Outstanding PAM seniors 2011
These graduating students were selected by the department as Outstanding PAM Seniors because of their exceptional academic performance, recognition of their character and achievements both on and off campus, their demonstrated leadership, and contributions they have made to the department and campus community during their time with us. We congratulate all of them for their accomplishments and wish them well in their future careers.
Lee graduated from Roslyn High School, Roslyn, NY. Lee is finishing up the consumer concentration in PAM. He was a teaching assistant for Professor Avery’s PAM 2300 class.
During his time at Cornell, Lee served as Co-President of the Wall Street Club, as an Executive Member of the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, as a Commissioner on the Student Assembly Finance Commission, and he was a Radio Show Host for Greed Is Good.
In his spare time, Lee follows New York Sport Teams: Knicks, Jets, Mets and Rangers. He also plays intramural golf and volleyball, guitar, and reads non-fiction books. Lee will be attending the School of Law at New York University this fall.
Awards: Dean’s List all semesters; John Wright Memorial Scholarship Recipient; Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.
Ruth graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City. As an undergraduate, she has done research work with Dr. Reyna in the Laboratory for Rational Decision Making and with Professor Lovenheim on projects concerning education economics.
On campus, she attends Chinese Bible Study and is a member of the University Student Library Advisory Council. Ruth also serves on the leadership team at First Ithaca Chinese Christian Church. In her spare time she likes to play the acoustic guitar, listen to music, and cook. She cites her faith as the foundation and greatest ambition of her life.
After graduation, she plans to obtain a Masters in Public Administration and work in public service.
Awards: Dean’s list; National Society of Collegiate Scholars; Human Ecology Summer Dean’s Research Grant.
Michelle graduated from Bethlehem Central High School and is completing the consumer concentration in PAM. She studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, during her junior year.
Michelle was the Intellectual Development Chair for her Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, a Cornell Annual Fund Employee, and a Volunteer at the Museum of the Earth.
During her summers, Michelle enjoyed internships at American Eagle Outfitters, Kenneth Cole Productions, and The New York State Consumer Protection Board. She likes to play tennis and run.
Michelle will be completing the Macy’s Executive Development Program in Buying and Planning after graduation.
Awards: Human Ecology Dean’s Scholar Award; Dean’s List; Kappa Omicron Nu.
Nathaniel is graduating with honors. He is completing his thesis titled: “The Changing Nature of Unmarried and Unplanned Births: 1995-2007.”
Nathaniel is highly regarded in the Cornell community. He has been a Co-Chair for the United Way Student Campaign and was the Vice President for University and Community Relations on the Interfraternity Council. He also served as a lay leader in the Protestant Cooperative Ministries on campus. What keeps him going? Running and coffee!
After graduation, Nathaniel will continue to work with his nonprofit organization, the Congo Leadership Initiative (CLI), which he founded while at Cornell. Through CLI young leaders are trained in the Congo to become skilled and effective leaders, working for positive change. He will also start working for OneWire.com, an online career management tool in New York City.
Awards: PAM Honors; Sphinx Head Society; Mortar Board Senior Honor Society; Dyson Citizenship Award.
Haley graduated from Randolph High School in NJ. Besides majoring in PAM, she has three minors: Spanish Language, Law & Society, and Latin American Studies. During her junior year, Haley studied abroad at the University of Seville in Seville, Spain, and had an amazing time.
She worked as a Service-Learning Facilitator for the Cornell Public Service Center, helping to coordinate and promote service-learning classes at Cornell. She also participated in Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST) as a freshman, and has served as a POST Team Leader. Throughout her time at Cornell she played in the local handbell choir. Any other spare time is spent reading, snowboarding, or dabbling in photography.
Haley plans to work for two years and then attend law school, focusing on international law.
Awards: Dean’s List; Cornell Tradition Fellow; Ashoka Campus Changemaker; Delta Sigma Pi.
Samantha graduated from Roslyn High School in Roslyn, NY, and is completing the PAM major with a minor in Law & Society.
She is currently both a teaching assistant for Professor Owens in Drugs and Gangs, and a research assistant in the Sociology Department. She has been a very active member of both the Cornell University Program Board and the Cornell Concert Commission. In addition to working all of the shows for both organizations, she also served as the Hospitality Chair for the Program Board for a year.
