Academics: Only at Duke: Students in Special Programs

BALDWIN SCHOLARS (Learn more)

Claire Lauterbach '08, from Arlington, Virginia, spent much of her childhood and adolescence in Africa, where she grew up speaking and writing both French and English. As the daughter of a Foreign Service officer, she has also lived in the former Yugoslavia, Guinea, Benin, Botswana, and Nigeria. During high school, she became interested in international issues: "During senior year, my high school sponsored my independent research project on the sociopolitical effects of religion in West Africa. My interest in interdisciplinary research was a contributing factor to my receiving a University Scholarship from Duke. At Duke, I am contemplating majors in international comparative studies and political science. I envision a career in international humanitarian law or with a non-governmental organization focused on human rights—due in part to my experience with the Humanitarian Challenges FOCUS program (which I highly recommend)." During her free time, she practices Tae Kwon Do and serves as the Duke club's treasurer. She also is working with a group of FOCUS alums to create an undergraduate journal for discourse about human rights issues.

Aria Branch ’09, from Chesapeake, Virginia, plans to double major in political science and African and African-American studies. She says she wanted to become a Baldwin Scholar because of her grounded sense of self and her belief in the power of women to change the world.

“I wanted to be around 17 other women who have a similar vision and who want to bring about change in the fabric of Duke’s society and the larger world,” she explains. “I am a scholar, a feminist, an advocate for human rights, an activist, and a writer. But beyond all of these labels, I am committed to a vision that is responsive to the very world we live in, which will involve taking risks in order to bring about changes. And I know that this can be done.”

Aria’s passion for social justice energizes her work on campus and her relationships with other people. As a columnist for The Chronicle, Aria serves as a voice for female empowerment and an advocate for activism. In addition, she is a mentor in the Future Is Now program, where she regularly spends time with a young girl in the Durham area.

THE FOCUS PROGRAM (Learn more)

As first-year students, Lissett Babaian ’07, from Manhasset, New York, and Sally Ong ’07, from Johor, Malaysia, took Focus Program courses that sparked a profound commitment to social justice and human rights. Through the Forging Social Ideals program, Lissett was introduced to the importance of service as a part of learning, and through the Humanitarian Challenges at Home and Abroad program, Sally broadened her perceptions of morality and social inequality.

Both students went on to participate in Duke’s service-learning house course and became facilitators for LEAPS, a student-run organization that works with faculty members to create service-learning courses. And both expanded their passion for service to people in other countries.

When Lissett traveled in Bolivia, her eyes were opened to social injustices she wasn’t aware existed. She began to explore the possibility of service learning through Duke’s Study Abroad program as a way to integrate her commitment to address injustice and her passion for service learning. With research funding, she was able to focus on service learning in the Duke in the Andes program.

Sally, a self-described activist for human rights and health care, serves as the director of international outreach for Unite for Sight, a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate preventable blindness in 25 countries. She has prescribed eyeglasses, participated in cataract surgery camps, and implemented eye health education programs in Tanzania and China.

Lissett and Sally have melded their ideals and their commitment to form SEE! the World, a program that promotes international service-learning opportunities and, in turn, challenges each participant’s values and priorities. After studying and serving abroad, participants enroll in a house course at Duke that links the service abroad experiences with relevant issues in the world. And to compare and contrast experiences abroad and locally, participants continue their service commitment in the Durham area. Learn more about SEE! the World.

INSTITUTE FOR GENOME SCIENCES & POLICY (Learn more)

Joseph Reardon ‘09, from Kansas City, Missouri, was a summer fellow at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi to research the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Joseph’s interest grew from his intense first-year exposure to genomics through Duke’s Focus Program on the Genome Revolution. “I helped to initiate a new project in Dr. Chi’s laboratory that discovered a very specific pattern of small RNA (microRNA) sequence uptake from red blood cells by the malaria parasite,” he says. Joseph formed collaboration between Dr. Chi’s laboratory and the pharmacology laboratory of Dr.Timothy Haystead, where he had worked as a laboratory assistant in 2005-2006, so that the researchers could learn the necessary techniques to culture the malaria parasite. “I found that the malaria parasite takes up a large amount of certain microRNA sequences from red blood cells at certain stages during its life cycle,” he says. “This work has been the foundation for functional studies to determine whether this microRNA can be used to change infection severity. Since malaria has been declared by the World Health Organization as one of the ‘Big Three’ world health threats and infects nearly 500 million people annually, malaria research is critical to advancing the progress of diagnostics and therapies.” Joseph plans to continue this work when he returns from his fall semester abroad with the Duke in Costa Rica Tropical Biology Program.

UNIVERSITY SCHOLARS (Learn more)

Aleksandr Andreev '08, was born in Riga, Latvia and came to the United States in 1995. He attended an International Baccalaureate high school in Littleton, Colorado, where he was the head of the Russian department of the Foreign Language Club, the co-president of the Math Club and math tutor, and served as the director of fundraising and public relations for IB Students vs. Landmines. Aleksandr also co-founded a Web design company and taught himself New Testament Greek in his spare time. He is passionate about international diplomacy and politics, theological differences between East and West, and events in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. At Duke, he is interested in studying math, economics, French and classical languages.

Kellyann Jones '07 attended Riverdale Country School in Bronx, New York. Kellyann has been involved in the Physician-Scientist Training Program throughout her four years of high school, which permitted her to intern in the Laboratory of Host Defense at the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Transplant Surgery at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and at the FELS Institute of Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Temple University. Kellyann was also involved with fundraising for the Lost Boys, a group of Sudanese refugees relocated to the U.S., and UBUNTU, a group that promotes AIDS education and awareness in South Africa. At Duke, Kellyann plans to study biology and Spanish, with a focus on Latin American studies, and she is pursuing a certificate in health policy. Eventually, she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in molecular biology and become involved in health care and health policy.

PRATT RESEARCH FELLOWS (Learn more)

Vinh Nguyen ‘06, from Mansfield, Massachusetts, has always been interested in computers. An introductory engineering physics class sparked his interest in electromagnetics, and Vinh decided to double major in electrical and computer engineering and computer science. “While most fields of engineering are related in some way to computer science, the field of electromagnetics relies pretty strongly on computer science models that simulate the study and manipulation of electromagnetic waves,” he says. As a Pratt Undergraduate Research Fellow, Vinh spent three semesters and a summer working with Professor Gary Ybarra and his team to develop microwave imaging for breast cancer detection. Microwave imaging uses an array of signals and offers several advantages, both to the patient and the diagnostician. It eliminates ionizing radiation and the need for breast compression, while it provides a much higher level of contrast between healthy and cancerous tissue than in more prevalent mammography methods. As a result, tumors can be detected more easily in the earliest stages. The research team is optimistic that the new imaging system will be an economical, beneficial alternative to existing mammography. Vinh, who now is studying electromagnetics in graduate school at Duke, hopes to be able to apply the developing technology of electromagnetic metamaterials in industry.