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2021 Masters Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis Awards Now Open

Every year BERA recognises academic excellence by awarding the BERA Masters Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis Awards

This underscores BERA’s commitment to developing capacity, advancing quality and methodological originality within the field of educational research.

Prizes Include:

• 1000 word feature in Research Intelligence
• Complimentary Registration at BERA Conference 2021 in Birmingham

The institution at which the student submitted their thesis or dissertation should have confirmed the degree awarded by 31st December 2020; i.e this award is awarded to education students who have completed their qualification in the previous year (2020).

Find out more about the awards and apply here

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BERA announces 2024 Masters Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis winners

Annually, BERA recognises academic excellence and research rigour demonstrated by both Master of Education and Doctorate students. This recognition underscores BERA’s commitment to developing capacity, advancing quality and methodological originality within the field of educational research. These annual awards are scored by the BERA College of Reviewers, in collaboration with members of BERA’s Engagement Committee.

We are pleased to announce the  recipients of the 2024 BERA Masters Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis award:

Kate Fox has been awarded the 2024 Masters Dissertation prize for her dissertation  “Building bridges or barriers? A study of home, community, and school literacy practices in rural Tanzania” 

Emily Macleod has been awarded the 2024 Doctoral Thesis Prize for her thesis “ The status and safety of teaching: A longitudinal study of why some young people in England become teachers, and why others do not “

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Reimagining the Post-Coronial University: Simone Eringfeld wins 2021 BERA Master’s Dissertation Award

19 February 2021 Life Members

Simone Eringfeld, a recent graduate from Clare Hall and the Faculty of Education here at the University of Cambridge, is the winner of the 2021 BERA Master’s Dissertation Award for her dissertation Reimagining the Post-Coronial University through Podcasting: Hopes and Fears for the Future of Higher Education after Covid-19 .

Simone’s thesis asks how we might reimagine the future of HE and the post-coronial University.

In Simone’s words, the thesis is: ‘A storied collection of hopes, fears and expectations for the future, as held and felt by students and academics at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University. My podcast Cambridge Quaranchats forms part of the methodology of this project: used as an affective, collaborative and open access ‘archive’, podcasting serves to publicly document the crisis of the ‘here and now’ for future remembrance. Podcast conversations were used in private research interviews to sonically elicit further reflections on reimagining horizons of the possible for the post-coronial University. The resulting data was used to create a series of data poems to let the data ‘speak’ – and reimagine – itself. This thesis is narrated as a multivocal, multimedia work which continually shifts between spoken and written word and which incorporates podcast fragments, voice memos and data poetry. I present podcasting through a phenomenological lens as a re-embodying research method, which taps into temporalities to evoke and channel the creative power of the sonic imagination. In the shift to online learning, the most prominent fears connect to the loss of education as an embodied, humanizing and communal experience. In the post-coronial University, we must therefore find new ways to retain corporeality and community. Podcasting provides a novel way of strengthening the onto-epistemological connections between embodied Knowing and Being in HE.’

Learn more about Simone’s research in the University’s recent news story:  https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/thought-experiment-on-post-covid-cambridge-suggests-that-for-universities-blending-is-a-new

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IOE - Faculty of Education and Society

BERA Doctoral Thesis Award 2017

• Choudry, Sophina (Recipient)
• Manchester Institute of Education

Prize : Prize (including medals and awards)

Description

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• Gender 100%

Documents & Links

https://www.bera.ac.uk/about/bera-awards/bera-doctoral-thesis-award

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Doctoral Thesis Award

• Finesilver, Carla (Recipient)
• School of Education, Communication & Society

Prize : Prize (including medals and awards)

Description

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• Doctor of Philosophy 100%

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Department of Education

Bera dissertation award to 2015 dphil graduate.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Dr Sanja Djerasimovic has been awarded the second prize in the BERA Dissertation Awards for her DPhil thesis on the “Formation of the civic education policy as a discursive project in post-2000 Serbia” (Supervisors: Professor Alis Oancea and Professor Ingrid Lunt, awarded 2015).

In her thesis, Dr Djerasimovic examines the making of an education policy in a system undergoing a substantial political and socio-economic transition, and uses this as a point of departure for the exploration of the possibilities for analysing education policies as discursive projects of elites.  Her approach combines policy sociology with the study of post-communist education reform, as the thesis attempts to create a multi-faceted contribution to education research, on substantive, theoretical, and methodological levels.

