Firestone Medal and Kennedy Prize: Tiffany Liu ('22)

June 18, 2023

Congratulations to Tiffany Liu ('22), who is among the recipients of two different university-wide awards for undergraduate research excellence this year.

The Firestone and Golden Medals are awarded by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education to the top 10 percent of honors theses completed in a given year. The Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research recognizes theses written in the social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. The medalists each receive an engraved bronze medal and a monetary award.

Tiffany received the Firestone Medal for her Symbolic Systems Honors thesis, "Unequal Provision of Educational Accommodations: Impacts of a Nationwide SAT Policy Change on Receipt of Accommodations." Tiffany’s Honors advisor was Professor Michelle Jackson of the Sociology Department. Her second reader was Professor Nicholas Haber of the Graduate School of Education.

The David M. Kennedy Prize is awarded annually to the single best thesis in each of four academic areas: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering & applied sciences. Recipients of this award have accomplished exceptionally advanced research in the field and have shown strong potential for publication in peer-reviewed scholarly works. The prize was established in 2008 in recognition of history professor David M. Kennedy’s long-standing mentoring of undergraduate writers. Winners each received an engraved plaque and a monetary award.

We are very pleased to announce that Tiffany Liu’s thesis was selected for the Kennedy Prize-- the first SymSys recipient of this award since it was instituted.