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