Rockefeller Center awards nearly 100 grants

The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) has awarded 58 research grants and 39 internship grants to Harvard undergraduate and graduate students. Research and internship grant recipients, which include students from 16 different concentrations in Harvard College and seven graduate and professional schools, will spend the summer conducting research and working in a variety of public, private, and independent-sector internships throughout Latin America and the United States.

At an award ceremony and reception held at the Center on Wednesday, May 16, grant recipients had the opportunity to meet one another and hear more about their summer destinations from faculty and from the Center’s Visiting Scholars, who come from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

The following is a list of the undergraduate 2001 DRCLAS Summer Internship Grant recipients:

Leah Aylward, an environmental and social public policy concentrator, will intern for the Foundation of Sustainable Development in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Jessica Berwick will intern with Partners in Health, helping to curb the spread of tuberculosis in Lima, Peru.

Rachel Bloomekatz, a sociology concentrator, will work on community development with Semillero de Frutos in Mexico.

Yael Braunschweig will work on developing the “Adopta un Hermano” program in Chile.

Abigail Bucuvalas, a psychology major, will collaborate with IPODERAC while immersed in Mexican culture in Puebla, Mexico.

Laura Coltin, a psychology major, will be working at the Consulate of Mexico in Boston under the supervision of Consul Carlos Rico.

Caitlin Costello, a concentrator in biology, will work in the medical field and experience another culture firsthand in Chile.

Michael James Faison, a government major, will provide English literacy training to those living in remote areas of Costa Rica.

Anna Falicov, an urban studies major, will work in the farm area of Raleigh, N.C., doing migrant farmer health outreach.

Jesus Garcia, an economics and applied mathematics concentrator, will perform economic analyses of the Mexican economy and stock market at one of Mexico’s investment banks, Vector in Monterrey.

Ellen Haddock, a government major, will intern in the consular division of the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile.

Ingrid Liff, a biology and visual and environmental studies concentrator, will live in Puebla, Mexico, and assist Jose Antonio Barcena at Hospital Guadalupe.

Carla Moore, a literature and art history concentrator, will work with a nonprofit community health organization in Barahona, Dominican Republic.

Charlene Music, visual and environmental studies major, will work on environmental education projects at the Palo Verde Biological Station in Costa Rica.

Shannon Music, a psychology major, will intern with BRASCRI, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to improving the conditions of poor children in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Jonathan Newton, a government concentrator, will teach English to 7th- through 9th-graders in a rural public school in Costa Rica.

Scott Rechler, an anthropology student, will work in Chile on a community development program focusing on education.

Julie Rosenberg, anthropology major, will participate in an anthropological inquiry into the factors that enabled Peruvian patients with multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis to complete treatment with Socios en Salud, an organization in Peru.

Timothy Ruttan, a government major, will work with a community health NGO in Mexico, focusing on rural health education, outreach, and service delivery.

Patricio Sampayo, economics, will work in Mexico and learn about international economics.

Kimberly Sanchez, biological anthropology, will work in Peru with IDL, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and safeguarding of human rights.

Brittny-Jade Saunders, a sociology student, will teach English as part of the Costa Rican Ministry of Education’s “telesecundaria” project.

Julia Sheketoff, economics and applied mathematics, will work on children advocacy programs at IPODERAC in Puebla, Mexico.

Denis Schweder, government, will intern with a provincial government in Argentina and will work with the governor in the areas of economics, education, and health.

Payson Schwin, social studies, will work in Mexico at El Universal, a prestigious Mexican newspaper.

Carla Seidl, folklore and mythology, will teach English as a second language to researchers and community members on the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

David Sylva, literature, will intern at Mexico’s oldest daily newspaper, while honing reporting skills writing about marginal social groups in Mexico.

Viviany Taqueti, biochemical sciences, will volunteer with Fundacao Esperanca as both a medical translator and assistant at its nonprofit clinic in Northern Brazil while researching how health issues are addressed within the culture and resources of this Amazon region.

Frances Tilney, government, will intern for Prolena, an environmental organization in Nicaragua.

Miriam Udler, applied mathematics, will volunteer for World Teach in Costa Rica.

Lorrayne Ward, social studies, will work at Vector’s investment bank in the Puebla, Mexico, branch to learn about international business.

