See below for recent recipients of different awards and grants within Program II. To view the full list of past award recipients, click here.
Senior Awards
Program II offers five awards for graduating seniors, to be presented at the Program II graduation ceremony in May. Faculty mentors nominate students for these awards, and nominations are reviewed by the Program II Director and Faculty Committee Chair.
Our 2025 awards were given to:
Best Senior Thesis: Rowan Haffner
Rowan was nominated by his faculty mentor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics, who wrote:
I nominate Rowan Haffner’s thesis for the prize for the Best Senior Thesis in Program II. His thesis is thorough, clear, organized, original, personal, and important. It is important not only theoretically in uncovering fascinating facts about an understudied topic but also practically in providing guidance and self-understanding to the many people (like him) who struggle with epilepsy. He worked mainly independently but organized a team of advisors on the many parts of his thesis because no single person would advise him on all of it. He was a pleasure to work with, and he plans to continue working on this topic and maybe turning his thesis into a book. Rowan’s thesis is among the top five undergraduate theses that I have advised in my 45 years of teaching. He deserves this award.
Best Senior Capstone Project: Grace Dewyer
Grace was nominated by her faculty mentor, Dr. Juliana Barr, Associate Professor of History, who wrote:
Grace Dewyer’s capstone project, “Navajo Medicine and Healing: Historical Injustice and its Health Consequences for the Navajo Nation,” embodies the essence of Program II. In it, she brings together historical, anthropological and linguistic sources to tell the story of Navajo medicine men and women, diviners, herbalists, and doctors who – since the 19th century – have maintained a sophisticated system of care that bridged between traditional healing practices and Western medicine as they protected their communities and their nation from the onslaught of US colonialism.
That creative combination of “the traditional” and “the modern” reflected the healers’ knowledge that “health is more than the physical wellness of a person; it is also connected to emotional, spiritual, and environmental balance.” Grace’s project shows that maintaining that balance has been at the heart of both continuity and change in the painful but resilient history of Navajo medicine and healing.
In turn, that balance between traditional wisdom and modern innovation is critical for anyone today working in Indigenous communities and in the hospitals that serve them. The tools for achieving that balance come from wide-ranging fields of knowledge, and the toolkit Grace has built here at Duke – as evidenced in her innovative capstone research – will carry her forward into her own career in public health and medicine.
Curricular Impact Award: Carina Lei
Carina was nominated by Susan Thananopavarn, a Lecturing Fellow in the Thompson Writing Program and Core Faculty Member for the Asian American and Diaspora Studies Program, which was approved by Duke’s curriculum committee and made formally available as a certificate just two years ago, due to the inspiration and tireless efforts of students like Carina.
Her nominator wrote:
From her first year at Duke, Carina’s work in Asian American and Diaspora Studies has raised awareness of this interdisciplinary field at Duke. Her final project for my “Writing 101: Asian American Narratives” class, a graphic novel exploring the history of Chinese American laundry workers, was chosen for publication in Deliberations and has served as a model for all my writing classes. The following year, she co-directed the Asian American Studies Working Group (AASWG), a student activist group that worked towards promoting Asian American studies as an academic program. Carina was also an integral part of the student team for Margins, Duke’s student-led creative publication for Asian and Asian American students that is featured on our website.
Carina’s work in Asian American mental health as part of her Program II has also influenced our program. In the fall, we offered a course in Asian American mental health for the first time, and her enthusiasm for this course and the field in general has made this topic a priority for future course and programmatic offerings.
Community Builder Award: Eleanor Mackey
Eleanor's nominator, Dhruv Rungta, the current president of the Majors’ Union, wrote:
In my eyes, Eleanor is the heart of Duke and of Program II. Her kindness and the way she brings people together is inspiring and has made such a big difference on campus and in the Program II community. She co-led the Program II Marine Lab Retreat this year—our first and biggest majors union event—which helped spark meaningful friendships and a strong sense of community. From planning bonding activities like a PowerPoint night and board games to making sure all the logistics were spot on, the trip would not have been possible without her. She also led the charge on designing a PII tiered mentorship program that would connect students, upperclassmen, and alumni in the field. When it launches next year, I have no doubt it will be an appreciated and highly valuable asset to our program.
