The International Institute (II), the African Studies Center (ASC), and the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan are pleased to announce that grants of $523,150 in support of research and internships have been offered to 130 students through four funding opportunities. Students will travel abroad between May 2016 and May 2017 to conduct research or intern in 65 locations.

The Rackham International Research Awards (RIRA) awarded over $280,000. The II Individual Fellowship (IIIF) and the II Samo Alajbegović Fellowship (IISA) provided over $190,000 in fellowships, and the African Studies Center (ASC) Funding for Research and Internships in Africa awarded over $48,000.

Research projects range from addressing disparities in childhood cancer incidence and survival in Southeast Asia to exploring the Ghanaian drumming influence within the African diaspora. Internships will be with organizations including U.S. Embassies and NGOs.

About the awards:

The Rackham International Research Award supports international research by students in Rackham programs.  Individual Fellowships support U-M students who are enrolled in a degree program and wish to participate in internships or conduct research abroad. The Samo Alajbegović Fellowship is open to students in the College of LSA and funds research and internship opportunities in the fields of marine biology, biology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and the humanities in the Northern Mediterranean region—namely Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. ASC Research and Internship Funding is open to U-M students wishing to pursue summer or semester-long projects or internships with businesses and institutions in Africa.

The 2016 grantees, degrees, areas of study, internship or research projects, and funding received are:

Elizabeth Agee, PhD, environmental engineering, Brazil: “Measurement of Drought Resilience Strategies in Eastern Amazon Rainforest Trees” (RIRA)

Abbas Alawieh, MPH, health management and policy, Denmark: “WHO/Europe: towards a ‘Whole-of-Society’ Approach” (IIIF)

Jennifer Angell, MD, medicine, Uganda: “Case Study of a Birth-Injury Clinic in Rural Uganda” (ASC)

Rachel Atkinson, LSA undeclared, Canada: “Brain Representations Following Odor Valence Learning Using Visualization of Arc Gene” (IIIF)

Avery Avrakotos, MPH, health behavior and health education, Ghana: “Care Seeking among Adolescent Mothers in Ghana: A Qualitative Study” (IIIF, ASC)

Sarah Baruch, MD, medicine, Thailand: “Bridging the Gap between Western and Eastern Medicine” (IIIF)

Farida Begum, PhD, history, India: “Ties That Bind, Ties That Break: The World of Women’s Friendships in Bengal” (RIRA)

Anat Belasen, PhD, ecology and evolutionary biology, Brazil: “Examining the Relationship between Landuse and Wildlife Health in Brazilian Forests” (RIRA)

Marcus Berger, PhD, linguistics, Peru: “Bora Language Documentation Project” (RIRA)

Katherine Beydler, PhD, classical studies, Italy: “Archaeobotanical Investigations at Gabii: The Role of Plants in Archaic Urbanization” (IIIF)

Abagail Breidenstein, PhD, anthropology, Switzerland: “Human Genetic Adaptation to Malaria in Medieval Nubia” (RIRA)

Lindsay Brink, MSW, social work, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: “Weaponized Sexual Violence in DRC Research” (IIIF)

Ruth Burke, MFA, interdisciplinary art, Turkey: “Auditory Censor” (RIRA)

Julie Buser, PhD, nursing, Zambia: “Neonatal Outcomes and Maternity Waiting Homes” (IIIF, ASC)

Andrew Cabaniss, PhD, classical art and archaeology, Greece: “Greek Households and the City: Early Views on Urban Life” (IIIF)

Cody Cai, BA, communication design, Denmark: “Design and Society in Denmark” (IIIF)

Kaylla Cantilina, BA, art and design / political science; India, Russia, and Taiwan: “Visualizing Modernization Theory: Photographing the Evolution of Human Values in Asia” (IIIF)

Abigail Celis, PhD, French, Senegal: “Digital Intimacy: Inhabiting the Here/There through Contemporary African Art” (ASC)

Jing Chen, MA, Japanese studies, Japan: “Transforming Karate: Strategies toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics” (RIRA)

Ainash Childebayeva, PhD, anthropology and toxicology, Peru: “High-Altitude Adaptation in Peru” (RIRA)

