- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Class of 1879 Prize is awarded by the Humanities & Arts department yearly for excellent work in the culminating project for the Humanities & Arts Requirement. These projects must demonstrate exceptional creativity and skill in conceiving, developing, and expressing a theme within any discipline in the humanities and arts.
History of the Prize
WPI has recognized exemplary work in the humanities and arts since 1872, when the department of English and Modern Languages established an award for the best paper in composition classes. At its reunion in 1900, the Class of 1879 endowed this prize for a paper "on a topic of general interest." The endowment was continued by Spencer Miller 1879, who wanted “to encourage graduates of the Institute to develop the art of clear and lucid English in the discussion of engineering subjects.” The Class of 1879 Prize was then awarded annually to the best term paper in the departments of English, History, and Languages until the adoption of the WPI Plan in 1970. In 1983, the department of Humanities & Arts began to award the Class of 1879 Prize to the best Humanities Requirement Projects.
The Class of 1879 Prize has evolved alongside WPI. Today’s prize-winning projects rarely concern engineering subjects, and some aren’t even traditional essays. But we still honor the spirit of Mr. Miller’s prize, to encourage and reward the highest achievements of human expression.
Details for each year's competition are announced in November/December, with a deadline for submission in January. For information on the competition and how to submit your project for consideration, please contact the HUA office at ext. 5246 or at huaweb@wpi.edu.
Note: Prizes awarded for projects completed the previous year.
Browse Class of 1879 Prize for Outstanding Projects in the Humanities awardees
| Year | Recipient | Award level | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alison Drapeau advisor: Lindsay Davis | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Proposing Universal Policy to De-Feminize Childcare" |
| 2021 | Kalina Bonofiglio advisor: Joe Aguilar | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Blue Sky Society" |
| 2021 | Robbie Oleynick advisor: Laura Eckelman | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Scoring A Silent Sky" |
| 2021 | Paul A. Pacheco Jr. & Vanessa Van DeMark advisor: Kristin Boudreau | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"Addressing the Gender Gap in STEM Education with Classroom Interventions" |
| 2021 | Sage Ortega-Shue advisor: Joseph Cullon | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"The Appropriation of Defensible Space" |
| 2020 | Cosette Domkofski | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Those Who Endure,” advisor: Joseph Aguilar |
| 2020 | Johanna Whitwell | Winner | Undergraduate |
'Evaluating the Influence of Italian Fascism on Brazilian Integralism and the Vargas Regime' advisor: John Galante |
| 2020 | Minh Anh Kieu | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Insiders, Outsiders, and In-Between: Asian Nonimmigrant Experience in the American Context of Intersectional Racism" advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2020 | Julia Milks | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Psychiatric Healthcare in Morocco,” advisor: Rebecca Moody |
| 2020 | Payton Bielawski | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Sheltered: A Look into the Connection Between Nature and Humankind,” advisor: Marie Keller |
| 2020 | Samuel Hopkins | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Development of Single-use Plastics in a Throwaway Culture,” advisor: Joseph Cullon |
| 2019 | Carla Duarte | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Saudade: A story of Identity,” advisor: Katharine McIntyre |
| 2019 | Kamryn Spinelli | Winner | Undergraduate |
“The Jewish Exodus from Morocco: Gauging the Social Trauma,” advisor: Mohamed Brahimi |
| 2019 | Petra Kumi | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Understanding the Effects of Highly Ideological Music in Thailand From a Structural and Sociocultural Perspective,” advisor: Carlos Odriz |
| 2019 | Camryn Berry | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“16:91,” Advisor: Katharine McIntyre |
| 2019 | Jackson Powell | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“The impact of Government Intervention of Global Industry: A Case of China and the Solar Energy Industry,” advisor: John Galante |
| 2019 | Kristen Antunes | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Local Knowledge and Climate Adaptation,” advisor: William San Martin |
| 2018 | Jared Grier | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Acquired Disability and Disruption of the Self,” advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2018 | Jessica Hatt | Winner | Undergraduate |
“The Drug that Shattered the Nuclear Family,” advisor: Constance Clark |
| 2018 | Neel Dhanaraj | Winner | Undergraduate |
