Harvard College

Harvard University, which celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units.

Hayley Nicole Price

Harvard College – 2015 Recipient

A senior at Harvard College, Hayley is Biomedical Engineering concentrator. She is pursuing a language citation in Spanish, as well.

An aspiring doctor, Hayley’s focus is on applying engineering knowledge to clinical medicine. She spent the summer working in the Lewis Labs at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Her research consists of 2 parts – a biology aspect and an engineering aspect. On the biology side, she works with iPSCs (human induced pluripotent stem cells, which are cells that can potentially become any type of tissue in the body). These stem cells can be cultured and – with the right “ingredients” and conditions – ultimately develop into organoids, which replicate organ function on a tiny scale. Organoids are studied to gain insights into developmental processes and disease. On the engineering side, a big hurdle in the realm of organoid research is that it is hard to maintain organoids in the laboratory setting. Inside the body, actual developing organs benefit from nutrient and waste exchange, and are surrounded by arteries and capillaries to form complex networks. The engineering aspect of the project aims to recreate this environment in the laboratory. 3-D printing creates little scaffolds where the organoids are eventually implanted.

Outside of the lab, Hayley’s work with Pets as Therapy – as a volunteer and now a director – is an experience that has defined her time at Harvard. Each week, volunteers bring dogs into a Cambridge nursing home to visit with the residents. Hayley’s interactions with the nursing home residents are her ”continuing call to action, transforming medical school from a logical next step into my life’s purpose, the culmination of my gift for science and my desire to help improve people’s quality of life.” Hayley has deferred the use of her grant.

Finalists

Chelsey Rose Ekelem
Sofia Aurora Escudero
LaShae K.K. Henderson
Kirin Gupta
Viviane Valdes
Tamara Fernando

Fitzie added a sparkle to our lives…She added class to our routine dining hall gatherings. She remembered our birthdays. She somehow found time to attend our various athletic endeavors…She reveled in such wackiness as riding a tandem bicycle with her roommate in the Harvard-to-Wellesley bicycle race. She had a kind word and a quick smile for everyone. And she never complained about anything. Never.

Fitzie had one characteristic that was more endearing and magical than all others during those years at Harvard…In short, Fitzie had an unbounded capacity for laughter-not just polite smiles or restrained chuckles, but unbridled, unreserved, uncontrolled and uncontrollable laughter for its own sake, with an innocence of purpose that infected us all. In my mind’s eye, I see her impish face aglow with a laugh she simply couldn’t contain.

Fitzie’s warmth was remarkable. During one class, another Harvard student, who was blind, asked for help so he could find his way from the first floor to a class on the second floor. A couple of us hesitated, but Fitzie quickly went forward, asked how she could help, took his arm firmly as he directed her and led him to the second floor. When she returned to class she told me ‘I am no good at that kind of thing,’ but of course she was.

To know Fitzie was to know there was someone in your life who had an impeccable moral sensibility. When I think of Fitzie, I remember her vitality, good humor and drive, but what impressed me most was her fundamental goodness. Without a trace of piety or righteousness, Fitzie radiated a feeling that she had a firm grasp on right and wrong. You could trust that she would not be swayed by improper considerations.

Fitzie was unpretentious. I mean this as the ultimate compliment. Fitzie had credentials rivaling or surpassing those of her classmates at Radcliffe… she felt no need to prove those credentials to others, however subtly... Fitzie seemed content to be known and loved by her friends as the warm, caring, fun-loving person that she was above all other things.

Fitzie had the wonderful ability to be highly competitive without outwardly competing with anyone but herself. Fitzie was unique in her ability to push herself, to strive, to achieve, to relish her victories without ever doing so at the expense of others or ever flaunting her success.

One sensed that there was an inner engine driving Fitzie that gave her her determination and steel.

She enjoyed many simple things like hot tea, good novels, Audrey Hepburn movies, long baths, long walks, snow, rain, music and autumn in New England.

I think she had more and varied friends than anyone I have known.