Past FWIS Student Award Winners
2022-2023
Best Oral Presentation
Rohan Palavali, First Place, Best Oral Presentation
“Healthcare Disparities in Houston”
FWIS 180: Writing for Social Justice
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Caroline Thames, First Place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“Leslie Jamison’s ’The Empathy Exams’: Breaking the Silence Towards Suffering"
FWIS 151: Making Sense of Ourselves
Nahom Zerai, Second Place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“The Effect of Historical Recollection on John Sayles’s Lone Star”
FWIS 154 - The Good, the Bad, and the Border
Kelvin Phung, Third Place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“At the Crossroads of Asian American Justice and Climate Justice”
FWIS 198 - From Climate Change to Climate Justice
2019-2020
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Malaika Bergner, 1st place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“The Decolonial Imaginary in Forgetting the Alamo”
FWIS 112: FICTION, HISTORY, TEJAS
Jay Mehta, 2nd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“PrEP: Exploring a Painful Past”
FWIS 104: Science, Technology, & Society
Abrar Mamun, 3rd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“Discrimination Towards American Muslims in Healthcare”
FWIS 102: Culture and Healthcare
Best Oral Presentation
Jared Butler, 1st place, Best Oral Presentation
“Truth: A Relative Interpretation”
FWIS 121: Time Travel Narratives: Fiction, Film, Science
Luna Xia, 2nd place, Best Oral Presentation
“The Best Generation and Stolen Books”
FWIS 153: Investigating Stolen Books
Ahayla Lettenbergner, 3rd place, Best Oral Presentation
“Disability Online: Changing Negative Perspectives”
FWIS 176: Writing Social Media
2018-2019
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Ishaan Rischie, 1st place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“Burnout Syndrome in Caregivers of Children with Cerebral Palsy”
FWIS 153: Left Out: The Intersection Between Disability and Society
Sarah Swackhamer, 2nd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“I Abject’: Visions of the Posthumanized Monster in Nieto’s ‘Imago”
FWIS 127: Feminist Fabulations: SF by Women
Piper Harris, 3rd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“The Makings of a Monster: Identity and the Zombie Narrative in Tristan Alice Nieto’s ‘Imago”
FWIS 127 “Feminist Fabulations: SF by Women”
Best Oral Presentation
Alissa Kono, 1st place, Best Oral Presentation
“Challenging Expectation”
FWIS 167: Networks
Erin Liu, 2nd place, Best Oral Presentation
“How Is the Language of Aliens Constructed: An Analysis of the Klingon Language from Star Trek”
FWIS 174: Invented Languages
Lily Wieland, 3rd place, Best Oral Presentation
Physician Assisted Suicide: The Intersection of Age and Disability on Attitudes toward Euthanasia.”
FWIS 153 Left Out: The Intersection Between Disability and Society
2017-2018
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Haafiz Hashim, 1st place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“Genetic Engineering: A Catalyst for Social Engineering”
Nitin Srinivasan, 2nd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“Fresh Off the Boat: Appearances, Stereotypes, and the Like”
Hannah George, 3rd place, Best Expository and Analytical Essay
“The“Othering” of Queerness in Science Fiction,”
Best Oral Presentation
Serra Sozen, 1st place, Best Oral Presentation
“Human Trafficking in Houston”
Sabrina Huang
2nd place, Best Oral Presentation
“The Effects of GMOs on Non-GMO Honey Farmers”
Kunal Rai
3rd place, Best Oral Presentation
“Ethics Code Conflicts for Engineers and Architects”
2016-2017
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Noah Kenner
“Transformation of Gender Roles within the Bluebeard Narrative”
Carly Freiders
“Modernism and Musicals in the 1920s”
Alex Li
“The Intricate Voice of a Silent Statue”
Best Oral Presentation
Bharathi Selvan
“Successful Adaptations”
Bilal Rehman
“Unorthodox Prayer: Exploring Prayer Outside of the Standard Christian Paradigm”
Latane Bullock
“Rebalancing Bicycles for Houston B-Cycle”
2015-2016
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
Justin Chang
“Sing onto Drug Lords: Narcocorrido”
Lin Guo
“What Alis Work? Marxist Alienation in ‘Dark Princess’”
Best Oral Presentation
Emily Abdow
“Was Paul Sucidal?”
2014-2015
Best Expository and Analytical Essay
David Qin
“Modern Mechanisms of Diasporic Connection”
Taegan Howells
“The Sexist Roles of Women in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”
James Siriwongsup
“The Legacy of Apartheid in South African Educational Reforms”