The Co-op fulfills its 115-year old mission as a non-profit corporation by returning all profits to its owners - the students, faculty and staff of the University. Since 2000, The Co-op has given over 32 million dollars to UT in the form of gifts, grants and rebates.
The George H. Mitchell Awards for Academic Excellence are awarded each year to students who have made an uncommon contribution to their fields of study by way of research project, literary work, musical composition, humanitarian project or similar undertaking. Awards range from $2,000 to a top prize of $20,000.
This awards program was developed by University Co-op President and CEO George Mitchell and the Co-op's Chairman of the Board, Dr. Michael Granof and presented to UT President Dr. Larry Faulkner in 2000.
Students with exemplary academic records are nominated by UT faculty members and winners are chosen by a selection committee. These award-winning students have embraced the opportunities around them with a passion and intellectual creativity.
Application
For more information on how to apply for the University Co-op/George H. Mitchell Awards for Academic Excellence, please click here. Please read the criteria below before submitting your application.
Criteria
Students nominated for these awards by faculty members have an exemplary academic record and have made an uncommon contribution to their fields of study by way of a research project, literary work, musical composition, humanitarian project, or similar undertaking.
The selection committee paid particular attention to the nominating faculty member's explanation of the significance of the work / project in the context of the relevant field of study and to the project itself.
Nominees submitted a one or two page curriculum vita or resume highlighting their activities and achievement at UT Austin, documentation of the project for which they were nominated (e.g., copy of a paper or thesis, a videotape or photographs), and a personal statement placing their work / project in the context of their educational experiences at UT Austin and their vision for themselves as a developing scholar in their field.
Click here to see previous Undergraduate Grand Prize Winners.
2011 Press Release
Winners of the 12th Annual University Co-op George H. Mitchell Student Awards for Academic Excellence
AUSTIN, May 5, 2011 Winners of the undergraduate student awards were announced on Wednesday, May 4th at the Twelfth Annual George H. Mitchell Awards for Academic Excellence presented by the University Co-operative Society at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin.The awards celebrate The University of Texas at Austin students with exemplary academic records who have made an extraordinary contribution to their fields of study by way of a research project, literary work, musical composition, humanitarian project, or similar undertaking. Member of the University Co-op's Board of Directors and Distinguished Teaching Professor, Steven Goode, hosted the event. Attendees included Deans and Vice Presidents of the University, as well as past grand prize winners of the award.
The $20,000 Grand Prize winner of the Undergraduate Student Awards for Academic Excellence was Dylan T. Bumford, who was nominated by professor Johan Kamp, Ph.D., for his thesis titled Making Sense of Sense: Lessons from Synaesthetic Metaphor. Dylan Bumford's work is astonishing in its breadth, its clarity, and its mastery. His thesis begins with a description of synaesthesia the way in which perception experiences originating in one of the physical senses can trigger perceptions in another of the senses. He then links synaesthetic perceptions with the linguistic and discursive phenomenon of metaphor, focusing his attention specifically on synaesthetic metaphors. Some examples are a cold stare or a granular sound or a juicy red
The question Dylan finally arrives at is: Why do synaesthetic metaphors work this way? Why do adjective-noun metaphors ultimately reduce visual and auditory perceptions to tactile and gustatory ones? Why do our verbs for voluntary, focused perception draw on our experiences of seeing and hearing, but our verbs for involuntary perception draw on our experiences of feeling and tasting? His answer lies in discovering a deeper, yet more basic level of perception, one that underlies the perceptions of the senses. This is the perception of pleasure and pain. In other words, when we say that we have seen a loud color, he argues, we are actually not making a statement either about sound or about the brightness of the color, but rather about the way that something we see causes us discomfort, which is a feeling.
Dylan graduated in December 2010, majoring in Math, Linguistics, Psychology and Plan II. Next year he will enter the Linguistics Ph.D. program at NYU, where he plans to continue his work in logic, linguistics and psychology, in an effort to formulate more holistic and comprehensive principles of cognitive science.
Three other undergraduate students, Mauro Caffarelli, a Biology and Plan II major, Agustin Cepeda, an Architecture Design major and Emily Hawthorne, a French and Plan II major, won the second prize and received $5,000 each.
The five winners of the $2,000 awards were Darius Bunandar, a Mechanical Engineering and Physics major, Zachary Cuyler, a History and Plan II major, Annia Raja, a Psychology major, Matthew Ramirez, an English and Classics major and Margaret Sanders, a Psychology and Plan II major.
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For more information, please contact Hulan Swain at (512) 322.7071 or hswain@universitycoop.com
The University Co-op fulfills its 115-year old mission as a non-profit corporation by returning all profits to its owners - the students, faculty and staff of the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2000, the Co-op has given over 32 million dollars to UT in the form of gifts, grants and rebates.
2011 Undergraduate Grand Prize Winner
Recipient of $20,000
Dylan Thomas Bumford Making Sense of Sense: Lessons from Synaesthetic Metaphor
Category: Humanities
Major: Linguistics, Mathematics, Psychology, and Plan II Honors
Nominated by: Johan A. Kamp, Visiting Professor
Department of Philosophy & Department of Linguistics, College of Liberal Arts
2011 Undergraduate Winners
Recipients of $5,000
Mauro Caffarelli
Plan II Honor's Program, Biology Brain Imaging in the Quest for Consciousness: Why Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Falls Short
Nominated by William J. Winslade, Ph. D.
