
The University of Maine at Farmington has announced the UMF Michael Wilson Scholars for spring 2024.
This semester’s Scholars include Kelly Gentilo of Bethesda, Maryland; Alden Hallett of Chelsea; Natalka Harris of Aspinwall, Pennsylvania; Grayson Havens of Farmington; Shaylynn Koban of Farmington; Grayson Koelbl of Stockton Springs; Aidan Mulrooney of Farmington; and Manu Ritchie of Farmington.
This bi-annual recognition names the top UMF students as single-semester scholars or full-year fellows. The program provides faculty mentorship and funding support to help them with their research investigation. Many of this year’s scholars and fellows presented at UMF’s recent campus-wide symposium.
Student researchers are individually sponsored by faculty and supported at every stage of their research. Faculty mentors assist with proposal development, research methodology, project presentation and continuing follow-up on pre-professional and post-graduate opportunities, according to a news release from April Mulherin with the university
A senior majoring in performing arts with a concentration in theatre, Gentilo’s project will be to create “Lucid Dream: A Multimedia Installation.”
A senior majoring in history, Hallett is researching “The Great Count Out: Maine’s Stolen Election During the Gilded Age.”
A junior majoring in English, Harris’s project, “A Circumnavigation,” is exploring space and design with an installation piece to be exhibited at the Monson Arts Gallery this summer.
A senior majoring in political science, Havens is writing a collection of autobiographical poems and short works, “Beyond the Binary: A Gender Memoir.”
A senior majoring in creative writing and psychology, Koban is investigating “Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Text Message Senders due to Emoji Usage.”
A senior majoring in performing arts with a concentration in theatre, Koelbl is composing a personal narrative, “Dough Boy: on Being Trans in the Arts.”
A senior majoring in history, Mulrooney is investigating “Where does Entente Come From? The Ambiguities of the Entente Cordiale and the Outbreak of the First World War.”
A junior majoring in English and creative writing, Ritchie is exploring “Adaptation: The Fanfiction of Academia?”
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