Ryan M. Schiffbauer, a senior pursuing a double major in psychology and French, has become the embodiment of intellectual curiosity at West VirginiaUniversity. This curiosity is perhaps why _ USA Today_ selected him for honorable mention on the newspapers 2003 All-USA College Academic Team and featured the team, including Schiffbauer, in the Thursday, Feb. 13, edition .

A native of Fairmont, Schiffbauer graduated from FairmontSenior High School in 1999 as a National Merit Scholar. He has been fascinated with psychology since he was a freshman.

“For my entire life, Ive been intrigued by the great questions of philosophy, with particular interests in ontology, epistemology and hermeneutics,”Schiffbauer said.”Psychology promised me a way to study those questions scientifically. I have always thought of psychology as �€~philosophy made empirical.”

Schiffbauers curiosity has led him away from becoming a psychologist, though. Instead, he plans on attending graduate school at WVU through either the Department of Political Science or the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. The MALS program is an interdisciplinary major that requires students to choose a study-focus theme and select course work from several disciplines.

“Either way, Im interested in focusing on French politics,”he said.”After that, I plan to apply to a Ph.D. program in political science to study French and European politics. Ultimately, Id like to be a professor or a research fellow at a foreign policy think tank.”

Schiffbauer promises to be successful in whatever career path he chooses. In 2000, he was the grand prize winner of the WVU Benedum Essay Contest with a paper titled”Jefferson, Skinner and the Gregorian Odometer: American Science in the New Millennium.”

He received the senior prize the following year in the Benedum Essay Contest with”Memory, Identity and One Curiously Pleasurable Cup of Coffee: Lessons from a Season in the Memory Disorders Clinic.”

An Honors Program student with a 4.0 grade-point average, he was designated as an Eberly Scholar in 2001 and 2002 by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the colleges top academic honor.

In 2001, he began working as a health communication specialist for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, one of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Morgantown, where he plans, conducts and analyzes research on human attitudes and decision-making.

His current research, under the direction of NIOSH researcher Brady Reynolds, who received his Ph.D. in psychology at WVU , examines impulsive human behavior, especially in work settings. Reynolds and Schiffbauer have been invited to outline their research in a special issue of the academic journal Behavioral Processes .

“I believe that our efforts will someday inform public policy aimed at making the workplace amenable to self-control and safety,”Schiffbauer said.”... it may contribute to an understanding of why humans so easily make choices contrary to their long-term best interests and how, if at all, we might mitigate that malignant tendency.”

“Ryan is one of the most intellectually curious and broadly read undergraduates students I have come to know in more than 20 years of teaching and administration at the university level,”said M. Duane Nellis, dean of the EberlyCollege, who endorsed the nomination.

“The people who were kind enough to write very laudatory recommendations for my application mean a lot to me,”Schiffbauer said.”Those letters helped me to realize that some of the work that Ive done at WVU is appreciated and worthwhile. Certainly its always nice to make a good showing in any contest at the national level, especially one that places me among the top college students in the country.”

Schiffbauer is just one of many WVU students to be recognized by the All-USA College Academic Team during its 14 years of existence. These previous students made the first team: Mike Wood of Cool Ridge (2002); Peter Love of Charleston (2001); Carmella Evans of Kopperston (1997); John Unger of Martinsburg (1992); and Brian Caveney of Wheeling (1991); others have made honorable mention.

For more information on the winners, log on tohttp://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2003-02-12-college-all-stars.htm