Thirty-one individual students and 13 University student organizations received Alumni Enrichment Awards this year, allowing them to attend academic competitions or leadership conferences, accept far-flung internships or conduct intensive research at another institution.?

The scholarship committee of the University of Delaware Alumni Association made the 42 awards, which totaled $64,879. Committee members included Leonard Stark AS '91, BE '91M; Mary Pat Foster Christie BE '85; Rebecca King HNS '97; Julie Moyer Knowles AS '82; Claire Renzetti AS '77, '79M, '82PhD; Garfield Simms EG '89, '92PhD; and Jerry Sheridan BE '86.

Intended to allow students and registered student organizations to participate in activities that enrich their educational experience, the awards this year have enabled UD students to travel around the globe from China to the Czech Republic, from Australia to Africa.

Tom Isherwood AS 2006 of Wichita, Kan., for example will travel to Cairo to participate in a six-week intensive course at the Arabic Language Institute at American University, while Stephanie Denis AS 2003 of Newark, Del., went to Wales over Winter Session for a research project on the chivalric influences on the construction of 13th-century castles. Engineering graduate student Armando Caro Jr. will travel to Sydney, Australia, to present a paper at the IEEE International Conference on Networks. His findings on how well a protocol called SCRP performs under various network conditions represent the proposed topic of his doctoral dissertation.

James Mercante AS 2003 of Wilmington, Del., performed as a classical vocalist at the 2003 Music Teachers National Association National Student Competition in Salt Lake City, while Susanne Wingard AG 2004 of Timonium, Md., will intern as a research assistant at the Estacion Douglas Robinson, Ostional, Costa Rica, where she will monitor the location and time of nesting sea turtles.

Morgan McGee-Solomon AS 2004 is learning geologic mapping at Indiana University this summer, and Sarah Wolf AS 2003 studied human migration during a Winter Session trip to Guatemala and related it to her work with Guatemalan immigrants in Sussex County, Del. Karen C. McCready AS 2003 has chosen to volunteer at the Tumelong Mission, a community development agency created by the Anglican Diocese of Pretoria, South Africa.

Other students who received Alumni Enrichment Awards include Yanina Avdeeva AS 2004; Richard Codding AS 2003; Elaina Denney AS 2003; Tracey Elibacher AS 2004, Jana Gross CHEP 2003; Tara Maloney CHEP 2003, Jennifer Phillips CHEP 2006M; Sarah Ruiz CHEP 2003; Raina Harper AS 2009M; Stella Ilel AS 2004; Lauren Johnson AS 2005; Eva Koehler AS 2005; Danielle Marino BE 2003M; Brett Matulis AS 2004; Yao Nie EG 2005PhD; Mary Paris AS 2005; Elena Settles AS 2004PhD; Adam Shanfeld AS 2005; Chris P. Stiegler AS 2004; and Bryan Townsend AS 2003.

Grants to registered student organizations allowed a total of 137 students to participate in leadership conferences, build an 800-square-foot solar-powered house or attend national conventions. One of these groups, the University of Delaware Chorale, will embark on a 17-day European tour, performing in Scotland, France, Germany and Austria. The mens crew team is traveling to the Royal Henley Regatta in London.