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Date: September 8, 1997
Outstanding Undergraduates Receive
Prizes as Academic Year BeginsPrinceton, N.J. -- Six Princeton University undergraduates received academic prizes yesterday from Princeton University President Harold T. Shapiro during ceremonies opening the 1997-98 academic year. Outstanding members of each class received cash prizes honoring exceptional scholastic achievement.
The winners were: Andrew M. Neitzke '98, of Narberth, Pa.; Jacob A. Rasmussen '98, of Barrington, R.I.; Allison Bartlett '98, of Madison, Wis.; Stephen M. Woolbert '98, of Massillon, Ohio; Ryan C. Hayward '99, of Great Falls, Va.; and Andrew A. Houck '00, of Colts Neck, N.J.
Top-Ranking Seniors
Neitzke and Rasmussen are co-winners of the Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award, given to the member or members of the senior class who, at the end of the junior year, have achieved the highest standing in all prior college work at Princeton. Neitzke and Rasmussen, who are both mathematics majors, have been co-winners of the George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize and the Freshman First Honor Prize.
Neitzke is a co-winner of the Goldwater Scholarship and the Brown Prize in Mathematics. He plans to write a senior thesis on the mathematical underpinnings of gauge theories, a class of physical theories that have at their heart a principle called "gauge invariance." First conceived in the 1920s in connection with the theory of electromagnetism, gauge invariance initially was not recognized as a fundamental property but has since become an essential tool to particle physicists.
This summer, Neitzke has worked as a resident adviser and tutor for the Summer Scholars Institute, which offers incoming Princeton freshmen an opportunity to take a semester of calculus before the school year starts. He is also performing data analysis for a particle physics experiment taking place at Brookhaven National Laboratories in New York. His parents are Susan Neitzke of Narberth, Pa., and Frederic Neitzke of Melbourne, Fla.
Rasmussen, also a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship, plans to write his senior thesis on the subject of manifold topology, which looks at the instrinsic properties of higher dimensional "surfaces." Imagine the skin of a beach ball or a donut -- what about that surface remains invariant, even when the skin is stretched or bent? Rasmussen's research will deal with four-dimensional manifolds.
Rasmussen is president of the Badminton Club and a member of the Bridge Club and Habitat for Humanity. Rasmussen is the son of Dr. Steven and Mrs. Frances Rasmussen of Barrington.
Exceptional Junior-Year Work
Bartlett and Woolbert are co-winners of the George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize, given in recognition of outstanding work in the junior year at Princeton.
A molecular biology major, Bartlett will write a thesis on the construction and screening of a murine cytomegalovirus cosmid library. This research involves dividing the virus into smaller fragments, which facilitates generation and study of mutants. She also plans to earn a certificate in Latin American Studies.
Bartlett is a resident adviser and an officer in the Ballroom Dance Club. She is a recipient of the Manfred Pyka Memorial Physics Prize. Her parents are David and Cheryl Bartlett of Madison.
Woolbert, a civil engineering and operations research major, will write a senior thesis involving the mathematical theory of dynamic programming. He will study the problem of a chemical manufacturer seeking the most efficient way to ship products from manufacturing plants to customers.
At Princeton, Woolbert serves as treasurer of Tau Beta Pi and is a member of the Campus Crusade for Christ. Off campus, he is a Sunday School teacher for the Princeton Presbyterian Church. His parents are Gordon D. and Betsy L. Woolbert of Massillon.
Award for Second-Year Work
Hayward is the winner of the George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize, given in recognition of outstanding work in second year of study at Princeton.
Hayward is a chemical engineering major who also plans to earn a certificate in materials science. He spent the summer researching dilute solution properties of polymers under the direction of Professor of Chemical Engineering William W. Graessley and may pursue a junior independent project on that subject.
At Princeton, Hayward has been a member of the University Ski Team for two years. He is also a disc jockey and an occasional production assistant for WPRB, the campus radio station. As a freshman, Hayward volunteered as a tutor at the Young Scholars Institute in nearby Trenton, N.J., and at the Invention Factory Science Center, now under construction in Trenton. His parents are David and Ginny Hayward of Great Falls.
Ranked Highest in First Year
Houck is the winner of the Freshman First Honor Prize, given in recognition of outstanding work during the first year of study at Princeton. Houck's high school will receive $250 for the purchase of books in his name. He graduated from the Specialized Learning Center for Science and Engineering at Manalapan High School, part of the Freehold Regional School District.
Houck plans to major in either electrical engineering or physics. (Princeton students do not declare a major until the end of sophomore year.) He has spent the summer working as a technical associate, in the design area, at Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs. Last summer, Houck won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad, held in Oslo, Norway.
At Princeton, he is active in the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship. His parents are Dave and Dennie Houck of Colts Neck.
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