Berry College's 2016-17 Synovus Scholars will each receive funding of up to $2,000, and an additional $500 for their faculty advisers, to pursue research or growth experiences.
This academic year’s Synovus Scholars, who are rising sophomores, are Sarah Cooper, Andrew Lockhart, Meghan Albritton, Daniel Hinson, Grant Simonds and Michaela Rowland. Their research varies from economic and environmental science topics to musical study.
Rowland plans to study the resettlement
process for refugees in Atlanta, working with several organizations dedicated
to that work throughout the city.
“Since refugee resettlement is such a
controversial topic in both America and in Europe, I wanted to examine the
effects resettlement has on Atlanta's economy,” Rowland, who is studying
economics, said.
Cooper, a biochemistry major, plans to study the West Nil Virus, studying the virus’ capsid protein and its interactions with viral RNA. Lockhart, who is studying mathematics and physics, earned his funding for a project titled “An Acoustic Demonstration of Finite Difference Conversion.”
Biology major Simonds will work on “Investigation
of Arterial Damage Due to Pathogenesis of Hypertension in Spontaneously
Hypertensive Rats.”
Hinson, a music major, will conduct a choral study of
Florence Beatrice Price. Albritton will analyze a sediment core from a Colorado
lake, allowing him to reconstruct fire patterns from the past seven millennia.
“Radiocarbon dates will allow me to perform
statistical analyses to identify individual fire events, and the data gathered
will help land managers predict future fire patterns that are shifting due to
modern climate change,” Albritton said.
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