After submitting her thesis for examination, Dr Djerasimovic was a researcher in the Department, on a study that explored conceptualisations of research impact in the UK higher education sector (PI: Prof Alis Oancea). Subsequently, she became Impact Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, where she is currently working on multiple projects and helping develop the societal impact of Humanities research. Over the past year, she has also served as an academic assessor on the FCO-funded Chevening Scholarship programme, as well as a Vice-Chair on an EC Horizon2020 call. Her recent publications include ‘Examining the Discourses of Cross-Cultural Communication in Transnational Higher Education: From Imposition to Transformation’ in the Journal for Education and Teaching .

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School of Education

Bera awarded fellowship from american psychological association.

By Catherine Winkler

Monday, June 26, 2023

Jac’lyn Bera, a doctoral student in School Psychology with a minor in Clinical Counseling Psychology has won a Minority Fellowship Program Award from the American Psychological Association.

The award is a highly prestigious one, given to only a small percentage of applicants, and is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Bera said she cried when she found out she won the award, calling it overwhelming and a huge honor. Her main research focus is on rural mental health and rural access to diagnostic and mental health services, as well as looking at how marginalized identities of school psychologists impact their experience in the field: “Most of my interest comes from personal experiences and observations about the rural healthcare provider shortage and the importance of having a good support system as a future clinician from historically excluded backgrounds.”

“I'm really interested in qualitative research, and I think one of the biggest appeals to my area of interest is the value of storytelling within the lived experiences of rural communities and the mental healthcare providers who work in those settings. I look forward to bringing more of those unheard stories and lives to the literature, which for school psychology is fairly limited,” she added.

Bera is also a Holmes Scholar ; as part of that program, Professor David Shriberg is her mentor and Maryellen McClain is her graduate advisor.

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Dissertation Award

The RSA Dissertation Award  is presented yearly to recognize an exemplary dissertation in the field of Rhetorical Studies completed by a student member of the Society.

SELECTION COMMITTEE

In consultation with the RSA President and the Chair of the Committee on Committees and no later than December of the year prior to the award date, the Awards Steering Committee (ASC) Chair identifies four RSA members to serve on the dissertation award selection committee.

• Unless all ASC members have a conflict of interest, the Chair of the dissertation award selection committee will also be a member of the Awards Steering Committee.
• The other three members of the ASC should reflect the diversity of rhetorical studies with regard to rank, institution type, and identity categories.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the Dissertation Awards, a dissertation must…

• Have been defended between January 1 and December 31 of the designated calendar year. For the 2024 Award, dissertations completed between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023 are eligible.
• Have been completed by a student member of the Society.

REVIEW PROCESS

Nominations are reviewed by the RSA Dissertation Award selection committee, a sub-committee of the Awards Steering Committee, which recommends winners to the Board for final approval.

When more than 15 dissertations are nominated for the Dissertation Award, the selection committee will conduct a first round review to identify semi-finalists for the award. In that review, the nominated dissertations are randomly divided into two groups. The dissertations in each group are read by two committee members. Those committee members identify approximately five semi-finalists from their list to forward to the full selection committee for review.

The full selection committee reviews the semi-finalists (or the entire list if fewer than 15 dissertations are nominated) to identify finalists and the award recipient.  

In reviewing nominees for the Dissertation Award, the selection committee considers:

• The dissertation’s contributions to rhetorical studies (e.g. expanding, synthesizing, correcting, and/or re-directing previous rhetorical scholarship).
• Effective, generative use of methodological and/or analytical tools.
• Engagement with primary and secondary texts: Here, we were thinking about demonstrating depth and breadth of knowledge of text and context.
• Clear, accessible, engaging prose and style.
• The dissertation’s contribution to the Society’s IDEA and/or social justice values through topic, content, citational choices, and/or framing.
• Strong prospect for publication as a book and/or evidence of the project’s readiness to contribute to the field.

Deadline for nominations: January 24, 2024

Conflict of Interest for the Dissertation Award

No one who has served as a member of the dissertation committee for any nominee may sit on the Dissertation Award selection committee.  Members of the selection committee who feel that they are unable to be impartial in judging any nominee must recuse themselves from discussion of that nominee.

