“Working in the lab can sometimes be like trying to catch a black cat in a dark room,” says Nata Dudkina (above), a biochemistry major and native of Azerbaijan who’s worked in Professor Severin Schneebeli’s lab since her junior year. Alongside undergraduate and graduate students, Dudkina investigated the properties of “the chemistry beyond the bond,” a relatively new field called supramolecular chemistry, building new, interesting molecular structures. Because of her experience in the lab, Dudkina applied to chemistry Ph.D. programs and will attend Yale in the fall. “My research involvement in Professor Schneebeli’s group has been a life-changing experience, and that’s not an exaggeration. I’ve never felt as intellectually involved as I am right now.” Watch Nata discuss her UVM experience.
Honors College student Alaina Hendrickson (left), originally from Huntington, Vermont, knows UVM’s Fleming Museum from the inside out. There, the art history and French double major completed two internships with curatorial staff. “First, I researched the museum’s Chinese dragon robes for the current Asian art exhibition,” she says; next, she assisted curator Andrea Rosen in research for an upcoming exhibition, The Impossible Ideal: Victorian Fashion and Femininity, opening Fall 2018. She’ll attend American University in Washington, D.C. for her master of arts in art history.
Tilden Remerleitch’s honors thesis project couldn’t have been in a more of-the-moment format: she produced a podcast. The six episodes feature stories of refugee resettlement in the state. “I just hope people can listen and find ways to connect,” says Remerleitch. Assisting Professor Pablo Bose in refugee resettlement research “made me curious about the people behind the statistics and maps,” she says. The geography major honed her skills with internships, ethnographic research projects, and a study abroad in China, thanks to winning a nationally competitive Critical Language Scholarship and a Boren Scholarship. Where in the world to next? The Guilford, Vermont native is going to Ecuador for mapping and ethnographic research with an NGO that works on issues related to environmentally induced displacement. Listen to her podcast, “Grounded.”
Warrick Sahene (below left) is on the fast track: soon after graduation, he’ll work toward earning his accelerated master’s in pharmacology at UVM (he’s already started taking graduate-level courses), and eventually plans to apply to medical school. The neuroscience major did research with Professor Jom Hammack, examining how exercise and stress work in specific areas of the brain. “It’s helped me understand a problem-solving approach to clinical problems,” Sahene says. A New Jersey native, Sahene dove into student life, including as VP of the Boulder Society, a senior career peer mentor, and as president of the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students. Read more about the research of Sahene and fellow undergraduates.
“I’m inspired by the healthcare system,” says Honors College student Caleb Winn. He quickly clarifies, “I’m inspired by the opportunities for change in the healthcare system.” Winn, a native of Natick, Mass., will stay in the area, working as an analyst for a private healthcare consulting firm, where he also completed an internship. “For an employer to get to know you, that’s the best resume you can have.” Eventually, the neuroscience major hopes to complete Fulbright research in Rwanda on improving patient compliance, or the degree to which patients follow medical advice. While at UVM, Winn founded “The Natural Philosopher,” a science news journal aimed at making research approachable for fellow undergrads. Listen to Caleb discuss his senior thesis on WBUR’s “On Point.”
“I drink lots of black tea, have lived in two countries and four states, foster dogs, envy people who are good at gardening and can crack an egg with one hand" says Roisin Todd, recounting some of her lesser known life skills. In her typcial self-effacing way, she left out the parts about outstanding academic achievement. An anthropology major, Todd received the department's George Henry Perkins Award and shared the CAS Hannah Howard Prize for Oustanding Achievement in the College of Arts and Sciences. “When she speak and writes, one is struck by the joy with which she engages with scholarly ideas and cultural worlds,” said Anthropology professor Jeanne Shea. Read more about Todd's UVM experience in a story writeen by Izzy Siedman.
Photos in this story by Josh Brown, Chris Dissinger, Andy Duback, Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist, and Sally McCay.