Jer Weann Ang, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,is a junior majoring in genetics with a certificate in studio art. Her undergraduate research, in Dr. Sean B. Carroll’s lab, focuses on questions regarding evolutionary biology and development. This summer, with the help of a Zillman Summer Research Fellowship, Jer Weann will conduct research in Dr. Detlev Arendt’s group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. There she will be studying the evolution of cell types in the brain and nervous system using the marine annelid worm Platynereis Dumerilii as an animal model. Ultimately, this research will help us to understand what human being’s central nervous system first looked like and how it functioned, as well as how it has evolved into its current complexity.
Leah Kang is a musician of diverse interests having earned degrees in biology and public health at UCLA prior to starting her professional studies in music. Leah received her Master of Music and Performer Diploma in Piano Performance from Indiana University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in piano performance at UW-Madison where she is a teaching assistant. Her dissertation examines the chamber music arrangements of Beethoven symphonies as created by his contemporaries. No modern editions exist for most of these works and the few extant copies are scattered throughout Europe. This summer she will be traveling to the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and Staatsbibliothek in Berlin to study some of these rare scores and conduct archival research in hopes of publishing a critical edition of select works as well as making a recording.
Gabrielle Reisz, is pursuing a master’s degree in the School of Human Ecology’s Civil Society and Community Research Department. Since 2010, she has conducted in-depth qualitative and quantitative research on community-based organizations called neighbourhood houses in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. She has enjoyed working with community members, learning about their rich histories and actively participating in the evolution of these community spaces. Her upcoming project will combine archiving, life history interviewing, collective comics-making (and maybe even some theater games) to create a community-based history project where the neighborhood residents will be engaged in making the historical resources for their own, local Neighbourhood House. She will receive her degree in December, 2017.
Other Zillman Award Winners:
2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011,
2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005