Ratified by the RSA Board of Directors May 2004. Amended October 29, 2021.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Each nomination must include:

• A completed nomination form, including affirmation that the dissertation was defended during the eligibility period.
• A letter of nomination written by the supervising professor, a member of the dissertation committee, or–with approval from the ASC chair–another person familiar with the dissertation.
• An abstract of the dissertation no longer than one double-spaced page.
• The complete dissertation as a pdf file absent identifying information regarding dissertation chairs.
• A 35-page, double-spaced (12pt font) extract from a chapter of the dissertation, including all materials, e.g., references, charts, or images (the extract should be taken from one complete chapter, not a composite of multiple chapters).

Dissertations that depart from traditional written formats (e.g. multimodal projects, collaborative projects) are welcome. All nomination materials are to be submitted electronically to the chair of the selection committee.

Please contact the society’s Awards Committee with any outstanding questions about the nomination, submission, or selection processes.

Award Recipients

Stephanie jones.

Afrofuturist Feminism as Theory and Praxis: Rhetorical Root Working in the Black Speculative Arts Movement.   (Completed under the direction of Gwendolyn Pough)

Florianne Jimenez

“Echoing and Resistant Imagining: Filipino Student Writing Under American Colonization.” University of Massachusetts Amherst – Rebecca Lorimer Leonard 

MEGAN POOLE

“Technical Beauty: Rhetorics and Aesthetics of Science.” Penn State University – Debbie Hawhee

2021 Dissertation Award  Video

Brandee Easter

“Weird Code: Gender and Programming Languages.” University of Wisconsin-Madison, Christa Olson

MARNIE RITCHIE

“Diffuse Threats: Counterterrorism as an Anxious Affective Infrastructure” University of Texas, Chairs Dana Cloud and Joshua Gunn

Jose Angel Maldonado

“Diana’s Confession: Precarious Rhetoric in Post-NAFTA Mexico” University of Utah, Chair Kent Ono

Christopher Earle

“Dead Words: Prisoners’ Constrained Rhetorical Agency and the Possibility of Rhetorical Action” University of Wisconsin, co-chairs Michael Bernard-Donals and Christa Olson

CHRIS INGRAHAM

“Affective Ecologies:The Cultural Public Sphere in a Digital World” University of Colorado – Boulder, Chair, Gerard A. Hauser

HEIDI MORSE

Minding “Our Cicero”: Nineteenth-Century African American Women’s Rhetoric And The Classical Tradition University of California, Santa Cruz, Chair, Kirsten Silva Gruesz

Jean Bessette

“Composing Historical Activism: Anecdotes, Archives, and Multimodality in Rhetorics of Lesbian History” University of Pittsburgh, co-chairs Jessica Enoch and Jean Ferguson Carr

Lindsay Rose Russell

“Women in the English Language Dictionary” University of Washington, co-chairs Anis Bawarshi and Colette Moore

Henrietta Rix Wood

“Praising Girls: The Epideictic Rhetoric of Young Women, 1895-1930.” University of Missouri-Kansas City with advisor Jane Greer.

CHRISTA J. OLSON

Constitutive Visions: Indigeneity, Visual Culture, and the Rhetorics of Ecuadorian National Identity University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Debra Hawhee and Ralph Cintron, English

NANCY BIXLER

2011 Award (Honorable Mention)

Walk Me Home: How Bodies Move and are Moved in the Breast Cancer Walk University of Washington under the direction of Leah Ceccarrelli, Communication.

Sarah Overbaugh Hallenbeck

Writing the Bicycle: Women, Rhetoric, And Technology In Late Nineteenth-Century America. Duke University, under the direction of Jane Danielewicz & Jordynn Jack

ROSALYN COLLINGS EVES, PHD

Mapping Rhetorical Frontiers: Women’s Spatial Rhetorics in the Nineteenth-Century American West. Penn State University under the direction of Cheryl Glenn.

Charlotte Robidoux, PhD

2019 Award (Honorable Mention)

‘More children from the fit, less from the unfit’: Discourses of Hereditary ‘Fitness and Reproductive Rhetorics, post Darwin to the 21st Century. Miami University under the direction of Cindy Lewiecki-Wilson.