John Cho, MS, environmental health science, Thailand: “Correlating Lead Exposures by Personal Air Sampling and Biomonitoring E-Waste Workers” (RIRA)

Peter Cipparone, PhD, educational studies, Australia: “Learning to Teach in Australia: Preparing Global Citizens amid Demographic Change” (IIIF)

Catherine Clark, BS, astronomy and astrophysics, Chile: “A M2FS Spectroscopic Study of 4-10 Myr Old T Tauri Stars in Orion OB1” (IIIF)

Alexandra Clayton, MS, natural resources and environment, Zambia: Internship at the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka (IIIF)

Erin Collins, MA, modern Middle Eastern and North African studies / JD, school of law, Tunisia: Internship at the International Commission of Jurists (IIIF)

Kristen Connor, PhD, anthropology and history, Uganda and England: “Colonizing Air: British Colonial Meteorology in Uganda” (ASC)

Erica Cooper, PhD, nutritional sciences, Bolivia: “Measuring the Nutrition Transition through the PFDI and the Gut Microbiome” (RIRA)

Miranda Cosman, PhD, anthropology, Kenya: “Interrelationship between Environment and Locomotor Adaptations in the Oldest Apes” (IIIF, ASC)

Nicholas Cullen, BA, classical archaeology, Italy: “Diet, Cultural Contact, and Identity: The Archaeobotany of IA Central Italy” (IISA)

Theodore Daniels-Kolin, BFA, art and design, Brazil: “Solar Powered LED Lamp Design for the Brazilian Pantanal” (IIIF)

Kathryn Demanelis, PhD, environmental health science, Indonesia and Thailand: “Addressing Disparities in Childhood Cancer Incidence and Survival in Southeast Asia” (RIRA)

Lauren Eriks, PhD, English language and literature, England: “Narrative Fiction and Performance History: Methods for Reading Historical Spectators” (RIRA)

Golriz Farshi, PhD, Near Eastern studies, Iran: “The Relationship between Popular Ethics and Philosophical Writings” (IIIF)

Kenneth Fennell, MPP, public policy, Indonesia: Internship with Millennium Challenge Corporation (IIIF)

Johanna Folland, PhD, history, Germany: “AIDS and the Iron Curtain in Germany: The Long History of a Brief Entanglement, 1948-2005” (RIRA)

Alexandra Fraser, PhD, history of art, France and Belgium: “Fait Intérieur: Interior Realities in Fin-de-Siècle France and Belgium” (RIRA)

Obed Garcia, PhD, anthropology, Guatemala: “Applying Signatures of Selection to a Dengue-Infected Guatemalan Cohort” (RIRA)

Simeneh Gebremariam, PhD, anthropology, Ethiopia: “Music and Politics in Socialist/Post-Socialist Ethiopia” (ASC)

Baldwin Giang, MA, music composition; Italy, Spain, and Switzerland: “Towards a Radically Inclusive Model of a Composer” (RIRA)

Alexander Goggins, BA, international studies, Ecuador: “Effects of Community-Based Husbandry on Antibiotic Resistance in Poultry and Humans” (IIIF)

Lello Guluma, BA, international studies / program in the environment, Ethiopia: Internship with Organization for Development in Action (IIIF, ASC)

Manila Hada, MPH, epidemiology, Thailand: “Prevalence of Cervical and Oral High-Risk HPV and Attitudes towards Self-Collection Kit” (IIIF)

Edda Hanafi, BS, economics, Malaysia: Internship with Women’s Aid Organization Center, Malaysia (IIIF)

Hayden Hedman, PhD, natural resources and environment, Ecuador: “Exploring Chicken Husbandry Practices and the of Drug-Resistant Bacteria” (RIRA)

Sonia Hegde, PhD, epidemiology, Ecuador and Ethiopia: “The Effects of Social Connectedness on Disease Transmission in Ecuador and Ethiopia” (ASC)

Anne Heminger, PhD, musicology, England: “Confession Carried Aloft: Music, Sound, and Religious Identity in London, 1540–1560” (RIRA)

Grace Heymsfield, MPH, nutritional sciences, Malawi: “Njira: Sustainable Food Security in Malawi through Women’s Empowerment” (IIIF)