Taylor West, economics, will work on business research with the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

The following is a list of the graduate student recipients:

Laura Gottlieb, School of Medicine, will document the changing role of “comadronas” in San Juan, Guatemala.

Luis Hernandez, Divinity School, will serve in the Office of Migration under the supervision of Gustavo Mohar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mexico.

Aaron Kuzin, School of Medicine, will research early detection and prevention of upper respiratory infections in infants in conjunction with a Brazilian NGO, CEPAS.

Rebecca Locke, School of Medicine, will investigate the impact of sterilization campaigns on women’s reproductive health in Carabayllo, Peru.

Shawn Malone, School of Government, will intern with the Conselho da Comunidade Solidaria, a government-NGO alliance addressing poverty and marginalization in Brazil.

Claudia Pineda, School of Education, will assess the impact of the Program for Young Negotiators in several Argentine schools. Pineda will conduct interviews with students, teachers, and administrators who participated in the program training.

Lorelei Williams, School of Government, will work in the cultural development Program with Grupo Cultural Baguncaco in Brazil.

The following is a list of the undergraduate 2001 DRCLAS Summer Research Grant recipients and their research projects:

Lauren Baer, social studies (Guatemala): Indigenous women’s perceptions of knowledge to broaden feminist discourse on women’s ways of knowing.

Benton Bodamer, anthropology (Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico): Comparative analysis and recording of Mesoamerican frog shrines and excavation of one such shrine in Copan, Honduras.

Elena Chavez, social studies (Mexico): The commercialization of chocolate processing in Oaxaca and how this affects women’s roles.

Katherine Currie, social studies (Argentina): The development of the collective memory of the Dirty War through content analysis of periodicals.

William Fash, anthropology (Honduras): Investigation of the social context of converging medical systems in Latin America.

Francisco Flores, social studies (Mexico): The links between the regional disparities in economic development and democratization in Mexico.

Juan Carlos Gabarro, anthropology (Cuba): State mediation of visual forms of expression in Cuba and the internationalization of Cuban art.

Mary Gates, anthropology (Honduras): The changing social experience and position of women due to tourism.

Andrew Klein, government (Cuba): The effects of the economic reforms of Cuba in 1993.

Kimberly Levy, government (Jamaica): The Americanization of post-independence Jamaica: assessing the impact of economic integration on Jamaican patterns.

Min Katrina Lieskovsky, biological sciences (Mexico): Pre-thesis research in ethnobotany.

Gordon McCord, economics (Peru): The geographical obstacles to trade in the Peruvian economy.

James Meeks, social studies (Chile): Examining Chile’s market diversification policy reforms under the Pinochet regime.

Carla Moore, history and literature (Argentina): Indigenous traditions as seen in Argentine museum culture.

Patrick Noble, folklore and mythology (Cuba): Contemporary Cuba through the lens of popular music beginning in 1990.

Suzannah Phillips, anthropology (Bolivia): Motives behind the racialization of the “campesino,” and the sociopolitical consequences.

Paul Ramirez, study of religion (Mexico): Ethnographic research in Mexico to study Miztec religious syncretism in festivals for patron saints.

Robinson Ramirez, history (Panama, Colombia): Americanization and its effect on social protest in Colombia and Panama, 1945 through 1964.

Payson Schwin, social studies (Mexico): Why environmentally concerned citizens have not shaped policy in Mexico.

The following is a list of the graduate recipients and their research projects:

Jodie Abbatangelo, School of Public Health (Cuba): An examination of the health care reform climate during the Castro takeover of 1959: planning process, implementation, and effect.

Gabriel Aguilera, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) (Venezuela): The political economy of financial sector reforms in Latin America.

Eduardo Borquez, School of Medicine (Ecuador): The application of a rapid and inexpensive method for identifying multi-drug- resistant strains of tuberculosis.

Isaac Campos, GSAS (Mexico): The rise of prohibitionist ideas about drugs in Mexico.

Amilcar Challu, GSAS (Mexico, Argentina): Study of economic instability, standards of living, and social welfare in Mexico and Argentina, 1800-1900.

Julie Chen, School of Medicine (Costa Rica): Study of the association between patient gender and antibiotics treatment for acute otitis media in Costa Rica.

