Log on
Apply | Contact Us | Give a Gift | VU Home | Site Index | Text only
About VU Admission Academics Campus Life Athletics and Recreation Libraries Alumni and Friends of VU
You are exploring: VU > Arts & Sciences > College > Academics > Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships  Print This Page
 The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships

Villanova has become a strong presence in the national fellowship competitions, once the bailiwick of Ivy League institutions. Since 1993, more than 589 Villanova students have applied for national fellowships. Of those, 156 advanced to finalist status while 82 received awards.

One mission of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships is to assist our students as they make their way through the fellowship application process, a daunting task that requires developing both a sense of self-awareness and a vision of the path ahead.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships also administers the Presidential Scholarship Program, the Connelly-Delouvrier International Scholars Program, and maintains an ever-growing list of scholarships, fellowships, research grants, and internships for our students to investigate. If you are a student interested in any of these opportunities, or if you are a faculty member working with a qualified, motivated student, please feel free to stop by our office in SAC 138 or call at 610.519.5928.

News and Events

Presidential Scholarship nomination process is now open!!  


 

Featured Links

Falvey Scholars 2009 Awardees


Getting Started

Tips for Applicants

Congratulations to our VU Winners in National Fellowship Competitions and Villanova University Undergraduate Student Collaborative Research Awardees.

Villanova University Winners in National Fellowship Competitions

Fulbright
  • Alexandra Bausch (’09, Chemistry), who was awarded the 2008 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for Excellence in the sciences, has been awarded a 2009 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Grant to continue her research in Environmental Chemistry at the University of Stavanger in Norway. As an undergraduate, Ali worked with Dr. Amanda Grannas in the Chemistry Department investigating organic pollutants in the Arctic. Her future plans include obtaining a Ph.D. in analytical environmental chemistry and serving as a scientific officer with an environmental advocacy group.
  • Samuel Freedman (Dec. '08 B.A., Philosophy) has been awarded a Fulbright to serve as an English Teaching Assistant in New Delhi, India next year. In the Fall of 2007, Sam studied abroad in India, Nepal, and Tibet as a Connelly Delouvrier International Scholar. He documented his experiences in Asia in an article published in October '08 in the Travel Section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. After his Fulbright year, Sam will return to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in Asian Studies or Philosophy.
  • Carolyn Hurwitz ('09 B.S., Biology) was notified that she is an alternate for a Fulbright Grant to pursue a course of study in food culture and communication in Italy.
  • Alex Jutca (’09, Economics/Honors) was a finalist for an English Teaching Assistantship in South Korea. Next year, Alex will serve as a Research Assistant for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC.
     
Rhodes
  • Tiffany Brown ('08, Psychology/Cognitive Science) was selected as a finalist in the 2009 Rhodes Scholarship competition. Tiffany graduated from Villanova in May 2008 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Cognitive Science. Tiffany, a member of the Villanova Women's Swim Team, currently works as a research intern at the University of California at San Diego, studying anorexia nervosa in adolescents.
Udall
  • David R. Rounce ('10, Civil and Environmental Engineering) has been awarded a 2009 Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. The Udall Scholarship, established in 1996, honors Congressman Udall's legacy of public service by awarding scholarships to students who are committed to careers related to the environment or to Native Americans/Alaska Natives engaged in tribal public policy or health care. David has established his commitment to environmental activism through his participation in Villanova's Undergraduate Research Program with Dr. John Komlos and his involvement with water resource management programs both in the College of Engineering and in the broader community.
  • Jessica Shaw ('10, Civil and Environmental Engineering/Physics) has received Honorable Mention in the Udall Scholarship program. A Villanova University Presidential Scholar, Jessie's remarkable academic performance in 2 undergraduate colleges combined with her strong desire to develop clean and sustainable alternative energy resources earned her this distinct honor. This summer, she will be an intern at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
     