Ai Binh Ho, PhD, English language and literature, Vietnam: “The Right to Pain: The Disabled Structure of Testimony” (RIRA)

Iris Holmes, PhD, ecology and evolutionary biology, Costa Rica and Peru: “Investigating the Geographic and Evolutionary History of Lizard and Snake Gut Microbes” (RIRA)

Rebecca Huffman, PhD, English language and literature, France and England: “Summoning Readers in Late Medieval Manuscript Cultures” (RIRA)

Jack Hyland, BFA, industrial design, Gabon: Internship with REFRESCH (ASC)

Benjamin Ireland, PhD, French, Japan and New Caledonia: “Voices of Japan in the South Pacific: Migration, Incarceration, and Assimilation” (RIRA)

Kazufumi Iwasaki, MBA, business administration, Kenya: Internship with FarmDrive (IIIF)

Eli Jenkinson, BA, classical archaeology, Italy: Internship with the Gabii Project (IISA)

Shane Jones, DMA, music, theater and dance, Ghana: “African Roots: Ghanaian Drumming Influence within the African Diaspora” (IIIF)

Melani Kekulawala, MPH, health behavior and health education, Ethiopia: “The Effect of Improvement on Quality of Care of Family Planning Service” (ASC)

Mary Kelso, MSW, social work, Uganda: Internship with Hope of Women and Children Victims of Violence (ASC)

Ethan Kennedy, MPP, public policy / MA, Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Poland: Internship with the U.S. Department of State in Warsaw (IIIF)

Nicole Khamis, BA, international studies, Jordan: “Cultural Resiliency in Expatriate Communities in Amman, Jordan” (IIIF)

Aliya Khan, LSA undeclared, Italy: Internship with the Gabii Project (IISA)

Alexandra Kinzer, MLArch, landscape architecture, India: “Activism through Design: An Alternative Framework for the Vishwamitri River” (RIRA)

Brian Konecke, PhD, earth and environmental science, Germany: “Sulfur Speciation and Sulfur Isotopes in Apatite and Silicate Melts” (IIIF)

Sean Kramer, PhD, history of art, France: “Picturing Men in Uniform: The French Army in Art and Visual Culture, 1870-1914” (IIIF)

Yuki Kurosu, BS, neuroscience, Japan: Internship with Hiroshima University Hospital’s Department of Molecular Pathology (IIIF)

Alexandra Kuske, BA, political science, Cambodia and Thailand: “One’s a Crowd: NGO-Driven Brain and Resource Drain in Developing Countries in Southeast Asia” (IIIF)

Aubrey Langeland, PhD, environmental health science, Thailand: “Identifying Comprehensive Solutions to Electronic Waste Recycling” (RIRA)

Lisa Lau, PhD, epidemiology, South Africa: “Trends in Smoking Patterns among High School Students in South Africa” (IIIF)

Haley Laurila, PhD, Slavic languages and literatures, Ukraine: “Interrogating the Document: Trauma and Memory in Post-Soviet Ukraine” (IIIF)

Juhyuk Lee, BBA, finance, Australia and New Zealand: Internships in Australia and New Zealand (IIIF)  

Maryn Lewallen, MPH, health behavior and health education, Ethiopia: “Quality of Post-Abortion Care in Public Health Institutions in Gondar City, Ethiopia” (ASC)

Xiaoyue Li, PhD, history, Egypt: Summer archival research (IIIF)

Ziyong Lin, PhD, psychology, Germany: “Functional and Structural Brain Imaging Analysis on the ‘PITCH’ Project” (RIRA)

Anton Loukianov, PhD, biophysics, Lithuania: “Simulation of Two-Dimensional Stark Spectroscopy of Photosystem II” (RIRA)

Erin Lynch, PhD, earth and environmental science, Germany: “Elucidating Fluid Sources in the Cordillera with Isotopic Studies of Illite” (RIRA)

Ryan Mak, BS, cognitive science / philosophy, Singapore: “Implicit Theories of Interest: Finding Your Passion or Developing It?” (IIIF)

Maire Malone, PhD, anthropology, Kenya and Uganda: “The Role of Weaning in Hominoid Life History Evolution” (RIRA, ASC)

