Announcing the 2025 Student Library Research Award Winners
The Student Library Research Award Evaluation Committee is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 Student Library Research Awards, sponsored by the Friends of the Wellesley College Library (more about the awards).
Award recipients demonstrated a thoughtful, methodical, and scholarly approach to research and made creative use of a variety of library resources, which contributed to their ability to produce an outstanding research project.
This year saw the largest number of submissions in the history of the awards, with 97 research projects spanning 29 different departments and programs. We continue to be impressed by the range, depth, and creativity of student research at Wellesley and students’ insightful reflections on the research process. Please join us in congratulating this year’s winners!
First Year Award
Sylvia Rodriguez ’28 has won a First Year Award for her WRIT 127 paper, “Blending East and West to Protest AIDS: An Analysis of Masami Teraoka’s Ghost Cat and Condom.” Supporting Faculty: Erin Battat
Ruofan Wang ’27 has won a First Year Award for her ARTH 229 project, “Nakkaş Sinan Bey (Wikipedia Entry).” Supporting Faculty: Alexander Brey
100/200-level Award
Beatrice Geissinger Cutchins ’27 has won a 100/200-level award for her WRIT 160 paper, “Jaha!: Guaraní Temporalities Reflected in the Bus System of Asunción, Paraguay.” Supporting Faculty: Justin Armstrong
Elysia Nitsch ’25 has won a 100/200-level award for their ES 299 paper, “Canine Companions as a Reflection of Arctic Societies: The Evolution of Sled Dogs Throughout Indigenous, Colonial, and Modern Eras.” Supporting Faculty: Jay Turner
300-level Award
Isabel McDermott ’26 and Eleanor Wenners ’25 have won a 300-level award for their POL1 385 paper, “A Dollar For Your Troubles: Nelson v. Correctional Medical Services & Shawanna Nelson’s Shackled Labor.” Supporting Faculty: Tom Burke
AnAn Shen ’25 has won a 300-level award for her ARTH 306 paper, “Teodoro González de León’s Monumentality.” Supporting Faculty: Kathryn O’Rourke
Independent Study Award
Ishanya Hebbalae ’26 has won an Independent Study Award for her CLCV 350 paper, “Imperial Medicine: The Social Status of Physicians and Patients under the Roman Empire.” Supporting Faculty: Bryan Burns
Sylvia Nica ’25 has won an Independent Study Award for her ENG 350 paper, “The Juxtaposition of Feminine Agency in Chaucer’s ‘The Miller’s Tale’ and ‘The Reeve’s Tale.’” Supporting Faculty: Cord Whitaker
Honorable Mention
Rebecca Biagas ’25 has won an Honorable Mention for her POL3 393 paper, “Leaving Trauma Behind: The Role of Sexual Violence in Women’s Displacement during Ethnic Conflict in Darfur and the Former Yugoslavia.” Supporting Faculty: Priscilla Torres
Scout Painter ’25 has won an Honorable Mention for her WGST/ES 328 project, “A Toxic Cure, a Naturalized Exotic, an Ornamental Weed: The Dynamic Relationship Between Humans and the Madagascar Periwinkle.” Supporting Faculty: Banu Subramaniam
The winning entries will be made available in the Wellesley College Digital Repository.
More info: Karen Storz, kstorz@wellesley.edu
