A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

Malaysia in the summer of 2011. This
project, which utilized survey research
and interviews to investigate the meaning
of democracy in Malaysia, is based upon
Shu Wen’s experiences in two Colby-
Sawyer classes: the Honors “Citizen
Leader” Pathway and Introduction to
Comparative Government.
These projects reveal the ways in
which the Idea Fund advances the
Wesson Honors Program’s academic mission. The process of
constructing, articulating and undertaking an Idea Fund project
pushes students to apply what they learn in the classroom,
break down disciplinary walls and become critical thinkers in
their everyday life.
While many Idea Fund proposals probe questions and
themes that arose in classes, the program also encourages students
to test-drive their own theories. During the summer of
2010, Business Administration major Chao Lu ’13 conducted
a study that tracked the decisions of hedge fund managers and
linked these decisions to both macro and micro economic performance.
This project, which required a very small budget to
purchase resources and access to key databases, allowed Chao to
explore the complex relationship between truth, rationality and
success in the world of economics. His conclusion, that “what is
true is not always successful,” presents an intriguing challenge
to the assumptions of classical economic theory.
Another example of a student utilizing an Idea Fund grant
to explore a hypothesis is Pengziang Ding ’14, who this summer
examined a thought-provoking theory about the emerging
relationship between China and the United States. Pengziang
proposed that the high levels of knowledge and interest in the
United States and its systems among Chinese students is not
matched by similar levels of knowledge and interest in China
among American students. His project, which collected survey
responses to be analyzed and interpreted, will spark campus-
Echo Wang (center on horseback) prepares to go riding in a province of China formerly known as Tibet.
40 COLBY-SAWYER ALUMNI MAGAZINE
A panel of Colby-Sawyer students, along with Professor Eric Boyer (center), participated in a discussion titled
“One Tibet: Many Meanings” during International Education Week in November 2010. The panel included
(from left): Yujia “Echo” Wang (China), Kylie Dally (U.S.), Professor Boyer, Abhiyan Thapliya (Nepal), Harinder
Singh (India) and Tenzin Tsephel (Tibet), and Professor of Business Administration Eva Szalvai (not shown).
wide discussions about the emerging political, economic and
social ties that bind China with the United States.
In challenging students to utilize the guideposts of their
classroom experiences to chart their own academic paths,
the Idea Fund fuels the intellectual curiosity, experience and
confidence necessary to seek out new opportunities. Idea Fund
recipients build research projects that send them out into the
world, and in turn bring their conclusions and theories back to
the classroom.
Few undergraduates are given opportunities to pursue their
own research, and the skills that this process demands will
easily transfer to future endeavors. Idea Fund grants push our
honors students to develop their intellectual curiosity, and
when combined with experience and confidence, curiosity is a
powerful recipe for success in applications for competitive fellowships,
admission to graduate school, and employment.
While the benefits most clearly accrue to the individual
grant recipients, the community benefits from their experiences
in a number of ways. In sharing their projects with the campus
community in and outside the classroom, idea grant recipients
share their research and connections with the world, fostering
an infectious excitement for learning on campus.
Idea Fund projects are international in a way that mirrors
the strong international component of the Wesson Honors
Program. Idea Fund research has taken place throughout
the United States and in China, India, Nepal, Ghana, Spain
or some other pop-culture icon, that China
was an overwhelming power of evil whose
reign of terror over the Tibetan people
must be stopped. After actually talking
to people in China about Tibet, however,
I was forced to question this idea. One
Chinese man drew parallels between the
Chinese conquests of Tibetan land with the
European conquests of Native American
land. These were the kinds of conversations
I was able to bring home with me.
One moment stands out beyond all
others as an indication of the success of our
project. When Echo and I returned to campus,
we worked with our advisor, Assistant
Professor of Social Sciences and Education
PHOTO: Ed Germar