Michael Kevin Manansala, MPP, public policy, Philippines: Internship with the U.S. Embassy in Manila's Economic Section (IIIF)

Lamin Manneh, PhD, history, Gambia: “History, Memory and the Destruction of Gunjur: Marginalization in a Time of Revolution” (ASC)

Robert Maynard, MFA, dance, Germany: “Body Talk: Rave Culture, Identity Creation, and Performance” (RIRA)

Laura McQuarter, BS, ecology and evolutionary biology, the Netherlands and Tanzania: Internship with SON International (IIIF, ASC)

James Meador, PhD, anthropology, China: “Between Chinese and Russian: Vernacular Histories in a Former Russian Colony” (RIRA)

Nicholas Metheny, PhD, nursing, South Africa and Namibia: “Understanding the HIV Prevention Needs of MSM and Their Partners in Southern Africa” (ASC)

Aaron Michka, PhD, anthropology, Egypt: “Becoming Minorities: The Creation of an Egyptian Christian Utopia” (RIRA)

Dhara Nishant Mittal, MLArch, landscape architecture, India: “Activism through Design: An Alternative Framework for the Vishwamitri River” (RIRA)

Erin Moser, BS, microbiology, Zambia: Medicine: “Micro 450 Global Impact of Microbes Fieldwork in Lusaka, Zambia” (IIIF)

Elizabeth Mosley, PhD, health behavior and health education, South Africa: “Abortion Stigma, Access to Services, and Unsafe Abortion Inequities in South Africa” (RIRA, ASC)

Sauda Nabukenya, PhD, history, Uganda: “The Elusive Promise of Uganda’s Independence Elections in Nation-Building” (ASC)

Jun Nakamura, PhD, history of art; Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands: “Printed Vernaculars: The Epistemology of Print in the Early Modern Netherlands” (IIIF)

Sandhya Narayanan, PhD, anthropology, Peru: “Spoken Differences: Quechua-Aymara Language Contact and Linguistic Boundaries” (RIRA)

Emma Nolan-Thomas, PhD, anthropology and history / MA, Southeast Asian studies, Indonesia: “Cultivating the Heart: Cardiovascular Disease, Islam, and Health in Central Java” (RIRA)

Ronke Olawale, PhD, anthropology, Liberia: “Culture and Infectious Diseases: The Impact of Ebola on Children and Youths in Liberia” (ASC)

Jo Osborn, PhD, anthropology, Peru: “Archaeological Excavation at Jahuay, Topara Quebrada Peru” (IIIF)

Ariana Paredes-Vincent, BA, international studies, Peru: Internship with Health Bridges International (IIIF)

Claire Poelking, MS, natural resources and environment, Kenya: “The New Shepherd: A Paradigm Shift in an Age-Old Tradition” (RIRA)

Alessio Ponzio, PhD, history and women’s studies; France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland: “Murders, Scandals, and the History of Male-Male Prostitution in Italy (1950s-1970s)” (RIRA)

Julia Porth, MPH, epidemiology, Ethiopia: “Understanding Vaccine Use and Perceptions in the Ethiopian Context” (IIIF)

Rachel Ray, MSW, social work, Chile: Internship with Global Field Placement (IIIF)

Rachna Reddy, PhD, anthropology, Uganda: “The Development of Male Reproductive Strategies in Wild Chimpanzees” (RIRA)

Raghav Reddy, PhD, civil engineering, Bangladesh: “Sustainability of Safe Water Supply Options in Bangladesh” (IIIF)

Max Risch, PhD, economics, South Africa: “Labor Market Responses to the ‘Social Safety-Net’ in South Africa” (ASC)

Grace Rodriguez, MSE, environmental engineering / MS, natural resources and environment, Bangladesh: “Sustainable Water Quality Monitoring Infrastructure in Bangladesh” (RIRA)

Sonia Rupcic, PhD, anthropology, South Africa: “Redressing Sexual Wrongs in a Former South African Homeland” (RIRA, ASC)

Susan Rusinowski, BSE, environmental engineering, Brazil: Internship with the Juara Foundation: Solar Power in the Pantanal (IIIF)

