By Erica Griggs
Many Cougars have recently scored points in national academic (as well as sports) arenas. The following is a list of awards received for graduate and undergraduate studies in the 1999–2000 academic year.
For the second year in a row, eight BYU students received National Science Foundation Fellowships. This year that puts BYU in a six-way tie for 24th place in the nation in the number of NSF awards received. The recipients, their fields, and their chosen graduate schools are as follows: Jeffery T. Brimhall (West Valley City, Utah), structural engineering, undecided; David E. Gammon (Provo), animal behavior, Colorado State University; Paul D. Goodman (South Jordan, Utah), biomedical engineering, BYU; Taylor J. Maxwell (Rupert, Idaho), evolutionary biology, Washington University in St. Louis; Jennifer M. Sampson (Whippany, N.J.), biomedical engineering, University of California, San Diego; Jason W. Seawright (Salt Lake City), political science, University of California, Berkeley; Scott L. Thomson (Rexburg, Idaho), mechanical engineering, Purdue University; and Jonathan W. Wittwer (Ronan, Mont.), mechanical engineering, BYU.
Other scholarship recipients include the following:
Steven K. Charles (Provo), a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, was named a Tau Beta Pi Scholar and received a $2,000 award for graduate study.
Ben B. Dunford (Snellville, Ga.), a junior majoring in information systems, received a $3,000 State Farm Company Exceptional Student Fellowship, one of 50 awarded nationally.
Leah D. Florence (Camarillo, Calif.), a senior majoring in both vocal performance and Russian, has received a Fulbright grant to study for 10 months in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is the first vocalist to study in Russia through the Fulbright program.
Paul D. Goodman, one of the NSF Fellows listed above, also received a Whitaker Foundation Fellowship, which provides $35,000 per year for three to five years. Able to accept only one of his awards, he has chosen not to accept the NSF Fellowship. (Goodman and his research were featured in the Spring 2000 issue of BYM.)
Also receiving two fellowships was Jana Scott Mathews, ’96 (Agoura Hills, Calif.), a BYU graduate in English, who accepted the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in humanities. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the fellowship pays tuition plus $15,000 per year for four years. Matthews is also an honorary Mellon Foundation Fellow. She earned an MA in Medieval English literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder and will begin PhD study at Duke University this fall.
Shad S. Morris (Riverton, Utah), a second-year master’s student in organizational behavior and international development, has received a Fulbright grant for study in Bulgaria, where he will research the effects of micro-enterprise on the economy.
C. Anton Rytting (Columbus, Ind.), a senior majoring in linguistics, was awarded a $7,000 Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship for graduate study. He will pursue a PhD in linguistics at Ohio State University.
Five BYU students received Medical Science Training Program (MSTP) Fellowships, which are awarded to students planning combined MD/PhD study. Four of the Fellows accepted their awards and will attend the following schools: Adam S. Frost (Provo), Yale University; Nathan B. Holladay (Provo), University of Texas, Southwestern; Jacob G. Robison (Pocatello, Idaho), University of Cincinnati; and Anthony S. Perry (Mapleton, Utah), Tulane University. John H. Flint (Newark, Del.) also received an MSTP fellowship but has declined it.
For the Record: BYU’s graduates made history this year – BYU history, anyway. With 4,213 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees awarded in April and 2,682 more in August, the class of 2000 is the largest graduating class in BYU’s 125 years of existence. Nearly 50 percent of April’s graduates were women.
At April commencement, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Christian Service. And alumni Jerold and JoAnn Ottley were given Presidential Citations for their many years of service with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