Adjunct Professor in Department of Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts
Agustin Cepeda
Architecture Design VI Zilker Park Summit: Spring 2010 - "Sound Building"
Nominated by Judith Birdsong
Lecturer in School of Architecture
Emily Hawthorne
Plan II Honors, French Halal Food as a Harbinger of Harmony: Comparing the Developing Halal Markets in France and in America
Nominated by Hina Azam
Assistant Professor in Department of Middle Eastern Studies & Center for Middle Eastern Studies, College of Liberal Arts
2011 Undergraduate Winners
Recipients of $2,000
Darius Bunandar
Physics; Mechanical Engineering Measuring Emission Coordinates of Pulsars for Relativistic Positioning System
Nominated by Richard Matzner
Professor in Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences
Zachary Cuyler
Plan I Honors, History American Intervention in Iran and the Formation of the Pahlavi Dictatorship, 1953-1971
Nominated by Mark Lawrence, Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Department of History, College of Liberal Arts
Annia Raja
Psychology The Effects of Male Resource Acquisition Potential and Male Physical Attractiveness on Female Sexual Arousal
Nominated by David M. Buss
Professor in Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
Matthew Ramirez
English, Classics Towards a Physiology of Drama: Plot Algorithms for Playwriting, Interactive Drama, and Collaborative Filtering
Nominated by Jeffrey Walker, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Chair in Department of Communication Studies, College of Communication and Department of English & Department of Rhetoric & Writing, College of Liberal Arts
Margaret Sanders
Plan II Honors, Psychology Are Better Examples Beautiful or Are Beautiful Examples Better? Exploring the Relationship Between Beauty and Category Structure
Nominated by Bradley Love
Professor in Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
Previous Undergraduate Grand Prize Winners
Recipients of $20,000
2010 Winner
John Meyer
Major: English and Government Shakespeare At Winedale Regents American Volunteers, A Play in Four Acts
Nominated by: James N. Loehlin, Ph. D.,
2009 Winner
2008 Winner
Yuxuan Wang
Biochemistry Honors and Plan II Aptamer Antagonists of Myelin Promote Axon Growth
Nominating Professor: Dr. Andrew Ellington, Wilson M. and Kathryn Fraser Research Professor In Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
College of Natural Sciences
Baltej Ludher Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering Baltej Ludher was nominated by Professor Keith P. Johnston for his research paper "Novel Methods for Producing Micron and Sub-micron Pharmaceutical Particles for Pulmonary and Oral Delivery." Baltej's research has the potential to radically advance drug delivery, as well as disease diagnosis and treatment. He has helped develop two novel methods for producing high-surface area therapeutic and pharmaceutical particles: thin-film freezing method and pH flocculation method.
2007 Winner
2006 Winner
Christina Skelton Geosciences, Plan II, College of Natural Sciences
Christina Skelton was nominated by Professor Thomas Palaima for a research paper that brought together her interests in Biology and Classics, “Methods of Using Phylogenetic Systematics to Reconstruct the History of the Linear B Script”. By adapting phylogenetic methods to a very different kind of evolution, that of an evolving script, Christina has taken a brilliant step forward toward the solution of several hitherto intractable problems in Mycenaean Greek studies.
W Seth Howes Germanic Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Seth Howes was nominated by Professor Kit Belgum for his work "Negativ- Dekadent: The Cultures of Punk in Halle/Saale, 1978-1989" - richly textured and sophisticated work of original scholarship in the field of contemporary cultural studies, with a focus on the punk music movement in the German Democratic Republic.
2005 Winner
2004 Winner
Emily Barton Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
Emily was nominated by Dr. Keith Stevenson for her invention of a new technique, termed "confined dewetting lithography", which uses water removal to leave nano-sized patterns on many different kinds of surfaces. This technique may eventually be profoundly important for producing near- molecular sized patterns quickly and cost-efficiently, which is a critical challenge for the emerging nanotechnology industry.
Brian E. Hardin Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering
Brian was nominated by Dr. Anthony Ambler for creating a sophisticated computer program, which generates unusual shapes for solar cells and maximizes their ability to collect light on a smaller space. His project, “Non- tracking Solar Concentrator Model” has long-range implications for the viability of solar power. A patent for his ideas has been filed by Oxford University.
2003 Winner
2002 Winner
Lauren E. Banta Radio-Television-Film
Lauren was nominated by Dr. Paul Stekler for her documentary film “The Kiely Family”, an inspiring account of the everyday life of a foster family with six children - four of them with disabilities.
Abigail Green Biology, College of Natural Sciences
Abigail was nominated by Dr. Ulrich G. Mueller for her vital contribution to a publication entitled “Extensive Exchange of Fungal Cultivars Between Sympatric Species of Fungus-Growing Ants” (published in Molecular Ecology) and for her two modules for teaching conservation biology in Spanish.
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