Goldwater
  • The following students received Honorable Mention in the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship competition: Shreya Trivedi ('10 Biology/Honors) and Jonathan Axtell ('10, Chemistry). Shreya, a Villanova University Presidential Scholar and a Villanova Undergraduate Research Grant awardee, has been actively engaged in molecular endocrinology research with Dr. Louise Russo since her freshman year and she was a summer research student last year at the University of Pennsylvania. Jonathan's work in organometallic chemistry, which he has been pursuing in the lab of Dr. Deanna Zubris since freshman year, has been published in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry. Last summer, he participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates at James Madison University and this summer he will be a research intern at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
SMART Scholarship
 Critical Language Scholarship
  • Samuel Silverman (’09, Political Science/Geography) has received a 2009 Critical Language Scholarship (https://clscholarship.org/home.php) to study Mandarin Chinese this summer at Soochow University, located in the historic cultural center of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in central-eastern China. Sam hopes to remain in China next year teaching English. The Critical Language Scholarship, sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers(CAORC), offers intensive summer language institutes overseas in eleven critical need foreign languages. The program began in 2006 in an effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical need foreign languages. Sam is the first Villanovan to receive this award.
In addition, Junior Amy Richards ('10 Honors) has been selected to represent the state of Pennsylvania this summer at the Henry Clay Student Congress (http://www.henryclaycs.org/student_congress.html) in Kentucky. Senators from each of the 50 states are asked by the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship to recommend one college junior from their state to attend the Student Congress. Amy was nominated by Senator Robert Casey.

Villanova University Undergraduate Student Collaborative Research Awardees, 2009-2010

Name Major Mentor Project Title
Adam Beckmann Civil/Environmental Engineering David Dinehart Pullout Capacity of Anchor Bolts in Concrete
Amanda Bernier Biology Janice Knepper Visualization of Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus Integration at Fragile Sites with Fluorescence in situ Hybridization
Giana Bistany Biology Angela DiBenedetto An Investigation of Brd2 as a Homeotic Regulator of the Engrailed Gene in Zebrafish
Margaret Carragher Civil/Environmental Engineering Leslie McCarthy Pavement Specifications in Public Private Partnerships
Taryn Cazzolli Biology Aaron Bauer The morphology of the nasal region in Gekkonidae
Jared Coughlin Astronomy & Astrophysics Edward F. Guinan XMM-Newton X-Ray Observations of the Solar Twin 18 Scorpii
Kellie Datin Astronomy & Astrophysics Laurence DeWarf The ABC's of Alpha Centauri: Analysis of the Alpha Centauri System
Victoria del Rio Psychology Diego Fernandez-Duque The Role of Perspective in Intentionality and Moral Judgments
Adrienne Donaghue Civil/Environmental Engineering John Komlos Microbial Source Tracking to Assess Pathogens in Goose Creek
Aasia Ferdous Chemistry Barry Selinsky Cloning and Expression of Trypanosome Membrane Proteins
Eliza Fradkin Biology Angela DiBenedetto Spaciotemporal Study of Brd2 Proliferation Patterns in Zebrafish Nervous System Development
Kathryn Greising Civil/Environmental Engineering Bridget Wadzuk Testing the Nitrogen Cycle in a Constructed Storm Water Wetland
Kent Grosh Mechanical Engineering Hashem Ashrafioun Intelligent Exoskeleton
Kyle Haney Psychology Susan Naylor-Emlen Differing Visual Focal Points Within Mental Rotation Strategies
Colleen Knill Education Jerusha Conner Urban Youth's Perception of Working with College Mentors on Senior Projects
Paul Lemaire Chemical Engineering Randy Weinstein Graphite Nanofibers (GNFs) as Metal Supports
Phillip Lin Mechanical Engineering Alfonso Ortega An Innovative Method to Measure the Transient Surface Temperature Distribution of a Droplet Impinging on a Heated Flat Surface
John Nelson Mechanical Engineering James O'Brien Main Stream Water Filtration Techniques Applied to Rural Communities
Susan Mischinski Mechanical Enginnering Ani Ural Computational Multiscale Modeling of Fracture in Bone
Stephanie Mulhern History Charlene Mires National Memorial Arch at Valley Forge, PA
Janine Myszka Astronomy & Astrophysics Edward Sion Hubble Space Telescope Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Cataclysmic Variables: Probing Their Evolution and the Physics of Accretion
Michael Patson Geography and the Environment Nathaniel Weston Impact of sea level rise and salt water intrusion on plant growth and seed-bank recruitment in oligohaline marshes of the Delaware River Estuary
 
Juliette Power Biology Dennis Wykoff Identification of genes contributing to the phosphate transduction pathway in Schizosaccharomyces pombe
Courtney Shipman Biology Mary Desmond The dynamic balance between cell proliferation and cell death in the neuroepithelium of late stage chick embryos
Shreya Trivedi Biology Louise Russo The temporal analysis of the types of cytokines and leukocyte infiltration the uterine tissue compartment in response to estrogen treatment in immature rat uterus
Karen Zusi Biology Robert Curry Diagnostic molecular markers: distinguishing Black-capped and Carolina Chickadee genetic identity in hybrid-zone populations