Rockefeller Center awards travel grants

Kimberly Collins, a sophomore from California, speaks Spanish and–like many Californians–has ventured to places in Mexico like Tijuana and San Miguel de Allende. But, she admits, she never quite expected to teach management skills and English this summer to staff members of a grassroots environmental organization in Bolivia with a grant from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS).

“I found my internship through Bhumi, a group on campus that helps set up internships,” said Collins, who had worked for an environmental organization back home. “But the DRCLAS grant is sure going to help a lot to make it possible.”

Along with freshmen G. Crystal Ng and Scott Rechler, Collins will intern during the summer at EcoBolivia in La Paz, Bolivia. The three are among 17 undergraduates who received a total of $15,000 to enable them to do internships throughout Latin America this summer.

Although there is a long tradition of providing research grants for Harvard students, this is the first time the David Rockefeller Center has awarded internship grants to students to work with organizations in the nonprofit sector throughout the region. In many cases, the students found their own internships through Bhumi, or other connections; DRCLAS helped other students set up internships through its own network of contacts in Latin America. Ada Anon, a DRCLAS staff member who coordinated the internship program, advised the students.

At a May 16 reception for grantees, the internship recipients mingled with another 20 undergraduates and 23 graduate students who received DRCLAS summer research travel grants. Research travel grants, now in their sixth year, totaled $83,000 this year.

In total, 60 Harvard undergraduate and graduate students will be traveling to 15 different countries in Latin America this summer with DRCLAS funding. Brazil is the most popular destination, with 11 students, followed by six each to Cuba and Mexico, five to Argentina, and four each to Costa Rica and Venezuela. Other destinations include Honduras, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Peru, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and for the first time, South Africa.

The David Rockefeller Center has also awarded seven Mellon Summer Travel Grants for 2000-01. Mellon Summer Field Research Grants, established through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, allow graduate students in Latin American history to pursue fieldwork related to preliminary dissertation research. In some cases, the Mellon grant serves to supplement a DRCLAS travel grant.

The David Rockefeller Center grant recipients are:

Internship Grant Recipients

Kimberly Collins ’02, Benjamin Cowan ’01, Rachelle Gould ’03, Jessica Greenberg ’01, Vinay Kumar ’00, Gordon McCord ’02, Shannon Music ’03,

G. Crystal Ng ’03, Reema Rajbanshi ’03, Scott Rechler ’03, Julie Rosenberg ’03, Ellen Schneider ’01, Marie Scott ’02, David Segrera ’01, E. Nikia Singleton ’01, Joel Walsh ’02, and Timothy Warren ’01.

Research Grant Recipients

Undergraduates (all juniors except where noted)

Suzanne Besu, Eduardo Domínguez, Katherine Flanagan-Hyde, Ashley Forde, Megan Frederickson, Jacqueline Hamm, Lucia Henderson, Angie Heo, Parinaz Kermani, Dona Kim, Kristine Koren, Arthur Koski-Karell ’00, Jonathan Lavy, Marcus Lehman ’00, Jennifer Liu, Jose Alejandro Longoria, Maria Rivera, Giselle Sotelo, Elizabeth Walker, and Camilo Zaks.

Graduate/Professional School Students

Gabriel Aguilera, Allison Alonso, Isaac Campos, Amilcar Challu, Geoffrey Davis, Oliver Dinius, Carrie Endries, Jose Falconi, Amy Farber, Cassis Henry, Magda Hinojosa, Heather Kun, Aaron Navarro, Kathleen O’Connor, Carmen Oquendo-Villar, Caroline Parker, Marco Pérez, Lynn Ramírez, Anadelia Romo, Hillel Soifer, Bryan Spencer, Chris Tirres, and Eduardo Villamor.

Mellon Summer Travel Grants

Amilcar Challu, Brian Delay, Oliver Dinius, Carrie Endries, Daniel Gutierrez, Aaron Navarro, and Anadelia Romo.