Pomona Today: Sagehen Honors

As the academic year winds down, Pomona students win two Watsons, one Mellon and three Goldwaters...

Images of "Chinatowns" around the world and folk medicine in Central and South America are the topics of study of two Pomona students who have received the prestigious Watson Fellowship for a year of independent exploration and travel outside the United States.

In addition, a Pomona student has won an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanistic Studies, and three Pomona students have received Goldwater scholarships.

Tony Tiu '04 and Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez '04 are recipients of one-year Watson grants. The award is given each year to 50 seniors from across the country. Each fellow is awarded $22,000 for the year of travel and study.

Tiu will document in story and photos the Chinese immigrant experience in Germany, Spain, France, Peru, South Africa and Australia in a project titled "Chinatown Around the World: Chinese Diaspora Through Stories and Photographs." Wong-Hernandez will investigate folk medicine in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for her project, titled "Needing to Know: An Exploration of Curanderas, Fear and My Grandmother."

Jennifer Nado '04 is the recipient of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanistic Studies. The award includes tuition and fees for first year Ph.D. program studies at a graduate school and a $17,500 stipend. She is one of 85 recipients chosen from about 800 applicants.

In the fall, Nado will attend Rutgers University, where she will begin her work towards a Ph.D. in philosophy with a certificate in cognitive science. Her eventual goal is to teach philosophy at the university level. A philosophy major at Pomona, Nado is interested in philosophy of mind, including topics such as how consciousness fits in with a scientific picture of the world, how we know that other people are conscious and how to make sense of the ways in which the brain extracts and makes use of information from its environment.

Three sophomores--William Jeck, Kyle Lancaster and Alice Waldron--are recipients of the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2004-2005 academic year.

The scholarship program honoring Senator Barry M. Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Pomona's Goldwater Scholars are all preparing for careers in the sciences and plan to earn a Ph.D. in their fields. Jeck, a mathematics major from North Carolina, is working toward a career conducting research in the academic realm or in industry. Lancaster, a molecular biology major from California, wants to teach at a small, liberal arts college. Waldron, a geology major from Illinois, plans to conduct research in the area of geology applicable to some form of environmental management.

The award covers the cost of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.