James Scholar Research Award

Veronica Lane has dedicated 4 semesters as a research assistant in the Voice and Speech Rehabilitation Research Lab that primarily looks at speech perception. She also looked at learning more about speakers with voice disorders. It is clear that Veronica is very passionate about her research and even presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium last year. The project she presented was “The Effect of Breathiness on Speech Intelligibility” and talked about how intelligible specific words are while different levels of noise are happening in the background. Veronica will also be presenting at this year’s virtual URS about the project “Perception of Corner Vowel Intelligibility on Dysphonic Speech”. Congratulations Veronica!

James Scholar Leadership Award

Kevin Ding interned with the Carle Contracts Management team in a project to digitize and fabricate executive summaries for Carle’s hospital bonds from 1975 to 2014. He showed leadership by stepping up to the tasks he had to complete and making sure they were done thoroughly. He took time to understand revenue bonds and repayment plans in order to do an amazing job. At the end of his internship, he created a Repository with the hospital bonds and it will be used with legal auditing of major hospital clinics, buildings, and other facilities. Congratulations Kevin!

James Scholar Community Service Award

Yiting Du worked on a project for her SOCW 417 class, “Dementia care for older adults,” and helped with her professor’s senior food pantry program. She went and helped set up tables, take out cans, produce, nonperishable items, and even assisted the seniors while picking out their food. This displays incredible community service because of the time she took out of her day to serve the older population. She also created a survey for the senior residents in order to know how the food pantry could improve. She continued to work on how to improve their service and make sure the residents had a fair selection of food. Congratulations Yiting!

James Scholar Faculty Award

College of AHS James Scholars recognize Dr. Keiko Ishikawa for her work James Scholars and the campus community at large. Her students provided the following comments about her impact:

“Dr. Ishikawa is an exceptional teacher, researcher, and mentor. She is truly super human! She cares so much for her research team, and even leaves out snacks for her research assistants! I know that everyone who knows her is inspired by the passion and cheerfulness she brings to every one of her projects”
- Mary Kate Buchheit

“Doctor Ishikawa has had an immense and special impact on myself and my studies during my undergraduate time spent at UIUC. I was fortunate to be chosen by Dr. Ishikawa to be a part of her Voice and Speech Rehabilitation lab for a James Scholars Honors project for SHS 301 my junior year. I continue to be a part of her lab as a last semester senior. Dr. Ishikawa has been not only a great mentor and resource, but also a professor I look up to and thank for my success at UIUC. Dr. Ishikawa dedicated herself to teaching her students resourceful skills and provided great research experiences. Some of these included helping run a free voice clinic, collecting data, and using that data to create databases to support treatment in the future. Dr. Ishikawa also supported me in all of the steps for my future in graduate school. She went above and beyond for all of her students and I am thankful I got to know Dr. Ishikawa so well. I thank her for all her passion, devotion, and enthusiasm that has inspired myself and the rest of her students to achieve their goals.”
- Katie Weber

“Dr. Ishikawa radiates positive energy in everything she does, making her one of the kindest, most supportive, and most energetic professors here at the University of Illinois. She is so passionate about her research and it shines through every lab meeting and Fridays during Voice Clinic. She loves sharing her passion with the lab and mentors us to think critically, creatively, and boldly in every project we undertake.”
- Malinda Mullet

“I am very grateful to have had Dr. Ishikawa as a professor and also work collaboratively with her in her research lab. She has taught me very important lessons and provided me with opportunities that continuously grown my passion for the field of SHS. All her dedication, hard work, and constant positivity is inspirational and contagious. She is a professor that truly cares for her students and is willing to go above and beyond to help. Dr. Ishikawa has had a powerful impact on my college career and I will always be appreciative of everything she has done.”
- Jenna Lachman