The Provost’s Academic Excellence Award recognizes graduating seniors who have exhibited an extraordinary level of intellectual engagement and academic achievement during their time at Denison. The 2022 awardees were announced in the April Academic Awards Convocation, which took place in the University’s Swasey Chapel.
Provost Kim Coplin noted, “The two winners of this award have exemplary academic records, engagement in independent research or creative work, and contributions to intellectual life on campus and beyond. They have demonstrated outstanding performance in all their academic endeavors, truly exemplifying excellence in the liberal arts.”
Diyanshu Emandi, a double major in philosophy and economics, has time and again produced trailblazing philosophical research. Her professors remark on her highly original philosophical thinking and intellectual exploration. An exemplary contributor to the intellectual community of the college, she has co-edited the journal, Episteme, has coordinated the Philosophy Coffee series and the Philosophy Colloquia, and has served both as a TA for the economics department and a Tutor for the Philosophy Department. She also served as co-captain of the women’s varsity fencing team. Emandi graduated in December and has been accepted into several excellent Ph.D. programs in philosophy.
A chemistry major and math minor, Tung Nguyen, has done cutting-edge chemistry research. He twice did research as an Anderson Summer Scholar at Denison, and when he didn’t have the opportunity to do summer research at Denison in 2020 due to the pandemic, he seized the opportunity to conduct research in a chemistry lab at Ohio State. His research led to his publication of an article as first author in a leading peer-reviewed chemistry journal. While at Denison, Nguyen has shown himself to be a superb mentor as a TA and a tutor with the Academic Resource Center for chemistry, math, and physics.
