Honor Students 2024
Name: Sona Davis
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Investigating the Role of the BAF Complex in Human Disease and Evolution
Advisor: Dr. David U. Gorkin
Tell me a little about your honors project:
My Honors Project integrates my work during my three years in the Gorkin lab with my deep interest in evolutionary anthropology. Within the Gorkin lab, my primary focus lieson understanding the BAF Complex and its associated set of genes which, when mutated, are linked to neurodevelopmental diseases and cancers. In my research, I strive not only to pinpoint the regions within the human genome where BAF functions but also to examine the variations in its genes across Neanderthals, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
My most exciting discovery from my research is the identification of a variant present in chimpanzees and bonobos. If this variant were to be found in a human genome, it could likely lead to the loss of function of a crucial BAF gene. Such loss typically manifests in severe developmental abnormalities in humans. This discovery, while exciting, demands further confirmation and exploration but holds the potential for intriguing insights.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
The lessons gleaned from failure during this experience have been invaluable. Embracing the prospect of failure and persevering through setbacks has been instrumental in shaping the meaningful work I've produced. This experience has personally equipped me to tackle challenging endeavors with confidence.
What are you doing next?
I am attending the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California where I will pursue an M.D./M.B.A. and continue toengage in research.
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Guiding Cell Perception of its Microenvironment for Enhanced Microfracture Repair
Advisor: Dr. Jay Patel
Tell me a little about your honors project:
In this project, I worked in an orthopedic lab studying cartilage regeneration. Specifically, I am analyzing
on the impacts of the initial microfracture clot environment and the addition of pharmacological agents
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I learned that one of the pharmacological agents I work with is highly successful at promoting cartilage
deposition. The data for this study was so promising that we were able to file a patent (pending) for its
use in clinical settings.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I learned a lot about the research process, including a lot of trial and error. I also learned about a lot of
new lab techniques throughout the time I worked on this project.
What are you doing next?
I am applying to medical school and MD-PhD programs.
Major: Anthropology and Psychology
Title of Honors Thesis: Exploring Beliefs & Identity: The Internal & External World of Asian Americans
Advisor: Dr. Chikako Ozawa-de Silva & Dr. Brenden Ozawa-de Silva
Tell me a little about your honors project:
This study sought to investigate the beliefs of Asian Americans to better understand the relationship between identity and belief systems more broadly. Beliefs about success and well-being were specifically explored for Asian Americans given the significance of these aspects of their lived experiences. Through shared narratives of Korean Americans and a Chinese American, this study found beliefs were holistic and affective conceptualized. Additionally, it found religion and church to be important to the shaping and content of their beliefs.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
The beliefs on success and well-being held by the Korean Americans and Chinese American I spoke to diverged from existing literature, which contradicted my expectations. It was intriguing to recognize my own limitations on literature and perspective given that I also identified with my interlocutors.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
One of the greatest things I learned through this experience was to be open. Even if the content and process differed from my initial expectations, I found so much value in being open and embracing these changes. There is so much to learn and explore academically, and I realize there is always much I can learn as a lifelong learner.
What are you doing next?
I am taking a gap year before applying for graduate schools to continue my education in anthropology.
Name: Eric Li
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Sinicizing Muslims: Haunting, Punitiveness, and Sacrifice in Neoliberalizing China
Advisor: Dr. Michael Peletz
Tell me a little about your honors project:
My project looks at the Chinese government’s ongoing “Sinicization of Islam” campaign. I conducted my ethnographic research with Hui Muslims living in two Chinese cities: Nanjing and Shadian. Through my fieldwork, I learned that the Chinese government is simultaneously trying to eliminate any symbols related to Islam from public spaces (especially the Arab-style mosque domes) and to create and disseminate an official version of state-sanctioned Islam across the country, and my project seeks to how these two processes are related to China’s current economic neoliberalization and past experiences with imperialism and colonialism.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I think the most exciting part of my research was trying to understand why the Chinese government is obsessed with purging symbols related to Islam that are very benign and harmless, such as the Halal signs. My research led me to read a lot of current anthropological literature on the relationship between neoliberal globalization and rising state punitiveness around the world, and I was excited to discover how China’s economic neoliberalization is conducive to the Chinese government’s growing fear of Others and Otherness, which I believe contributed to its purging of Islamic symbols from public spaces, a process that I call “symbolicide."
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
This experience taught me how to start an anthropological research project from scratch and allowed me to go through the entire process of proposing a project, conducting ethnographic fieldwork, reading, and writing my thesis, which will be a really valuable experience for me as I go to graduate school in anthropology in the future.
What are you doing next?
I’m going to take a gap year in Hanoi, Vietnam before applying for graduate programs in anthropology!
