Doris Brewer Cohen Award
The Doris Brewer Cohen Endowment was established in 1971 by Dr. Saul G. Cohen, an esteemed member of the Brandeis faculty, first chair of its chemistry department, and dean of faculty, who passed away in 2010. He was also the devoted husband of the late Doris Brewer Cohen. Through the creation of the Doris Brewer Cohen Endowment Awards, Dr. Cohen sought to honor Mrs. Cohen and her firm belief that, "it was necessary to keep clearly in mind that a primary purpose of the University is to encourage young people to learn about and to engage in intellectual activity of high scientific, ethical, and aesthetic merit." The late Mrs. Cohen was a talented scholar in her own right, having studied Social Services at Radcliffe and having worked and volunteered at several Social Work agencies. In addition, Dr. Cohen often remarked about his wife, "(She) played a key role in molding the early Brandeis faculty."
The prestigious Doris Brewer Cohen Endowment Awards are presented annually to graduating seniors who have demonstrated the highest levels of academic achievement, while challenging themselves intellectually in their particular fields of interest.
Doris Brewer Cohen Award in Chemical and Biological Sciences
This award is a merit-based honor for one senior who has completed research in collaboration with a member of Brandeis faculty in Chemical and Biological sciences.
Past Recipients
- 2023 - Sofia Isabel Gonzalez Rodriguez
- 2022 - Laura Grunenkovaite
- 2021 - Sadie Antine
- 2020 - Noah Somberg
- 2019 - Adam Lamper
- 2018 - Richard Haburcak
- 2017 - Thomas Rosetti
- 2016 - Samantha Chin
- 2015 - Noam Saper
- 2014 - Tom Zhang
Doris Brewer Cohen Award in Humanities
This is a merit-based award for one individual who has the best senior thesis/essay in any of the following fields:
Classical Studies; Comparative Literature and Culture; Creative Writing; East Asian Studies; English; European Cultural Studies; Film, Television, and Interactive Media; French and Francophone Studies; German Studies; Hispanic Studies; Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies; Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies; Near Eastern and Judaic Studies; Non-performance honors work in Fine Arts, Music, or Theater Arts; Philosophy; Religious Studies; Russian Studies.
Each major in the Humanities can nominate one student for the selection committee to consider. Chairs/Directors send nominations and a copy of the student’s work to Caren Irr and Sonja Catano by May 1, 2024
Past Recipients
- 2023 - Sophia Reiss
- 2022 - Sam Timbers
- 2021 - Kwesi Baraka Lee Jones
- 2020 - Sonia Maria Pavel
- 2019 - Gavriel Avraham Kutliroff
- 2018 - Yael Jaffe
- 2017 - Niranjana Warrier
- 2016 - Ben Poser
- 2015 - Daniel Kline
- 2014 - Dustin Aaron
Doris Brewer Cohen Award in Justice and Public Life
This is a merit-based award for one individual with the best senior thesis/honors paper in any of the following fields:
African and African American Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Asian-American Pacific Islander Studies; Business; Economics; Education; Environmental Studies; Health: Science, Society, and Policy; History; Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program; International and Global Studies; Journalism; Legal Studies; Linguistics; Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies; Politics; Social Justice and Social Policy; Sociology; Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Each department or program in the Social Sciences can nominate one thesis for the selection committee to consider. Please email nominations to Laura Woolf by April 19, 2024.
Past Recipients
- 2023 - Jason Walter
- 2022 - Luca Swinford
- 2021 - Ryan Shaffer
- 2020 - Donald Weisse
- 2019 - Yiyi Wu
- 2018 - Alexandra Thomas
- 2017 - Henry Warburton
- 2016 - Ellie Driscoll
- 2015 - Natasha Gordon and Jenna Rice
- 2014 - Charlotte Erb