WENDY HAYDEN

Unlikely Rhetoric Allies University of Maryland; directed by Jeanne Fahnestock

Politics of Public Confession: Expressivism and American Democracy Dissertation completed at Penn State University

PATRICIA M. MALESH

“Rhetorics of Consumption: Identity, Confrontation, and Corporatization in the American Vegetarian Movement” Department of English, University of Arizona

Shevaun Watson

“Unsettled Cities: Rhetoric and Race in the Early Republic.” Dissertation completed at Miami University.

Never Mind What Harvard Thinks: Alternative Sites of Rhetorical Instruction in American Colleges, 1873-1947 Written at the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Linda Ferreira-Buckley

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2024 Department Dissertation Awards

With sincere appreciation for all those involved in the nomination and review process, the Department of Statistics proudly announces the winners of the full group of doctoral dissertation awards this year. Each hard-won distinction is accompanied by a prize of $1,000, and recipients will be presented with their certificates during the department's diploma ceremony on June 16th. Congratulations to these outstanding students!

Theodore W. Anderson Theory of Statistics Dissertation Award

Isaac Gibbs – for his groundbreaking work on adaptive conformal inference, maintaining prediction coverage over time despite substantial changes in the data distribution, and his amazing contribution to conformal prediction, quantifying the uncertainty of modern black box algorithms without distributional assumptions.

Jerome H. Friedman Applied Statistics Dissertation Award

Sifan Liu – for her work on high dimensional integration, machine learning optimization strategies and pre-integration in randomized quasi-Monte Carlo, and its novel application in data science.

Ingram Olkin Interdisciplinary Research Dissertation Award

Ying Jin – for pioneering model-free selective inference methods for multi-stage decision pipelines such as job hiring and drug discovery, and for providing new methods for diagnosing replication failure.

Probability Dissertation Award

Kangjie Zhou – for discovering precise high-dimensional asymptotics for projection pursuit with random data, using techniques from spin glasses and empirical process theory.

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IOE alumni named winners of the 2024 BERA Master鈥檚 Dissertation and Doctoral Thesis awards

27 March 2024

Dr Emily Macleod (PhD) and Kate Fox (Education and International Development MA) have won the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Doctoral and Master鈥檚 Thesis prizes respectively.

The awards are given in recognition of academic excellence and research rigour within the field of educational research.聽

Emily Macleod won for her thesis, 鈥淭he status and safety of teaching: A longitudinal study of why some young people in England become teachers, and why others do not.鈥 She investigated young people鈥檚 motivations behind pursuing 鈥 or not pursuing 鈥 the profession amidst the context of national and international teacher shortages.聽

She completed her PhD at IOE鈥檚 Department of Education, Practice and Society in 2023, and was a co-host on IOE鈥檚 podcast series Research for the Real World . She聽continues on as聽an honorary postdoctoral fellow. She also worked on the ASPIRES research project studying young people's science and career aspirations, before which she was a secondary school teacher.聽

Her dissertation centres the experiences of parents from rural communities within the Tanzanian education system 鈥 and the diverse ways families and communities contribute to young children鈥檚 literacy learning.

Kate completed her Master鈥檚 degree at IOE in 2023. She is now a Research Officer with the IOE Research Development team, and a Research Assistant working on two multi-institutional projects: and Equitable research cultures . Her career in education spans 20 years as a teacher, headteacher and teacher trainer in Tanzania and the UK.

Related links

• Emily on 鈥榃hy do people aspire to become teachers?鈥 RFTRW: S19E03
• Research for the Real World podcast
• ASPIRES project

Centre for Education and International Development

Emily Macleod (left) and Kate Fox (right).

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UB Awards 320 Biomedical Science Degrees; 35 Earn PhDs

Commencement 2024.

Lauryn Alexandria Scott, a biomedical sciences undergraduate student, is all smiles as she walks across the stage during the May 19 biomedical sciences commencement ceremony.

By Dirk Hoffman

Published May 29, 2024

Thirty-five doctoral, 76 master’s and 209 baccalaureate candidates were eligible to receive degrees in biomedical science fields during the May commencement ceremony.

2024 Commencement Video

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Six graduate students and nine senior undergraduates were singled out for special honors, including four graduates who received a Chancellor’s Award, the highest State University of New York undergraduate honor.

