The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs at Davidson College encourages students from the classes of 2013, 2014, and 2015 to apply for the Bank of America-Kemp Scholars Program for the 2012 calendar year.  For successful applicants, the program provides $2,000 in reimbursable expenses to support independent study, travel, and research, plus an award of $1,000.  

Scholars, with faculty supervisors, work independently on a research project of their own design.  In addition, they participate with the faculty in an interdisciplinary (non-credit) seminar which links their independent research projects.  In April, successful applicants and their Kemp advisors will meet several times as a group and each Kemp scholar will present the research proposal, outline summer plans, and lead a discussion to refine and inform the proposed work  Students are expected to use the summer months to travel and conduct the bulk of their research. Then, during the Fall 2010 semester, the group will reconvene for another set of presentations in which the students present the results of their research. 

Applicants and their advisors are strongly encouraged to identify potential outlets for the research, such as professional conferences which sponsor student presentations and/or posters, undergraduate journals and/or conferences, and other avenues.  Frequently, projects have had an international focus with the Kemp award sponsoring travel outside the United States.  Domestic projects, however, will also be considered.

The selection committee consists of the Bank of America/Kemp Scholars Program Director (currently Mark C. Foley, Economics), the Dean of Faculty, the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the director of the Dean Rusk program, an alumni representative, and representatives from Bank of America. 

Applications are due in hardcopy by Tuesday, March 20, 2012 in Prof. Foley's office, Chambers 3140.  Applicants will be notified of the committee's decisions shortly after the selection committee meets.  Please direct questions to Prof. Foley at 704.894.2248 or mafoley@davidson.edu. 

The application form is available in Microsoft Word   or PDF

The 2011 Kemp Scholars conducted research on the following topics:

• Curating a Space for Private Museums: An Analysis of the Motivators and Consequences of Art's Latest Trend
• Jumpstarting the Motor City: Urban Revitalization in Detroit
• Solar Rural Electrification in Nicaragua
• Deities of Territoriality in the Localization of Chinese Malaysian Religiosity: Examining Minority Imaginings and Constructions
• Exploring Organic and Conventional Crop Yields

The 2010 Kemp Scholars's topics were:

• Central Bank Development and Economic Transition in Post-Soviet Estonia
• Organizational Collaboration as a Method to Address the Health Needs of Latinas in the DC Metro Area
• The Untold Stories of the Philippine Women's Rights Movement: Sharing the Personal Narratives of Young Activists
• Compliance of HIV Positive Women to Water Treatment in Infant Formula in Mwandi, Zambia
• The Combined Effects of Ethanol and Triiodothyronine on Ozone-induced Oxidative Damage in Lung Cells

The 2009 Kemp Scholars studied

• gender differences in migration decisions in Germany
• nationalism and the North Korean educational system in Japan
• the financial crisis in Iceland
• the impact of the financial crisis on prospects for European integration
• historical, legal, and personal accounts of perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide

Selected topics from prior years are

• the effect of business education on entrepreneurialism
• the impact of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission on immigration studiesn
• tuberculosis in the context of HIV/AIDS in the Phillipines
• the effects of the 2008 Olympics on human rights in China
• personal law among Muslim women in India
• contemporary storytelling in England
• psychosocial factors affecting the duration of breastfeeding
• gender issues in reproductive health