Robert K. Thomas Recipients

                                                                                                                             
Coook, Dave  
Spring/Summer 2008
Dave grew up on a farm near Idaho Falls, Idaho. He is double-majoring in Italian and Nutritional Science and earning minors in Asian Studies and Chemistry. During his undergraduate years at BYU, Dave has become a world traveler. He worked on a citrus farm for a summer after his mission to Milan, Italy; taught English in rural Shanxi province in China; interned at a hospital in Beijing, China; and conducted research for his honors thesis in Guatemala. While in Guatemala, Dave worked in the clinic of Primeros Pasos diagnosing children with parasitic infections and performing statistical analyses on the Palajunoj Valley's five most prevalent parasites, looking for relationships between infection rates and age, gender, malnutrition status, and the season. Dave's honors thesis has been accepted for presentation at the 13th International Conference for Infectious Diseases to be held this June in Kuala Lumpur, Malasia. It is also currently under consideration for publication in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. 

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Evans, Laurie 
Spring/Summer 2008
Laurie Evans is passionate about international development issues. After serving a mission to the Dominican Republic and observing the prevalence of couples that choose cohabitation over marriage, this Salt Lake City, Utah native was inspired to research family economic issues. Her passion culminated in her honors thesis titled, "Fragile Families in Lesser-developed Countries: A Comparison of the Outcomes of Marriages and Informal Unions in the Dominican Republic." The results of her research indicate that informal unions are associated with a sense of impermanence in the relationship, reduced levels of trust, a weakened sense of family responsibility in men, and less educational attainment for women and children of informal unions. Besides her honors thesis, Laurie's best undergraduate experiences include studying abroad in Costa Rica and researching with Dr. Kirk Hawkins in Venezuela. This summer, Laurie will intern for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

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Weeks, Sam 
Spring/Summer 2008
Sam is from Ogden, Utah. For his honors thesis, Sam studied peasant revolts, specifically examining the anti-communist revolts in Romania during the 1940s and 1950s. To complete his research, Sam traveled to Romania to do some archival research in Bucharest and then chose as his case study the revolt that occurred in Rachitele, a small mountain village in Transylvania. Sam's interest in peasant revolts developed while he was working with Professor Anca Sprenger. She suggested that he research something on the early years of communism in the villages. Sam was intrigued by anti-communist revolts and decided to use revolts as his honors thesis topic. While conducting research for his honors thesis in Romania, he lived in a tiny mountain village for a month where the next closest American was over fifty miles away. After graduating from BYU, Sam plans to attend law school to study international law. 

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White, Justin 
Spring/Summer 2008
Christopher, an Economics major, grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts. While serving his mission in Armenia, Christopher was struck by the high rate of unemployment in Armenia, despite being an educated population. When he returned to BYU, Christopher decided to investigate whether the receipt of a college degree improves the likelihood that an Armenian citizen is employed and increases his/her income, as well as how the effectiveness of higher education changed after the fall of the Soviet Union. Christopher traveled back to Armenia in the spring of 2007 to gather data for his ORCA grant and honors thesis. Now Christopher is looking forward to attending a graduate program in Economics. Christopher is also the President of the Economics Student Association, a Teaching Justin, a native of Provo, Utah, is majoring in Philosophy. For his honors thesis, Justin examines several relatively contemporary theories and examples of scriptural interpretation. Starting with Emmanuel Lévinas and then moving to Paul Ricoeur, he explores how these prominent philosophers, both devoutly religious, approach the topic of scriptural interpretation. Justin says, "Although thinking about reading scriptures is surely a poor substitute for reading the scriptures, carefully thinking about approaches to reading scriptures may help unlock (or re-unlock) the power of the word of God." This research project allows him to bring together many of his different interests including religion, philosophy, and literature. Through his research he hopes to engage both LDS and non-LDS audiences. This fall, Justin will commence an MA in Comparative Studies. After he graduates from BYU, he plans to pursue a PhD in Philosophy or Comparative Literature. 

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