By Susan Peterson

Gazette Staff

This May, more than 250 university students from around the world will meet in Bangkok to discuss aspects of Asian development. The conference is sponsored by the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations, and Supinda Bunyavanich '99 is one of the organizers.

"In my first year at Harvard, I wanted to get involved to develop organizational skills and to interact with people from other countries," said Bunyavanich, of Quincy House.

Bunyavanich's leadership in the conference is one of the reasons she has been selected for the prestigious USA TODAY's 1997 All-USA College Academic First Team.

"It's an honor. I was very surprised," she said.

Bunyavanich will accept the $2,500 cash award in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, along with 19 other undergraduates from across the country. She was one of 1,253 students nominated by faculty members and chosen by panels of educators on the basis of their individual scholarship or intellectual endeavors, and leadership roles on and off campus.

Winning a trip to Washington is not something new to Bunyavanich, however. The Long Island, N.Y., native was a Westinghouse Science Talent Search finalist in high school.

"I got to go to D.C. and meet Vice President Gore, and it was a great experience," she said.

Bunyavanich is a concentrator in environmental science and public policy. This past summer she traveled to Chile to research an unusual desert plant with Noel Holbrook, assistant professor of biology. The two came to know each other through the Radcliffe Research Partnership Program, and it was Holbrook who nominated Bunyavanich.

"I think she's very talented," Holbrook said. "She received a Deland Award [through the Arnold Arboretum] and that helped with her travel expenses to Chile. She worked hard, had a good attitude, and we valued her contribution."

In addition to doing research in plant biology this term, Bunyavanich is a member of Project Health, a student organization and community service program at the pediatrics department at Boston City Hospital. Through Project Health, Bunyavanich is helping to organize a children's health forum under the auspices of the Institute of Politics. The forum will address the logistics of formulating a national plan for children's health care coverage and will be held at the Kennedy School of Government on April 7.