Excellence in Human Rights and Advocacy: Durga Sreenivasan
Durga's nominator was William “Sandy” Darity, Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy. Dr. Darity wrote:
I would like to nominate Durga Sreenivasan for recognition for Excellence in Advocacy/Human Rights. Durga truly has made her mark as a champion of the sustainable development movement globally, fully complementing her research on climate change, economic inequality, and economic development. As an Environmental Justice Fellow, she worked with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, contributing directly to the city’s first environmental justice report and acquiring thick, first-hand knowledge about the cities vehicle congestion pricing policy. She has worked on a sustainable development project in Karnataka, India and taught young children at the Shanti Bhavan School in Tamil Nadu, India. In addition, she has studied and observed sustainable development practices in rural France. Finally, I must add that she has been a co-leader in developing strategies for climate change mitigation and reparations as a member of South-North Scholars, a network of young professionals and scholars focused on worldwide sustainable development providing expertise to the United Nations. Durga’s accomplishments represent a remarkable—and somewhat seamless—combination of rigorous scholarship and human rights activism. Her efforts will contribute, literally, to saving the planet.
AFIRE Awardees
Winter 2025
Aisha Mane
Program II: The Biochemical and Social Dimensions of Health in the Black Diaspora
Mentor: Charmaine Royal
Aisha Mane’s summer project involved conducting a wide-ranging literature review of clinical, social, biological and structural domains related to sickle cell disease. The work required intentional and close reading, allowing Mane to deepen her understanding of the disease and refine methods for processing and retaining information from diverse sources. She also used the summer to begin writing background chapters for her senior thesis. This fall, Mane began data collection, with analysis planed for the spring. She’s excited to pursue work at the intersection of her passions: addressing health disparities in the Black diaspora and tackling complex, multifaceted problems.
Victoria Ayodele
Program II: Neurological Development and Nutrition
Mentor: Cynthia Kuhn
Victoria Ayodele will join GHSEN Global Research for its Ethiopia Learning Trip. The program includes hospital site visits at Black Lion and St. Paul’s, meetings with the Ministry of Health and Africa CDC, and collaborations with NGOs focused on HIV and maternal health. Working alongside peers and local mentors, Ayodele will contribute to joint research projects with opportunities for co-authorship, while receiving mentorship from global health leaders. Cultural activities such as market visits, coffee ceremonies, and historic site tours will complement the academic experience, grounding professional learning in cultural context. This immersive opportunity integrates research, mentorship, and cross-cultural engagement—advancing Ayodele’s Program II focus on neurological development, nutrition, and global health equity.
Sophie Brooks
Program II: Mind, Meaning, Movement: A Multidimensional Approach to Human Wellness
Mentor: Bridgette Hard
Sophie Brooks plans to create a podcast as the medium for her Graduation with Distinction project. She has arranged interviews with leading experts in the wellness field, including neuroscientists, psychologists, religious leaders, physical educators and wellness specialists. She will conduct interviews in Los Angeles over winter break and continue throughout the school year in Durham. She will be mentored throughout this project by Eric Trexler.
Katelyn Cai
Program II: Social and Public Trust in the Digital Age
Mentor: Phil Napoli
Katelyn Cai will travel to Colorado to interview former journalists and editors from three shuttered newspapers and write a profile on the forces behind the collapse of local journalism, which she will then pitch to national publications. Her research on trust in media and institutions frames the project: local news outlets, once anchors of civic trust, are now casualties of a growing mistrust epidemic that erodes both financial stability and democratic engagement. By gathering firsthand accounts from those affected, Katelyn will explore how newspapers set prices, stay afloat, and what happens to communities when they fail—insights that will enrich her honors thesis on the predictors of local newspaper prices. Grounded in her Program II’s interdisciplinary approach, this project blends journalism, economics, and media studies while strengthening her reporting, interviewing, and photojournalism skills through real-world fieldwork.