Graduates completed work in 14 departments or programs of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences :

• biochemistry
• biomedical informatics
• biomedical sciences
• biotechnical and clinical laboratory sciences
• genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
• medical physics
• microbiology and immunology
• natural sciences interdisciplinary
• neuroscience
• nuclear medicine technology
• pathology and anatomical sciences
• pharmacology and toxicology
• physiology and biophysics
• structural biology

Graduates also completed the following programs offered in alliance with the  Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Graduate Division : cancer pathology and prevention, cancer sciences, immunology, and molecular pharmacology and cancer therapeutics.

Fifteen of the doctoral degrees and eight of the master’s degrees were awarded in Roswell Park’s programs.

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, congratulates the Class of 2024.

Lessons Learned From Recent Solar Eclipse

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA , UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, welcomed attendees to the May 19 event at UB’s Center for the Arts and addressed the graduates.

“It fills my heart with immense joy to see all of you gathered here today,” she said.

“In the face of the challenges that have beset us in recent times, these bright scholars and scientists have exhibited extraordinary resilience, determination and perseverance in their academic endeavors. I am confident that these qualities will serve as guiding lights as they embark upon their journeys in their respective fields.”

She noted that biomedical science is one of the broadest areas of medical science and underpins much of modern medicine.

“Biomedical scientists are at the heart of multidisciplinary teams in health care. Biomedical research looks at ways to prevent and treat disease,” Brashear said. “Your innovative approaches and unwavering dedication will continue to push the boundaries of scientific discoveries and technology, leading to a brighter and healthier future for all of us.”

In his address, UB President Satish K. Tripathi, PhD, told the graduates they could learn a lot from the recent solar eclipse that generated excitement in Western New York in early April.

“Allow me to share three tips of advice gathered from the path of totality,” he quipped.

“Reconnect with the natural world, as often as possible. Instead of taking selfies, take time for self-reflection,” he said. “When you give wide berth to the stressors of modern life, you allow yourself space to find both your place in the world and your responsibility to it.”

“Do not regret circumstances beyond your control,” Tripathi added, noting the sunny days leading up to the eclipse, but the extreme cloudiness that persisted over much of WNY on April 8, the day of the event. “Notwithstanding the uncooperative weather, we all experienced a breathtaking moment. Magnify your disappointments and you miss occasions for learning, enrichment and wonder.”

“Lastly, use your expertise for the greater good. When you apply what you have learned for others’ benefit, you put your UB education to its highest purpose,” he said.

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble won two separate graduate awards for her research and dissertation. She is flanked by Mark R. O’Brian, PhD, left, and John C. Panepinto, PhD.

Outstanding Graduates Recognized

Biochemistry graduate student research achievement award.

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble was honored for research that received national or international recognition and for being selected to give an oral presentation at a major national or international meeting.

Dissertation: “Intrafamily Heterooligomerization of the N-Terminal Methyltransferase METTL11A”

Mentor: Christine E. Schaner-Tooley, PhD , associate professor of biochemistry

Roswell Park Graduate Division Award for Excellence in Research

Doctoral graduate Abigail Cornwell was the recipient of this award for outstanding research for her dissertation titled “Impact of Benzodiazepines on the Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Tumor Microenvironment”

Mentor: Michael Feigin, PhD, associate professor of oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Dean’s Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble was the winner of this award that recognizes demonstrated excellence in research.

She was honored for her dissertation: “Intrafamily Heterooligomerization of the N-Terminal Methyltransferase METTL11A”

Mentor:  Christine E. Schaner-Tooley, PhD , associate professor of  biochemistry

The Microbiology and Immunology Award for Excellence in Dissertation Research in Memory of Dr. Murray W. Stinson

Doctoral graduate Katherine Shannon Wackowski was honored for her dissertation “Cooperation of RESC Proteins in Trypanosome RNA Editing and Holoenzyme Dynamics”

Mentor: Laurie K. Read, PhD , professor of microbiology and immunology

Dennis Higgins Award for PhD Dissertation Research in Pharmacology and Toxicology

Doctoral graduate Shirley Xu was honored for her dissertation “Troponin-Mediated Autoimmune Mechanisms of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Myocarditis”

