2022 Chancellor’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony honors 149 outstanding UW–Madison students

The 2022 Chancellor’s Undergraduate Awards Ceremony on May 2 honored 149 students for their academic excellence, public service, and undergraduate research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Recipients of four campus-wide awards and seven national scholarships were recognized.

“I want to congratulate these extraordinary students,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in her remarks. “Their commitment to the Wisconsin Idea — our mission to bring knowledge and discoveries out into the world, where they can make people’s lives better – has inspired us all.”

This year’s event marked a return to an in-person gathering following two years of virtual ceremonies due to COVID-19.

A total of 107 students received Wisconsin Hilldale Undergraduate/Faculty Research Fellowships, which support undergraduate research done in collaboration with a faculty or staff member. To help offset research costs, the student receives $3,000 and the faculty or staff member $1,000.

Award-winners will take on research in areas ranging from biochemistry and neurobiology to psychology and music. A few examples of the ambitious projects:

• “Fairness in Optimization Modeling of Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation for the State of Wisconsin” (student Binhao Chen; faculty advisor Michael Ferris)
• “Exploring Fire Tolerance of Wisconsin’s Southern Hardwoods: Providing Philosophy Insight into Oak Savanna Restoration” (student Ava Copple; faculty advisor Kate McCulloh)
• “An Elusive Jim Crow: Toward a New Theory of Civil Disobedience in the 21st Century” (student Andrew Santamarina/faculty advisor Harry Brighouse)
• “Investigation into Histone Binding of PHD5 Domain in Methyltransferase NSD2 Protein” (student Sara Slager/faculty advisor John Denu)

Additionally, 27 students were awarded Sophomore Research Fellowships.

Four students — Faith Koester, Elle Krellwitz, Melissa Langkilde and Madalyn Laskowski — received Carleton and Mary Beth Holstrom Environmental Scholarships.

Two seniors, Tamia Fowlkes and Tanner Oyen, received Theodore Herfurth and Teddy Kubly Awards for Comprehensive Undergraduate Excellence.

The ceremony honored recipients of many national honors:

• Dawry Ruiz (Truman Scholarship)
• Lydia Nyachieo (Marshall Scholarship)
• Sarah Fahlberg, Elias Kemna, Samuel Neuman and Lucille Steffes (Goldwater Scholarship)
• Angela Maloney (finalist, Truman Scholarship)
• Hawra Aljawad and Qianyun (Lexi) Luo (finalists, Rhodes Scholarship)

View a full list of this year’s award recipients.