Eight graduate students receive awards for research, travel

The Sam Fox School recently awarded eight graduate students with funds to support creative activity, research, and travel from December 2024 through March 2025.

Violet Brand, MFA-VA ‘26, will attend the College Art Association 113th annual conference in New York, Ny. later this month.

Flora Chen, MArch '26, visited cultural and architectural sites in Los Angeles as she investigates her chosen research theme of “Building Identity: Architectural Narratives of Korean Immigrants in Los Angeles.”

Sarah Hawkes, MFA-IVC '25, visited various cities in Utah, interviewing participants for her thesis’ visual essay on the lives of contemporary Western figures.

Dallas Spears, MFA-VA '26, researched contemporary Mexican artists during visits to current exhibitions and cultural sites in Mexico City.

Amy Selstad, MFA-IVC ’26, traveled to New York, Ny. for The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Winter Conference (SCBWI).

Roy Uptain, MFA-VA '25, studied the social representations of hypermasculinity at Dragonman’s gun shop in Colorado Springs, Colo. and viewed the “Movements Toward Freedom” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

Emma Woolcott, MUD/MArch '25, received funds to support a ‘Bear Trek’ across Oregon and Washington state, visiting various urban design and landscape architecture non-profit organizations active in community development.

Yixiao Zhang, MFA-VA '26, traveled to Lima, Peru to conduct research at cultural and historical sites and create a visual diary of the intertwining histories of Chinese laborers to South America.

The awards, funded by the Ralph J. Nagel Deanship Endowment, are open to all full-time graduate students in the Sam Fox School at WashU who are in good standing. Applications are due Feb. 24, 2025 for travel March 2025 through October 2025.