Samantha doesn’t know yet what next year will bring - she is looking for some good opportunities right now!
Awards: Dean’s List; Robinson Award for Academic Excellence; Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society; Golden Key International Honor Society.
Andrea graduated from East Meadow High School, NY, and is finishing the consumer concentration in PAM with a Law & Society minor. She is a research assistant for Professor Tennyson, researching international insurance regulation. During her junior year, she studied abroad in Seville, Spain.
As the Activities Chair for Colleges Against Cancer, Andrea planned cancer awareness events across campus and helped promote Relay for Life. She was also involved in numerous fundraisers for various charities through Sigma Delta Tau Sorority. She is a contributing writer for the Cornellian Yearbook.
In her spare time, Andrea enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.
Last summer, Andrea was a summer analyst at Citigroup, where she secured a permanent position. She is excited to start this summer.
Awards: Dean’s List; Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society.
Michelle graduated from Stuyvesant High School and is completing the consumer concentration in PAM. She spent one semester in Beijing, China studying international business courses at Peking University and interning at a carbon emissions consulting firm focused on helping Chinese and Japanese firms comply with the Kyoto Protocol.
On campus, she is an active member of Chinese Bible Study and has also been involved with the Employment and Disabilities Institute, Social Business Consulting Group, and Arise Dance Group. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys singing, photography, playing piano, and strumming her ukulele. She is also very fond of classical Chinese poetry and Korean food.
After graduation, Michelle is going to work at Ernst & Young in the Financial Services Office of their Consulting Practice. She also plans to study for an MBA part-time while working to be CPA certified. In the future, she hopes to pursue her interests in social business and aspires to be an entrepreneur. Above all, Michelle hopes to live a life of meaning, loving God and loving people.
Awards: Dean’s List, Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society.
Greg graduated from Jericho High School in NY, and entered Cornell as a PAM major concentrating in consumer policy. During his senior year, he assisted Professor Rick Geddes with his research on private investment in U.S. transportation infrastructure.
While at Cornell Greg has been an extremely involved member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, serving on the recruitment committee and the executive board. Additionally, while studying abroad in Rome, he wrote a play that was published in the John Cabot University literary journal. In his free time he greatly enjoys reading, watching movies, and playing guitar.
After graduation Greg will be working at Charles River Associates in New York City as an analyst in their Financial Markets group. He plans on eventually going back to school to earn an MBA.
Awards: Dean’s List; Sigma Alpha Mu Young Scholars Award; National Society of Collegiate Scholars.
Lydia graduated from the Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, MA. Lydia is a teaching assistant for Professor Owens’ class Drugs and Gangs.
As the Vice President of Programming on the board for the Center of Jewish Living, Lydia ran Cornell’s weekly Shabbat dinner, initiated a dinner with a lecture series that brought professors and academics to speak with small groups of students, and organized charity events which raised over $10,000 for organizations such as MatchingDonors, the USO, and Haiti Disaster Relief. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, painting, yoga and hiking.
Lydia is still deciding whether to do research, or volunteer as an English teacher in Ecuador, before heading to law school in a year or two.
Awards: Deans List; Kappa Omicron Nu.
Brian graduated from Wantagh High School in Wantagh, NY, and entered Cornell University as a PAM major with a concentration in consumer policy. He has a minor in Law & Society and is graduating with honors. His honors thesis is on the effects of bad faith liability on insurance company claims settlement practices. Brian has worked as a research assistant for Dr. Rosemary Avery’s research team and is working on a paper with Dr. Peter Enns on time-inconsistent preferences for vote choice in presidential elections.
Brian was a project manager and director for the Cornell Consulting Group, an undergraduate strategy consulting organization dedicated to offering its clients value-adding services and its members first-hand consulting experience. He studied abroad at Oxford University in Lady Margaret Hall where he focused on economics and politics.
Brian has worked as a Securities Compliance Summer Analyst for Goldman Sachs and will be returning there full time.
Awards: PAM Honors; Dean’s List.
