office of Minority Affairs.
Early Identification Program
173G Mary Gates Hall - Box 352803
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195-5845
206-543-6460
eip@u.washington.edu