Name: Ezra Packard
Major: Anthropology
Title of Honors Thesis: The Stories Behind Atlanta Food Growing: Oral History and Exhibition as Research Method
Advisor: Dr. Kristin Phillips & Dr. Jonathan Coulis
Tell me a little about your honors project:
I recorded eight oral history interviews with urban agriculturalists in Atlanta and organized community workshops, events, and art projects to help people engage with these stories meaningfully and experientially. My thesis explores how oral history and collaborative and visual ethnography can create new connections between research participants, help people invest in stories, and decenter meaning making in anthropological research processes.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I learned that collaborative research processes can have tangible impacts on peoples’ lives and make
transfers of knowledge between universities and communities more accessible.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I learned a lot about the process of building and recording an oral history collection, and sharpened many of my interviewing skills and workshop facilitation skills. From creating and organizing the multi-media art projects in my thesis, I learned about website creation, film editing, sewing, and event organizing.
What are you doing next?
I am planning on applying for a research Fulbright in Brazil to record oral histories about food growing in São Paulo, and want to pursue a PhD in Public History or Applied Anthropology.
Name: Emily Silver
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Community Organizing in Atlanta: Perspectives from the AIDS Crisis and COVID-19 Pandemic
Advisor: Dr. Rachel Hall-Clifford
Tell me a little about your honors project:
This study explores and compares the experiences of community organizers in Atlanta during the early years of the AIDS epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic. Through analyzing 19 interviews, my project centers the voices of local leaders and places their variety of perspectives in conversation with each other.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
My research illuminated several similarities and differences between community organizing during the AIDS crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the influential role of multi-organizational partnerships. It was a very exciting process to reveal these findings through my qualitative analysis and discuss them in a broader historical context.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
My favorite part of the project was definitely the in-depth conversations I had with such inspiring leaders in Atlanta!This process taught me that I want to incorporate community-level work into my professional career and continue increasing my engagement with nonprofits.
What are you doing next?
I am working as a Creative Consultant at Lippincott, a brand strategy firm in NYC!
Name: Andrea Snoddy
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Myths and Medicine: Analyzing Medical Racism in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area
Advisor: Dr. John Lindo
Tell me a little about your honors project:
My honors project focused on racialized health injustices and their impact on Black communities in America. My work also emphasized the need for a focus on Black subjectivity in clinical education and practice to hopefully improve patient outcomes and combat racial biases among providers within medical institutions.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
The most exciting thing I learned was a potential method of applying concepts of Black subjectivity to patient assessments and clinical encounters via a revised version of Dr. Arthur Kleinman’s explanatory model.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
Through this research process, I learned the significance of dedicating myself to practicing compassionate medicine and the importance of advocating for others. Professionally, I learned how to organize my research and findings into a concise, presentable format.
What are you doing next?
I am applying to MD programs this spring for matriculation in the fall of 2025!
Name: Isabel Staton
Major: Anthropology
Thesis Title: Farmers in the Storm: Exploring Alternative Risk Management Strategies Amid Winter Storm Elliott
Advisor: Hilary King
Name: Phoebe Taiwo
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Examining the Relationship Between Physical and Mental Comorbidities and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Serostatus in Black Women
Advisor: Anna Rubtsova and Rachel Hall-Clifford
Tell me a little about your honors project:
In this project, I explored the relationship between mental illness and physical comorbidities in Black women living with HIV. I also aimed to determine if negative sociodemographic factors impacted their mental and/or physical health under the Syndemics contextual framework.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
I was able to witness firsthand how the social determinants of health and biological conditions can interact in marginalized populations. It demonstrated how clinical care and policy can make impacts on overlooked communities of people and, overall, solidified the career path I plan on embarking on.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
Honestly, this experience was a true testament to my resiliency and focus. I learned a lot about myself in how I can execute under pressure or high-stress situations. I also re-affirmed my passions for healthcare inequities and advocacy for Black Women, no matter the circumstance.
What are you doing next?
After graduation, I plan on taking a gap year and then pursuing a JD/MPH to further my career in Global Health policy and Law reform.
Name: Elizabeth Whiteside
Major: Anthropology and Human Biology
Title of Honors Thesis: Uncovering Menopausing in Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus apella): Analyzing the Relationship between Estradiol, Aging, and Behavioral Estrus in a Captive Population
Advisor: Marcela Benítez
Tell me a little about your honors project:
I looked at the difference in estradiol concentration between adult and old-age tufted capuchin females to find evidence of menopause; I found that old-age individuals (over 30 years old) do seem to undergo menopause! I also examined estradiol and its relationship with behavioral estrus (sexual soliciting behavior). I found that old-age individuals do not undergo behavioral estrus at the same frequency of cycling females (old-age females showed no estrus behaviors in 2023-2024). In addition, I did not find estradiol to be correlated with the onset of estrus. Further research is necessary but it seems that estradiol is necessary but not sufficient for the occurrence of behavioral estrus.
What was the most exciting thing you learned from your research?
Tufted capuchins show evidence of a transition into menopause! This is something that is unique among New World monkeys and my study is the first to my knowledge to look at menopause in capuchins and validate a human estradiol assay as a mechanism to do so.
What did you learn personally or professionally from this experience?
I learned how to effectively design a research project, conduct animal research, and navigate a research project as it changes throughout the study period. I also conducted fieldwork related to my project and learned the intricacies and effort of completing a hormone collection and assay project in the field.
What are you doing next?
I am matriculating to the Baylor College of Medicine in the fall.