Two UC San Diego Undergraduates Win University of California Awards for Research

July 21, 2009

By Christine Clark

Kenneth Wong

Kenneth Wong studied the impact of the income of a child’s family on how quickly that child receives malaria treatment in Ghana, and Jacob Blanc analyzed the role played by the inhabitants of Lyon during the French Revolution. Both UC San Diego undergraduates have been honored with the first-place awards in the 2009 University of California Education Abroad Program Undergraduate Research Awards. The program recognizes innovative research conducted while undergraduates study abroad.

Wong and Blanc will receive a $1,000 stipend, and their awards automatically enter them in a national competition, the Forum on Education Abroad National Undergraduate Research Awards.

“UC San Diego is committed to higher education that prepares students to become exemplary global citizens who contribute to their field of study and who improve our world,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.  “Undergraduate research allows our students to have early hands-on experience addressing real-world problems, and studying abroad enhances the learning experience and broadens students’ global perspective.”

Jacob Blanc

UC San Diego ranks seventh in the nation for the number of students studying abroad for a full year and seventh in the nation for the number of international scholars on our campus.

This is the first time UC San Diego students have won both UC awards, which recognize undergraduate students in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences and engineering undertaken while participating on UC Education Abroad Program. 

The social sciences undergraduate research award went to Wong, a senior at Earl Warren College double-majoring in Third World studies and microbiology. He studied in a full-immersion fall semester program at the University of Ghana in Accra, where he investigated how the time-lag between onset of malarial fever and the decision to take a child to a health facility was affected by the income of the child’s family. At the hospital, Wong conducted an independent study project on pediatric malaria treatment.

“The time in West Africa at the hospital was eye-opening,” Wong said. “I had previously studied the disease through the microscope and public health statistics, but I was humbled to learn there was so much more to learn firsthand, by seeing the devastating effects of the disease and listening to families talk about malaria.”

Blanc, a senior at Eleanor Roosevelt College majoring in history, won the arts and humanities undergraduate research award. He studied in a full-immersion year-long program in France where his research focused on the role that the inhabitants of Lyon played during the French Revolution. His research supported evidence that the revolutionaries in Lyon were in the working class population, not members of the federalist class.

“I am beyond happy with receiving the award,” said Blanc. “Doing all of my own translations with primary source documents was an incredibly rewarding experience. I hope to become a history professor, and the opportunity to undertake serious historical research in another country and in another language was exhilarating.”

The recognition of Wong and Blanc underscores UC San Diego’s commitment to internationalization and undergraduate research.

Almost 600 UC San Diego students participate in the UC Education Abroad Program annually. The program offers high quality study abroad oppertunities while allowing  students to stay registered at UC and continue to earn UC credit and make usual progress towards graduating.

Media Contact: Christine Clark, 858-534-7618 or ceclark@ucsd.edu