Ten Students Earn Library Research Awards
The annual Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prizes were recently awarded to some of The University of Scranton’s top researchers, writers and information gatherers. Award winners were honored in the spring at a ceremony and reception inside the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library. From left: Erin Augusiewicz, honorable mention in Undergraduate Foundational; Miriam Van de Water, winner, Undergraduate Upper-Level; Myira Vilchis Bruno, winner, Undergraduate Foundational; Kiera Mooney, winner, Graduate; Jessica Tsu, winner, Graduate; and Faith Montagnino, honorable mention, Undergraduate Foundational. Not pictured: Nicolette George, Mary Kallberg, Julia LeMay and Stephanie Patullo, honorable mention, Graduate.Ten of The University of Scranton’s top student writers and researchers were recently honored with coveted Bonnie W. Oldham Library Research Prizes. Prize winners were honored May 16 at an awards ceremony and reception inside the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library.
Miriam Van de Water, a neuroscience and mathematical sciences double major, of Souderton, earned the award in the Undergraduate Upper-Level (200- to 400-level course) category. Myira Vilchis Bruno, a political science major, of Toms River, New Jersey, won at the Undergraduate Foundational (100 level) category.
Van de Water won for her honors thesis, “Examining the Outcomes of Collective Decision Making Over Time.” Van de Water’s research studied how group decisions and sociality impact population success.
Vilchis Bruno won for her paper, “Directly American.” Tasked with researching an argumentative contemporary issue related to her major, Vilchis Bruno explored the benefits of direct democracies versus representative democracies.
Additionally, Kiera Mooney, College Point, New York, and Jessica Tsu, Valley Stream, New York, won prizes in the Graduate category. Their joint project, “The Role of Gender Throughout the History of Occupational Therapy,” reported on the role of gender makeup on the occupational therapy workforce over the past century. Mooney and Tsu incorporated evidence from primary sources dating back to the 1910s to today.
Honorable mention recognition was awarded to Faith Montagnino, Morganville, New Jersey, Undergraduate Foundational; and Erin Augusiewicz, Seafood, New York, Undergraduate Foundational. Receiving Graduate honorable mention recognition were: Nicolette George, Denville, New Jersey; Mary Kallberg, Bethel, Connecticut; Julia LeMay, Flanders, New Jersey; and Stephanie Patullo, Hillsborough, New Jersey.
The Library Research Prize program was introduced in 2011, recognizing excellence in research projects that show evidence of significant knowledge of the methods of research and the information gathering process, as well as the use of library resources, services and tools. The awards were named in 2017 for Bonnie W. Oldham, Professor Emerita, who founded the prize program in 2011.
For more information, visit the prize’s webpage on scranton.edu.
