Forest City, Iowa – The Iowa Iota chapter of Waldorf College’s Alpha Chi Honor Society announced the recipients of two $500 grants that the organization awards annually. Peter Eggebraaten of Forest City, Iowa and Ashley Lutrick of Norwalk, Iowa both received funding based on their grant proposals.
“It is truly gratifying to see the multidisciplinary range of research projects being conducted on the Waldorf College campus,” said Dr. Suzanne Falck-Yi, Alpha Chi faculty sponsor. “Alpha Chi is dedicated to promoting scholarship on campus, so we are happy to enable these students’ work on their undergraduate research projects that they might not otherwise be able to afford.”
Eggebraaten, an English and creative writing major, will use his grant to help with his English thesis, “A Physical Intellect.” The thesis explores the idea that all literary objects can be studied as systems governed by natural physical law. Eggebraaten plans on presenting his thesis at the National Undergraduate Literature Conference in April.
Lutrick, a biology and pre-professional wellness major, plans to use her grant to aid in her research project, “Effect of deforestation on microbial biodiversity within the Amazon Rainforest and the presence of potential novel Actinomycetes.” She plans to present her project at the Iowa Academy of Sciences in April. Lutrick is basing her research off of soil samples she collected in Peru this summer as part of a trip with the Waldorf College Biology Club.
