Recipients - 2008


Kyle Halle-Erby,  a sophomore,  plans to work with his personal friend and mentor, Professor Beverly Bickel, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, on digital story telling.  He will be assisting her in building the curriculum for her class, Digital Stories@UMBC, which is conducted online with schools in Cuba, and other Latin American countries.  This experience of photography, video, anti-racism, Spanish language and culture will hopefully help Kyle develop his senior honors thesis.

Jesslyn Jamison, is a sophomore double majoring in American Studies and Community Health. Her Ted Shapiro project will take place in Wellington, New Zealand, at the Ministry of Health, working with the Maori Health directorate. The Maori indigenous population has a life expectancy ten years lower than the white population and Jesslyn hopes to contribute to the research that is ongoing on this disparity and other related issues. 

Jenny Lau, a sophomore American Studies major, is very interested in evaluating the asthma education initiative at the Floating Hospital for Children, the full-service children's hospital of Tufts Medical Center and the principal teaching hospital of Tufts University School of Medicine.  She hopes to combine her work at the clinic with learning more about the Chinatown community where Floating Hospital is located in downtown Boston.  Her ultimate goal is to become a pediatrician and work in an urban, minority community, focusing on Asian American health.

Kimberly Moynihan, a junior in American Studies, hopes to produce a documentary film profiling the Tufts athlete.  Her specific area would be the Division III athlete, which, as a member of the very successful Tufts women’s basketball team which was selected for the first time to play in the NCAA Tournament, Kimberly already has a firm understanding of what it means to be a Jumbo athlete. 

Morissa Sobelson, a junior majoring in Community Health and American Studies, who already has an impressive background in the field of public health, will use her experience for her Ted Shapiro project of researching the history and contemporary relevance of the community health movement in Boston, which will result in a research paper.  She hopes her findings will provide the basis for her senior honors thesis next year.

Emily Stone, presently a junior studying this semester in Chile, is a double major in American Studies and Community Health. She will use her Ted Shapiro award to discover the social attitudes towards AIDS potentially through socioeconomic status and race by the gay community by interviewing gay individuals in San Francisco.She has also made arrangements to work with public health groups who are trying to develop prevention and treatment programs.  Emily hopes to publish the results of this research in a newspaper, magazine or journal.  

Brittney Taylor is a junior majoring in American Studies.  She plans to use her Ted Shapiro to look at the news, sports and certain television series that depict a negative black image. She also wants to add an art component that she will create herself. This will take place in Mount Vernon, NY, and NYC.  The final product will be a series of artworks based on the black image in television media and a written piece on her art and how it represents her conclusions about black idols and black enemies in television media.

Lily Zhang, a sophomore majoring in Sociology and American Studies, is presently interning at the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) in Boston’s Chinatown.  She hopes to study Asian Americans in urban areas and conduct extensive research on how nonprofits impact their life.  This summer’s investigation will add greatly to her senior thesis on a similar topic.