Three Jefferson Scholars receive Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards
The Center for Undergraduate Excellence at U.Va. has announced the names of 46 undergraduate students selected to receive a Harrison Undergraduate Research Award. Among this year’s recipients are three Jefferson Scholars, Daniel Ajootian, Diogo Fortes, and Jack Wilkins. They will receive up to $4,000 and an opportunity to work under the guidance of a U.Va. faculty member on a major research project.
Daniel Ajootian, the Rhode Island Jefferson Scholar, will research the antebellum writings of Alexis de Tocqueville and Charles Sumner to understand the disconnection between their praise of American liberty as a value worthy of adoption abroad and their doubts of the ability for Americans to honor liberty in the practical politics of emancipation.
Diogo Fortes, the William C. Lickle Jefferson Scholar, will research the hormone oxytocin, which has known effects on social behavior and which is thought to be mediated by its ability to increase the salience of social stimuli.
Jack Wilkins, the William A. McClung Memorial Jefferson Scholar, will research how Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat, won a landslide re-election in the rural 17th District of Illinois, a district Donald Trump decisively won in 2016.
Read the UVA Today announcement to learn about the 2018 recipients here.
