Within Limits is the name of third-year College student Aubrey Gilbert's recently finished book, but this title does not describe the young author's exceptional scholastic success.
Last Tuesday, Gilbert, a native of Charleston, S.C., was informed that she had received the Truman Scholarship, a scholarship that awards 61 outstanding college juniors $30,000 for their final year of college and two to three years of post-graduate study. Recipients must plan careers in government or non-profit service.
Gilbert characterized the award recipients as "people who have a vision about the future."
Although merely a third-year student, she will graduate this May with a double major: one in Biology, the other in the self-created field of "Evolution, Metaphor and Paradox." Gilbert described her field as a synthesis of philosophy, molecular biology and anthropology.
Her research within these disciplines also is the basis for her book, Within Limits. She is beginning the publishing process.
After graduation, Gilbert said she plans to take a year off from studying to explore different fields for possible post-graduate work.
She said she will spend the next year studying Panama's reefs with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, working on biochemistry at the University of Paris and working on molecular biology in Barcelona, Spain.
Gilbert said she enjoyed the application process although she was initially concerned about her interview with the selection panel.
During the interview she said she performed a belly-dance and named "Sesame Street" as her favorite television show.
University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said "in recent years U.Va. has been quite successful" with the Truman Scholarship, with eight University students receiving the scholarship since 1992.
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