Moira Saltzman, PhD, linguistics, Japan and South Korea: “Oral History and Language Revitalization: Building a Jejueo Talking Dictionary” (IIIF)

Maxwell Salvatore, MPH, epidemiology, Mexico: “Characterizing Diarrheal Disease in the Mezquital Valley, Hidalgo, Mexico” (IIIF)

Lauren Schmitt, PhD, natural resources and environment, Mexico: “Fitness Effects of Herbivore-Induced Chemical Defense in Coffee Trees” (IIIF)

Hannah Selig, MPH, epidemiology, Georgia: Internship with the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health—Non-Communicable Diseases (IIIF)

Sharmi Sen, PhD, anthropology, Ethiopia: “Male Dispersal, Reproductive Strategies, and Paternity in Wild Geladas” (ASC)

Kate Sherwood, PhD, linguistics, Burkina Faso: “Prosodic Description of Southern Bobo Madaré” (RIRA, ASC)

Shireen Smalley, MPP, public policy / MA, modern Middle Eastern and North African studies, Jordan: Internship with UNICEF Jordan Country Office, Knowledge Management and Innovations (IIIF)

Marian Smith, PhD, Near Eastern studies; France, Italy, and England: “Images of Timur’s Sacred Kingship: ‘The Book of Timur’ in Sixteenth-Century Eurasia” (RIRA)

Lori Smithey, PhD, architecture, France: “Decadence: An Architectural Genealogy of Lateness, Materials, and Style” (RIRA)

Chelsea Tafoya, MD, medicine, Ghana: “Ultrasound-Guided Resuscitation of Critically Ill Patients in a Low-Resource Setting” (RIRA)

Amber Talaski, BA, communications / history / international studies, Ghana: Internship with the U.S. Embassy in Accra (IIIF)

Emily Thibeau, BA, international studies / Near Eastern studies, South Korea: Internship with the U.S. Embassy, Public Affairs Section, Seoul (IIIF)

Tarlise Townsend, MPP, public policy, Vietnam: “The Nexus of Climate Change, Population Dynamics, and Health in Fast-Growing Vietnam” (RIRA)

Priyamvada Trivedi, PhD, political science, India: “Negotiating Order” (RIRA)

Joost Van Eynde, PhD, history, England: “Moving Parts: Race, Pathology, and the Circulation of Body Parts, 1790-1850” (RIRA)

Naomi Vaughan, PhD, Germanic languages and literatures, Germany: “Die Neue Reichskanzlei and Representation” (RIRA)

Janna Waters, MA, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Czech Republic and Slovakia: “Folklore through Sculpture, Print, and Song in Moravia and Slovakia” and internship with the Bratislava City Gallery (RIRA)

Tara Weinberg, PhD, history, South Africa: “Law, Property and Power: A History of Land Claims in 20th Century South Africa” (ASC)

Sarah Westrick, PhD, psychology, Canada: “Development of Perceived Predation Risk Manipulation for North American Red Squirrels” (IIIF)

John Mark Wiginton, MPH, health behavior and health education / MSW, social work, Zambia: “Qualitative Evaluation of a ‘Trusted’ HIV-Prevention Intervention in Zambia” (IIIF, ASC)

Katherine Wilcoxson, BA, international studies / political science, Poland: Internship with Culture.pl (IIIF)

Daniel Williford, PhD, history, Morocco: “Concrete Futures: Technologies and Ecologies of Urban Crisis in Morocco, 1920-1966” (RIRA)

Andrew Wood, PhD, ecology and evolutionary biology; Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu: “Ecological Drivers of Molecular Adaptation” (RIRA)

Nicole Wu, PhD, political science, China and Hong Kong: “The Political Economy of Firm Investment: How Chinese ODI Affects Domestic Development” (RIRA)

Xiaoyang Ye, PhD, higher education, China: “Improving College Access and Choice for the Poorest Students through High Schools” (RIRA)

Karina Zanyk McLean, BSN, nursing, India: Internship with Community Engagement and Health Promotion (IIIF)

Jennifer Zavaleta, PhD, resource policy and behavior, India: “Food Security and Adaptive Strategies” (RIRA)