2009 Campbell Social Science Research Prizes awarded

	The prizes are named in memory of the late Donald T. Campbell.

Lehigh University has announced the winners of the 2009 Donald T. Campbell Social Science Research Prizes. The annual Campbell Prizes, which honor the memory of distinguished social scientist Donald T. Campbell, recognize outstanding social science research conducted by Lehigh students.
A prize of $500 each is awarded to a graduate and undergraduate student for social science papers of high quality, methodological originality, and societal significance and come from the social sciences fields. The winners are selected by representatives from the social sciences departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, including Political Science, International Relations, Psychology, History, Journalism and Communication, Sociology and Anthropology, and the College of Business and Economics’ Department of Economics.
“We had a lot of really interesting papers this year, and we were particularly impressed by the quality of the undergraduate entries,” said Kathy Olson, associate professor of journalism and communication, and chair of the selection committee. “There wasn't a bad paper in the bunch, and we decided to recognize four of them with prizes or honorable mentions.”
Campbell served as a Lehigh University professor of social relations, psychology, and education until he retired in 1994. He was world renowned for his pioneering work in social science methodology, evaluation research, and the application of social science to the understanding and solution of a wide variety of social issues.
Starla M. Weaver, a graduate student in psychology, won the graduate award for her paper, “What's on Your Mind: The Influence of the Contents of Working Memory on Choice.” Supervised by Kate Arrington, assistant professor of psychology, Weaver examined the influence of information in working memory on behavioral selection, in particular whether the specific tasks one chooses to perform within a multitasking environment would be influenced by information being maintained in working memory.
Matthew Horne, an economics major, won the undergraduate award for his paper, “Monetary Policy and Asset Prices: Does the Federal Reserve Practice Asset Price Targeting?” The paper, supervised by Larry Taylor, professor of economics, explored the impact that asset prices have had on Federal Reserve policy in how they set the Fed Funds rate.
Laura Kelly won second place in the undergraduate competition for her paper Hierarchies of the Senses: Investigating Color, Texture and Scent in American English, in which she conducted a pilot study using group communication accuracy as a measure of sense importance within a language group. Kelly’s work was supervised by John Gatewood, professor of sociology and anthropology.
Two undergraduate students received honorable mentions, including Molly Cramsey for her paper, “The Impact of Consumer Food Subsidies in the Middle East and North Africa,” supervised by Bruce Moon, professor of international relations; and Alexandra Mulrow for her paper, Going Courting, Confederate Style, supervised by Michelle LeMaster, assistant professor of history.
--Tricia Long