Marrone and Luger receive outstanding student research awards UND students Sonia Marrone and Elizabeth Luger were recently honored with 2009 Alan Allery Graduate and Undergraduate Awards. The awards honor outstanding American Indian graduate and undergraduate student health researchers. Selection criteria for the awards include quality, impact and significance of research, types of research experience and contribution to the research projects under consideration. Sonia Marrone is the 2009 Alan Allery Graduate Award winner. A clinical psychology doctoral candidate, she is completing her pre-doctoral internship at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree at the University of Winnipeg in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her research interests include health promotion and disease prevention as well as health disparities among American Indians. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, she is of Métis decent with ancestors from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Elizabeth Luger is the 2009 Alan Allery Undergraduate Award winner. A fourth-year undergraduate, Luger will graduate in 2010 with a double major in Indian studies and psychology, followed by graduate school for clinical psychology. Luger is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and a graduate of Red River High School. UND students Sierra Abe and Jenna Parisien were recognized as Alan Allery Undergraduate Health Researchers of Promise. Abe is a junior studying psychology with minors in non-profit and political science. Of Hidatsa and Arikara descent, she is originally from Hazen, N.D. Parisien is a senior studying pre-medicine and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa originally from Belcourt, N.D. The awards are named in honor of the late Alan J. Allery, Ph.D., a fallen member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Actively involved on the UND campus, he was an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the Center for Rural Health, director of the National Resource Center on Native American Aging, and director of Student Health Services. His experience included 30 years of work with American Indian people. The awards are presented annually as part of the American Indian Health Research Conference, sponsored by the UND Center for Rural Health, North Dakota IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences and American Indians Programs Counsel. This year’s conference, scheduled for March 27 in Grand Forks, was canceled due to flood complications around the region. -- Tara Mertz, Communications Specialist, Center for Rural Health, taramertz@medicine.nodak.edu, 777-3720