Samantha graduated from East Meadow High School and entered Cornell as a PAM major concentrating in family policy. Samantha gained hands-on experience in family policy through various internships. While working at NYC’s Department of Juvenile Justice, she drafted agency policies regarding youths in detention. As an intern at Lawyers for Children, she helped advocate for foster youth. This semester, Samantha is working at Mira's Movement, a pediatric cancer advocacy organization. Samantha also works as a research assistant for Professor Avery and is currently studying foster youth in South Africa.
Samantha has taken on leadership positions while at Cornell, including her role as new member educator for Sigma Delta Tau. Additionally, she participated in various fund-raising activities, including Relay for Life. In her spare time, Samantha enjoys traveling and dining at delicious restaurants.
Samantha is headed to law school this fall.
Awards: Dean’s List; Merrill Presidential Scholar; Robinson Award for Academic Excellence; Kappa Omicron Nu; National Society for Collegiate Scholars.
Abby graduated from White Plains High School in NY, and came to Cornell as a PAM major with a concentration in consumer policy.
While at Cornell, Abby worked in a research lab in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, studying developmental effects of poverty. Abby was able to perfect her Spanish speaking skills, as well as explore Europe, while she studied abroad in Seville, Spain, during the second semester of her junior year. She also was a TA for Professor Gary Evans’ DEA 1500: Introduction to Human Environmental Relations.
Outside of academics, Abby has been a member of Hearsay a Cappella for the past two and a half years, went to the finals with her co-recreational flag football team, and volunteered to help the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.
Not yet sure what she is going to do after school, she is looking to be in New York City and hoping to enter the field of resource management or consumer behavior.
Awards: Dean’s List; Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society; Dean’s Scholar of the Human Ecology College Scholars.
Sarah graduated from Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and entered Cornell as a PAM major concentrating in consumer policy. Sarah will be graduating from Cornell with honors. She is writing her Senior Honor’s Thesis on immigration. The title of her thesis is “Immigrant Migration Patterns: How Legal and Illegal Immigrants React to Changes in Economic Conditions.”
Over the summers Sarah studied abroad in Beijing, China and participated in internships ranging from product marketing, to teaching an 8th grade science course for inner-city girls. She works as a writing tutor with the Knight Institute of Writing.
Having taken piano lessons since age 3, Sarah continues her musical studies in piano performance through the Music Department. Outside of school, Sarah is an avid cook and enjoys yoga and traveling with her family and friends. Occasionally, Sarah enjoys pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.
After graduation Sarah will be joining ALaS Consulting in NYC as a business analyst.
Awards: Dean’s list; PAM Honors.
Samantha will be graduating with honors. The title of her thesis is “Financial Incentives and Autism Diagnoses: An Ohio Autism Scholarship Program Case Study. She is completing a global health minor.
Samantha is Founder and President of the Dial of Ahaz Pre-Health Society for the promotion of religio-cultural competency in health care practice. She volunteered in many organizations: Sick in America Conference; Cornell Navigators Christian Fellowship. She worked with Global Health in the Dominican Republic, with inner-city children in Washington D.C., in a pediatrics clinic in India, with disabled elderly in Berlin, Germany, and taught English in South Korea. She was a research assistant in Dr. John Schimenti’s mouse genetics lab and a research assistant at the Nathan Kline Institute Center of Excellence in Culturally Competent Mental Health. She plays guitar and clarinet, writes humorous songs and she enjoys photography, road trips, and cooking.
Awards: PAM Honors; Dean’s List; Elise Van Buren Rice Awards; Triple Helix Health Policy Essay Contest 1st Place; Cornell Tradition Fellowship; National Science Foundation REU research fellow in plant genomics; Phi Sigma Pi.
Susan matriculated from Fairport High School and is graduating with concentrations in both health and consumer policy.
During her time at Cornell she served as both a Human Ecology Ambassador and a teaching assistant for the Cornell Prison Education Program at the Auburn Correctional Facility. She was also actively involved with the Women’s Resource Center and worked as the student manager at the Public Service Center.
Susan spent a semester studying abroad in Dublin, and enjoys traveling, reading, running, and making dinner.
Next year she will remain at Cornell to complete her Masters in Health Administration in the Sloan Program’s five year BS/MHA degree option, and hopes to eventually work to improve community and women’s health through medical center operations.
Awards: Dean’s List; Selected to attend the Public Policy Leadership Conference; Dean’s Scholar.