Janus Award
The Program
Janus, the Roman god of doors and portals, is often pictured with two opposing faces. The Janus Award at Rice University promotes student investigation of complex environmental or science issues from multiple perspectives. The award is open to all non-graduating Rice undergraduate students and supports summer research with a stipend of $2500.
Successful applicants may come from any field of study and may seek to investigate environmental or science issues from any number of perspectives, including ethical, social, economic, and political. As an example, a Janus Award recipient might investigate the relationship of Houston’s economic growth as a global oil and gas center to the city’s declining air quality.
Currently, the Janus Award is available for projects anywhere within the US, but applications for Houston-focused projects are especially encouraged. Janus Award applicants who propose projects in the greater Houston area that will benefit and/or work with a community partner may apply jointly to the Center for Civic Engagement’s CCE Fellows program, which will provide an additional stipend of $1500 as well as guidance, structure, and a cohort of fellow undergraduate researchers.
2013 Janus Award Winners
Priyanka Duvvuru is a rising senior from The Woodlands, Texas studying Civil and Environmental
Engineering with a minor in Energy and Water Sustainability. She is interested in alternative
energy and sustainability and plans on pursuing graduate work and eventually a
career in this field of study. She received the Janus Award to pursue a project
in which she will be collaborating with MD Anderson in the Texas Medical Center
to perform an economic as well as environmental cost-benefit analysis as to
whether solar panels should be installed on a new parking garage scheduled to
be built on MD Anderson’s campus this upcoming fall.
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Roshni Janakiraman, originally
from Dallas, Texas, is a rising Sophomore. She plans to major in Psychology and is interested in
studying Educational Psychology.
In the future, she plans on attending graduate school and pursuing a
PhD. She will use her Janus Award
to work on a project to determine the effects that note-taking and intermittent
quizzing have on memory retention.
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Anne Wei is a rising senior at Rice University from Chicago majoring in
biochemistry. Her project on public health in East Garfield Park reflects her
interests in health and urban poverty. Instead of using familiar scientific
quantitative research methods, Anne's research approaches the issue of public
health from sociological and cultural standpoints; it integrates quantitative
and qualitative data to create a locally-informed view of public health in East
Garfield Park. After graduation, Anne hopes to go to medical school and
eventually work with underserved urban populations.
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How to Apply
The Janus Award application requires a well-informed, thoughtful, and feasible summer research project proposal, 750-1250 words in length. In addition, each applicant must provide a letter of support from a faculty member who is willing to serve as a project advisor. To apply, please click here for the online application program.
Deadline
2013 Janus Award Applications are no longer being accepted. Applications for next year will be due early spring semester, 2014.
To learn more contact Dr. Elizabeth Vann at evann@rice.edu.