For many members of the class of 2006, sophomore summer is more than an opportunity to enjoy the season and be together on campus with their classmates. It's also the time when they can begin the process of becoming a Presidential Scholar.
Begun in 1988, the program is designed for second-year students who are passionate about their majors and want to work intensively with a faculty member in their junior year. The first step in the process begins when a sophomore receives a letter from the dean of the faculty office directing him/her to a website where faculty members in need of "intellectual apprentices" list ongoing research projects. The two-term internships offer an unparalleled opportunity for students to become involved in the intellectual odyssey.
"It's a window into what an academic career is about and into the field itself," says Margaret Funnell, who administers the program in the dean of faculty office.
Funnell says the program "introduces undergraduates to the approaches and methods of research used by scholars in a particular field." In its early years, limited funding kept the rate of participation to 12–15 students per year, but thanks to a $3.4 million endowment gift from John "Launny" Steffens '63, about 100 rising juniors now enter the program each year.
The class of 1959 also sponsors a scholar every year. Neal Desai '05 became a Presidential Scholar with the class's support. "He's doing research at Dartmouth Medical School with Dr. Ethan Dmitrovsky on smart drugs for lung cancer," says Funnell. "At any other college or university, this would be an astonishing opportunity. At Dartmouth, it's the norm.
"Dartmouth gives students incredible learning, extracurricular, and athletic opportunities. This program gives them research opportunities that are equally rich and varied. For faculty members, the program offers opportunities to work closely with highly motivated juniors who can become true partners in their scholarship."
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Cal Newport '04
Cal Newport' 04 was interested in computer science when he came to Dartmouth but discovered his true passion for the field as a Presidential Scholar. Newport worked with professor of computer science Dave Kotz during the summer of his sophomore year. He walked the campus measuring signal strength at hundreds of nodes on Dartmouth's new wireless network. That experience led to more research with Kotz on simulating the limitations of mobile computer networks.
"When radio network systems are modeled, people assume they have perfect range and perception. But in the actual environment, where there are hills and other obstacles, it's more complicated," Newport says.
His experience as a Presidential Scholar was Newport's entrée into the world of research. He worked on the project from home during an off term, then gained funding from a Richter grant to extend his work with Kotz and delved into mobile computing with Robert Gray, a research associate at the Thayer School of Engineering.
Last October, Newport participated in an experiment in which students walked around a field with wireless-enabled computers, testing what are known as mobile ad-hoc networks—networks that don't require a central server but use each other in constantly changing configurations to communicate.
"The signal bounces from one computer to the next until it finds where it needs to go," explains Newport. "As people move or obstacles come into play, it finds new routes."
Newport is finishing a senior thesis on ad-hoc networks. "What distinguishes Cal," says Kotz, "is that he had a year and a half of research and three papers under his belt before writing his senior thesis. That's unusual for an undergraduate, but not at Dartmouth."
Newport is an honorable mention recipient of a National Science Foundation fellowship this year and plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after he graduates.
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Rebecca Leffler '04
The Presidential Scholar program allowed New Jersey native Rebecca Leffler '04 to immerse herself in French cinema, a topic that has interested her since she was in kindergarten. She doesn't recall what inspired this particular ambition, but it stuck with her over the years.
With strong encouragement from her first-year faculty advisor John Rassias, William R. Kenan Professor and president of The Rassias Foundation, Leffler pursued one aspect of her dream by becoming a French major. At the same time, she served as arts editor for The Dartmouth and volunteered at the Holocaust Resource Center of New Jersey during breaks between terms. When she was selected as a Presidential Scholar, Leffler was able to bring together these interests in one project.
She researched the role of deportations and concentration camps in French films, working alongside Lynn Higgins, Parents Distinguished Research Professor and professor of French and Italian and comparative literature. Eventually, this would lay the groundwork for Leffler's senior honors thesis on humor in French films about the Holocaust.
"The Presidential Scholars program allowed me to work with outstanding faculty and to learn how to conduct sophisticated research while encouraging my passion for French film," she says. "I am so grateful to both the program and to Professors Higgins and Rassias for nurturing my interest in such an esoteric topic."
As she completed her thesis this spring, Leffler held a three-day film festival on the same topic. The event included securing permission to screen five films and arranging for two speakers. Leffler also raised the funds and managed the logistics.
"I wanted to give back to Dartmouth what it has given me," she says. "I worked hard on both my thesis and this film festival, and I wanted to share my love for French film with the Dartmouth community while at the same time fostering awareness for Holocaust education."
After graduation, Leffler will study film in France with support from a James B. Reynolds Scholarship for Foreign Study. Reynolds grants are awarded by the president of the College.
- By Laurel Stavis
This article was written with the assistance of James Donnelly and Tamara Steinert.
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