Karen Harwell, of the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), said selection for this award was based on Rutter’s long-term, high-quality research work and for recognition of his work outside Georgia Tech.

Rosa Arriaga, Senior Research Scientist at the School of Interactive Computing, has been supervising Rutter on an ongoing research project titled Mathematical Models for Categorization and nominated him for this award.

“He embodies all of the intellectual curiosity and acumen that we value in an undergraduate researcher,” Arriaga wrote in her nomination letter.

In his work on the project, Arriaga said, Rutter designed software to conduct experimental studies, had many creative ideas in the design of the stimuli used in the experiments, and came up with his own qualitative analysis of the human data collected.

“I have had the privilege to work with undergraduates from top institutions (such as Berkeley, MIT and Harvard) in similar circumstances,” she said, “and can say that (Rutter) is the most creative and industrious undergraduate I have come across.”

UROP will host a reception and ceremony April 3 to honor all winners of the 2008 Undergraduate Research Award.

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