Aissatou Diallo
Program II: The Intersections of Performing Arts and Science: Incorporating Biological and Psychological Perspectives
Mentor: Andrea Woods-Valdes
Aissatou Diallo’s winter project serves as both exploratory research and creative development for her Program II senior capstone, The Somatic Script: How Performance Writes Itself on the Body. She is investigating how different performance settings — live, recorded or participatory — shape activity in the mind and body, and whether live performance produces a distinctive physiological “mark” reflected in neural synchrony and autonomic responses. Over winter break, she will re-block her choreography to accommodate wearable sensors such as electroencephalography (EEG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) devices. She will conduct a pilot study, film the revised piece and prepare material that will later be performed with the same technology in the Duke Dance Program’s Spring Dances. This work will inform her larger capstone project as she begins data collection in the spring.
Aidan Klein
Program II: Character Studies: Personality, Storytelling, and Embodiment
Mentor: Jeff Storer
Aidin Klein will travel to London to interview and observe creative professionals in theatre, animation and puppetry. Attending performances and exhibitions, he will document his observations through sketches, writing and reflection. Through these experiences, he aims to gain practical knowledge in animation and storytelling while drawing creative inspiration from a range of artistic perspectives. Collectively, these insights will deepen his understanding of how character and emotion are conveyed across mediums, while informing his interdisciplinary capstone on shifting identities.
Daliya Rizvi
Project II: Immuno-Oncology and Ethics
Mentor: Sherryl Broverman
Daliya Rizvi will design and deliver interactive virtual workshops in Urdu for women undergoing dialysis and managing chronic illnesses, with a focus on mental wellness, nutrition, reproductive health and personal hygiene. By collaborating with a social worker at a large-scale health institute in Karachi, Daliya is working to ensure that all materials are culturally sensitive, evidence-based, and accessible to participants with varying levels of literacy and digital familiarity. Alongside the workshops, she is developing a bilingual website offering health resources and a menstrual cycle tracker, providing participants with tools to engage with their wellbeing beyond the sessions. By merging patient-centered communication, cross-cultural collaboration, and digital health education, Taboo seeks to empower women to take ownership of their healthcare while strengthening Rizvi’s interdisciplinary work in immuno-oncology and ethics, where empathy, education, and ethical engagement are central to improving patient outcomes.
Dhruv Rungta
Project II: Economics, Ecology & Sustainability Development
Mentor: Chris Sims
Over winter break, Dhruv Rungta will work with People in Need (PIN) Mongolia, an NGO helping local people cope with extreme weather events and climate change, improving rural livelihoods and supporting sustainable development. PIN manages several EU- and UNICEF-funded projects that align closely with his Program II in Economics, Ecology and Sustainable Development. Rungta will help support the organization’s Cooking, Heating, and Insulation Products (CHIP) initiative, which addresses air pollution and energy inequity in Ulaanbaatar’s Ger districts: informal settlements where residents rely on raw coal for heating and cooking due to limited access to the city’s central heating system.
During his time in Mongolia, Rungta will collaborate closely with PIN leadership to contribute to its sustainable development efforts while pursuing three key goals: creating a photo essay on air pollution and energy justice to support public education and grant development, gaining hands-on insight into how PIN projects are designed and implemented and deepening his understanding of Mongolia’s ecology, culture and community-based approaches to environmental work.
Courtney Yribarren
Project II: Sustainable Human Development
Mentor: K Whetten
As part of her Program II thesis, Courtney Yribarren will attend the Singapore Tap Festival over winter break to integrate fieldwork into her research. The four-day international festival features tap dance intensives, performances, socials and jams, drawing participants from Australia and across Southeast Asia. During the festival, Yribarren will observe how dancers exchange knowledge across national and linguistic boundaries, conduct semi-structured interviews with artists and organizers and test the applicability of the digital Dance Commons platform she is developing. Her goal is to identify the resources, values and governance structures — such as contracts, business models, institutional partnerships, mutual aid, access and decentralization — needed to ensure that the platform is inclusive and effective on a global scale.