OSU graduate students honored for research, scholarly and service accomplishments

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Oklahoma State University graduate students were recognized with awards presented by the Graduate College April 15 during the college’s annual spring awards ceremony.

Graduate Research Excellence awards recognize outstanding accomplishments reflected in master’s theses or doctoral dissertations. Recipients received a letter of commendation from OSU President Burns Hargis and a commemorative plaque from Vice President for Research Kenneth Sewell. Winners of the Graduate Research Excellence Awards are:

• Andres Patrignani, Soil Sciences

• Lei Wu, Nutritional Sciences

• Steven Pedersen, English

• Thomas Moore, Environmental Science

• Kenan Qu, Physics

• Amir Hassan Zadeh, Management Science and Information Systems

• Roha Thomas, Psychology

• Assoumane Maiga, Agricultural Education

Master’s and doctoral students have been named Honorary Commencement Marshals for academic performance and discipline-appropriate scholarly contributions that capture the essence of OSU’s land-grant mission. Recipients receive a $1,000 award and are recognized at commencement and are provided special gown adornments. Four students were recognized with certificates from Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College Sheryl Tucker and will lead graduates in the processionals/recessionals and awarding of diploma covers:

• Shelyn Gehle, M.S., Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

• Laura Tunningley, M.A., English

• Medhavi Ambardar, Ph.D., Zoology

• Matt Judah, Ph.D., Psychology

The Summer Dissertation Fellowships support summer research for outstanding OSU post-candidacy, doctoral students from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary program. The summer fellowships include a $6,000 stipend and a tuition waiver for up to three credit hours. This year’s Summer Dissertation Fellowships winners were recognized with certificates from Dean Tucker:

• Alyssa Provencio, Fire and Emergency Management Administration

• Hilary DeShong, Clinical Psychology

• Saki Khan, Physics

• Habib Alavi, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

• Mehdi Rezaabadi, Chemical Engineering

• Samantha Benn-Duke, Education

• Frank Roberts, Agricultural Education

• Jared Eberle, History

• Julianne Yavorski, Educational Psychology

• Lynne Beaty, Zoology

The Graduate College Ambassadors, under the direction of Aaron Christiansen, manager of Graduate Student Services, are a group of honored volunteer graduate students, who are passionate about OSU, excited about their graduate education experience, and eager to share their insights with future graduate students and other diverse audiences in a positive and professional manner. Ambassadors are selected from a pool of graduate students nominated by their graduate program and disciplinary college.

The 2016 Graduate College Ambassadors presented certificates in recognition of their service to graduate education at OSU are:

College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

• Morgan Pfander, Natural Resource Ecology and Management

• Kelsy Robinson, Animal Science

• Brooke Seibert (Lead Ambassador), Agricultural Communications

• Lisa Taylor, Agricultural Education

• Kendra Wills, Animal Science

• Jose Uscanga, Agricultural Education

College of Education

• Roman Peterson, Educational Leadership Studies

• Theresa Riles, Educational Leadership Studies

College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology

• Prashanth Gari, Electrical Engineering

• Sam Koteeswaran, Chemical Engineering

• Kiran Muniraju, Electrical Engineering

College of Human Sciences

• Li Ding, Hospitality Administration

• Tashel Douglas, Human Development and Family Science

• Jin Im, Hospitality Administration

• Babajide Ojo, Human Sciences

• Jordania Smallwood, Human Development and Family Science

• Todd Spencer, Human Sciences

• Abby Van Dusen, Design, Housing and Merchandising

Spears School of Business

• Kendall Gibson, Entrepreneurship

• Raghav Nargotra, Management Information Systems

Center for Veterinary Health Sciences

• Jennifer Rudd, Veterinary Biomedical Science

College of Arts & Sciences

• Jordan Solt, Political Science

For more awards: Graduate students, faculty and staff honored with Phoenix and service awards