Mentor: Umesh Sharma, MD, PhD , associate professor of medicine

Bishop Neuroscience Thesis Award

Doctoral graduate Richard Adam Seidman was honored for his dissertation “Oscillatory Calcium Mediated Regulation of Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells”

Mentor: Fraser J. Sim, PhD , professor of pharmacology and toxicology

The Structural Biology Award for Excellence in Dissertation Research in Memory of Dr. Robert H. Blessing

Doctoral graduate Nicholas David Clark was honored for his dissertation “Structure/Function Studies of Virulence Factors from Periodontal Pathogens and Membrane Sphingolipid Hydroxylases”

Mentor: Michael G. Malkowski, PhD , professor and chair of structural biology

The four undergraduate SUNY Chancellor’s Award winners, from left, Bryan R. Renzoni, Lea Kyle, Rachel Esther Sanyu and Sarah Bukhari, along with Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD.

SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Sarah Bukhari, Lea Kyle, Bryan R. Renzoni and Rachel Esther Sanyu were recognized with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award. It recognizes students for their integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives that may include leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, entrepreneurship or career achievement.

Bukhari graduates with a bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry. She is an undergraduate researcher in the lab of  Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD , professor of  biochemistry . Bukhari secured funding from the Experiential Learning Network and a Mentored Research micro-credential.

Beyond academics, the Grand Island, New York, native is deeply involved in community engagement, serving as both the volunteer coordinator and vice president of the largest student-run pre-health organization, the Association of Pre-Medical Students, and was awarded a Community Engagement micro-credential and gathering 500+ volunteer hours.

With dual roles as dance coach and social media coordinator for the Pakistani Student Association, she fosters a network of communities to embrace diversity and celebrate traditions.

A native of Martville, New York, Kyle is a University Honors College Scholar who graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry with minors in both physics and public health.

She has been a Student Association, Recreation Department, Student Engagement and TASS Center employee. She also is the current president of UB Rotaract, a volunteering club on campus.

Kyle is also a student researcher in the  Department of Microbiology and Immunology ,  Elizabeth A. Wohlfert, PhD , associate professor of microbiology and immunology, focusing on the effects of chronic inflammation on muscle function due to chronic infection..

Renzoni, of East Amherst, New York, graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. He is a University Honors College Presidential Scholar and Honors College Ambassador.

A BioXFEL Scholar, he has received multiple research internship positions and worked in two different laboratories, contributing to work on the development of novel organic and organometallic compounds with applications as cancer therapies.

Renzoni has also served as a co-chair of the G14 Leadership Summit, president and executive adviser of UB ChemClub, and both assistant music director and music director of The Enchords, UB’s all-gender a cappella group.

Sanyu, an international student from Uganda, graduates with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology and toxicology.

She is an Honors College Scholar who conducted oncology research within the lab of Wendy Huss, PhD, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and at Johnson & Johnson, where she earned the 2023 Inspire Spotlight Award.

Sanyu has also worked as a student assistant in the Office of Interprofessional Education and an honors peer mentor. 

She is a founder of a health care app and is involved with the community through her work with Suubi Cancer Relief and Hillside Family of Agencies.

Sanyu also loves to dance and was a member of the UBMystique and 8-Count dance teams.

Undergraduate Outstanding Senior Awards

The following awards honor high academic performance and involvement in the campus community and external organizations:

Biochemistry Sarah Bukhari

Biomedical Sciences Alexis Krayevsky

Biotechnology Tanvi Dixit

Medical Technology Eva Wisniewski

Neuroscience Leah Heiler

Nuclear Medicine Technology Kelly Mahan

Pharmacology and Toxicology Rachel Esther Sanyu

Commencement speaker Styliani-Anna (Stella) E. Tsirka, PhD, tells the graduates to never lose sight of the wonder and awe that first drew them to the biomedical sciences.

Keynote Theme One of Compassion, Resilience

Commencement speaker Styliani-Anna (Stella) E. Tsirka, PhD, the Miriam and David Donoho Distinguished Professor of pharmacological sciences and vice dean for faculty affairs at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, spoke about empathy and persistence.

“Beyond the technical skills and academic achievements that you have earned and will continue to earn, what will set you apart is your capacity for empathy, for compassion, your ethical responsibility,” she said.