“An Analysis of the Potential Endangerment of Immigrants Due to Merit-Based Immigration,” advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2018 | Eliot M. Fine | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Worcester: A Farewell Tour,” advisor: Joshua Harmon |
| 2018 | Harold Terry Hearst III | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“The Music of Mario Galaxy,” advisor: Douglas Weeks |
| 2018 | Nde Nkimbeng | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“The Multiple Selves of the Oppressed,” advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2018 | Rosa Reynoso | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“The Muslim World in Transition—Rediscovering True Islam,” advisor: W.A. Bland Addison |
| 2017 | Aviv Brest | Winner | Undergraduate |
“An Ethical Framework for the Genetic Engineering of Animals,” advisor: John Sanbonmatsu |
| 2017 | Erin Morissette | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Acoustics of the Clarinet and Spaulding Recital Hall,” advisor: Douglas Weeks |
| 2017 | Nicole Mattson | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“For Every Hour: Twenty-Four Prose Poems,” advisor: Joshua Harmon |
| 2017 | Olivia Leavitt | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Repeat and Refrain: Making A Renaissance Villancico Modern,” advisor: Douglas Weeks |
| 2016 | Benjamin Huchley | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Online Avatars: An Expression of the User's Self," advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2016 | Cody Slater | Winner | Undergraduate |
"The Temporal Expression of Consciousness," advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2016 | Reynaldo Duran | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Painting a Bridge Between Past and Future," advisor: W.A. Bland Addison and Kristin Boudreau |
| 2016 | Alex Markoski | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"Greatest Influences for Being a Well-Rounded Musician," advisor: Douglas Weeks |
| 2016 | Eric Stolz | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"One- and Two-State Peace Solutions in Israel," advisor: W.A. Bland Addison |
| 2015 | Kimberly Marrion | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Ethics, Dementia and Family: An Investigation into the Familial Issues that Arise with Dementia Patients,” major: Architectural Engineering, advisor: Bethel Eddy |
| 2015 | Paulo Carvalho | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Developing and Composing for a Robotic Organ,” major: Biomedical Engineering and Robotics Engineering, minor: Electrical and Computer Engineering, advisor: Scott Barton |
| 2015 | Katherine Picchione | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Pokomchi Pictorial Literacy,” major: Mechanical Engineering and Society, Technology, and Policy, advisor: Ryan Madan |
| 2014 | Bohao Li | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Lee Teng-hui and a New Taiwanese Nationalism” Major: Computer Science. Advisor: Jennifer Rudolph |
| 2014 | Charlotte Reames | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Gender Roles in Morocco” Major: Biology and Biotechnology. Advisor: W. A. Bland Addison |
| 2014 | Jedediah Perron | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Going Out With A Bang: The American Supersonic Transport and the Environmental Movement” Major: Aerospace Engineering. Advisor: Thomas Robertson |
| 2014 | Ali Fuat Becan | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Producer as Composer Practicum” Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering. Advisor: Scott Barton (honorable mention) |
| 2014 | Xuan He | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
“Faith Healing” Major: Biomedical Engineering. Advisor: Bethel Eddy |
| 2013 | Damien Cabral | Winner | Undergraduate |
"The Origins of Muslim Extremism" , advisor: W.A. Bland Addison |
| 2013 | Jesse Lehman | Winner | Undergraduate |
"A Discussion of 20th Century Musical Techniques and Their Presence in Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen“ , advisor: Douglas Weeks |
| 2013 | Shreyas Renganathan | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Undeterminism: Materially Realizing Free Will", advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2013 | Rachel Handel | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"The Towers Sesquicentennial Edition", advisor: James Cocola |
| 2013 | Robert Dabrowski | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"Do Robots Have Freedom?", advisor: Jennifer McWeeny |
| 2013 | Victoria Carlson | Honorable Mention | Undergraduate |
"The President's Shot, Now What?", advisor: M. David Samson |
| 2012 | Christopher Bannon | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Transgenic Animals and the Catholic Church”, Advisor: Bethel Eddy |
| 2012 | Justin Rice | Winner | Undergraduate |
“Modernization in the Western Himalayas: Himachal Pradesh and the Apple Industry”, Advisor: Thomas Robertson |
| 2012 | Xiuping Chen | Winner | Undergraduate |
"Origins and Characteristics of Chinese Cyber Nationalism”, Advisor: Jennifer Rudolph |