Brian Delay, GSAS (Mexico): The influence of Indians on U.S.-Mexican relations, 1836 through 1854.

Charlene Desir, School of Education (Haiti): The everyday school and political life of students in Haiti before migrating to the United States.

Carrie Endries, GSAS (Brazil): The impact of women exiles on the Brazilian women’s movement.

Daniel Fabrega, School of Design (Cuba): Waterfront development and preservation of the Malecon of Havana.

Greg Goering, Divinity School (Cuba): Contemporary Jewish identity formation in the revival of Judaism in Castro’s communist Cuba.

Sara Goldhaber-Fiebert, School of Medicine (Costa Rica): Diet and exercise intervention to decrease complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Grecia, Costa Rica.

Daniel Gutierrez, GSAS (Mexico): Autonomy and power states’ rights in 19th century Mexico: Zacatecas, 1821 through 1857.

Clara Han, School of Medicine (Chile): Ethnographic analysis of the gendered experience and management of depression across political generations in poor, underserved communities in Santiago, Chile.

Magda Hinojosa, GSAS (Mexico): The percentile variation in Mexican women mayors.

Sarah Jackson, GSAS (Guatemala): Comparative views of the Maya non-royal elite: courtly society in the classic period.

Halbert Jones, GSAS (Mexico): Mexico’s involvement in World War II.

Alison Kidwell, GSAS (Brazil): Family finances, gender division of labor, and sociopolitical change in Rio from 1870-1945.

Paula Louzano, School of Education (Chile, Brazil): Comparison of two compensatory programs in the area of education in Chile and Brazil.

Viviane Mahieux, GSAS (Mexico): The “cronicas” of Renato Leduc and Salvador Novo and the relationship between journalistic predictions and the avant-garde in Mexico City.

Maria Martiniello, School of Education (Chile): The organizational characteristics and educational effectiveness of “Fe y Alegria” schools.

Suzanne Miller, School of Medicine (Costa Rica): Comparative study of health status and access to care in immigrant- versus Costa Rican-born populations.

Aaron Navarro, GSAS (Mexico): The demilitarization of Mexican politics and political opposition: 1938 through 1954.

Shannon O’Neil, GSAS-Government (Argentina, Mexico): Effects of economic reforms on popular organization in Argentina and Mexico.

Kevin O’Neill, Divinity School (Mexico): Illegality: a socially constructed obstacle.

Harish Padmanaba, School of Public Health (Panama): The environmental and social conditions that led to the Hanta virus outbreak of 2000 in Panama.

Monica Ricketts, GSAS (Peru, United Kingdom): The circulation of certain new political ideas in four countries in Latin America from 1808-1850.

Wendy Roth, GSAS (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico): Racial identification of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans within the context on Latin American immigration to the United States.

Jalane Schmidt, Divinity School (Cuba): An ethnography of religious syncretism and representations of national identity in contemporary Cuban popular piety.

Laura Serna, GSAS (Mexico): Cultural history of the border region from 1915 through 1945.

Kerri Sherlock, Law School (Mexico): A series of discussion groups in Chiapas with NGO and community representatives about human rights advocacy.

Brian Somoano, School of Medicine (Cuba): AIDS education and prevention: a comparison study of adolescent males, relating HIV and condom use.

Kristina Steenson, School of Medicine (Brazil): Study of the factors in the decision to refuse hospital care among the indigenous Krikati population in Brazil.

Tami Tiamfook, School of Medicine (Puerto Rico): A retrospective review of medical charts of Puerto Rican pediatric patients who have lupus nephritis.

Anje Van Berckelaer, School of Medicine (Honduras): Health effects of the San Martin gold mine on the population of El Porvenir, Honduras.

Claret Vargas, GSAS (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia): The relationship of the craft of poetry and political loyalties.

Jesus Vazquez, School of Medicine (Peru): Evaluation, through patient-centered perspectives, of the imposition of DOT on the patient’s individual human rights.

Paloma Visscher, School of Education (Peru): Identification of developmental gains and losses through the comparison of sibling- and mother-care taking.

Kasumi Yamashita, GSAS (Brazil, Peru): An examination of the representation of Japanese-Peruvians and Japanese-Brazilians in historical museums, the media, and popular imagery.

For further information, contact Bradley Russell, internship grants coordinator, at (617) 495-3366.