“In the pursuit of scientific advancement, try not to lose sight of the human element and the living organisms whose lives may be impacted by our work.”

Tsirka noted that biomedical scientists have a serious duty to use their expertise to make society better, alleviate suffering and to promote the health and well-being of all people, regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status.

“If you decide to further pursue scientific inquiry, do remember that you will need persistence and resilience,” she said. “Experimental science is not for the faint of heart.”

She remarked that her lab members often talk about the fact that it is called “research” instead of just “search.”

“The majority of our experiments will not be successful, but the ones that provide that ‘eureka moment’ will last a lifetime,” Tsirka assured the graduates. “Remember that setbacks are valuable lessons that shape the way for future success.”

Tsirka encouraged the graduates to embrace the idea of lifelong learning.

“To remain at the forefront of your field, you must remain curious and receptive of new ideas,” she said.

“Importantly, science is also delicate. Continue to approach it with integrity and rigor.”

Undergraduates in the News

• 5/29/24 UB Awards 320 Biomedical Science Degrees; 35 Earn PhDs
• 5/8/24 Jacobs School Students Feted for Academic Excellence
• 2/26/24 Determined to Improve Cancer Care in Uganda
• 11/29/23 Surtees Named Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and STEM Outreach
• 8/31/23 Jacobs School Welcomes Undergraduates to Campus

Biomedical Undergraduate Education

South Campus 40 Biomedical Education Building 3435 Main Street Buffalo, New York 14214

• Department Overview
• Administration
• Emergency Preparedness
• Prospective Students
• Courses and Facilities
• Special Programs
• Internship and Career Exploration
• Prospective Ph.D. Students
• Master of Science and Graduate Certificate Programs
• About Our Ph.D. Students
• Geospatial-Information Science and Remote Sensing
• Human Dimensions of Global Change - Coupled Human and Natural Systems
• Land Cover - Land Use Change
• Carbon, Vegetation Dynamics and Landscape-Scale Processes
• Center for Geospatial Information Science
• Faculty: A Historic Look
• The Department of Geographical Sciences Alumni
• Land Acknowledgement
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism in GEOG
• Beyond GEOG: Resources and Learning
• GEOG and UMD Reporting Mechanisms
• Program Overview
• High School Awards
• High School Internship Program (HIP)
• Terp Young Scholars Summer Program

Celebrating Greatness: 2024 Geographical Sciences Awards

Professors Also Highlight PhD Graduates and Their Dissertation Work

The 2024 Annual Geographical Sciences Awards Ceremony took place on May 10 in the  Adele H. Stamp Student Union 's Prince George's room.

Hosted by Undergraduate Director Keith Yearwood , the event celebrate their accomplishments of students, faculty and staff throughout the 2023-2024 academic year.

The ceremony honored over 100 individuals for a variety of achievements, including academic milestones, prestigious fellowships and national awards, reflecting the Department's extensive successes.

This year, professors proudly introduced their PhD graduates and their dissertations, highlighting the rigorous research, professional ethic and significant contributions made by the soon-to-be doctors candidates. 

The  Department presented 30 awards during the ceremony, recognizing outstanding performance, innovative research and notable contributions to geographical sciences. Each recipient was celebrated for their dedication and efforts to advance the field.

Beyond the awards, the event served as a chance for the Department community to gather and celebrate their collaborative spirit.

Here Are Our Department Award Winners:

Congratulations to all the honorees recognized in this year’s ceremony.

• Excellence in Graduate Research 1st Place:  Xiangjie Chen
• Excellence in Graduate Research 2nd Place:  Haijun Li and Zhihao Wang
• Excellence in Graduate Research 3rd Place:  Baobao Liu, Peiqi Zhang and Shuo Xu
• Brian R. Melchior Endowed Research Fund:  Melanie Reynolds
• GIS Summer Fellowship:  Mengyu Liao 
• Jingli Yang Fellowship:  Shuo Xu  
• Jingly Yang Fellowship Runner-up: Quan Shen
• Human Dimensions of Global Change Fellowship:  Yuhao Wang
• Graduate Student Appreciation Award:  Jack O'Bannon
• Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant:  Camilla Reggioli
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant:  Haley Mullen 
• Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant:  Mengye Liang and Shuo Xu
• Robert A. Harper Undergraduate Research Paper Award:  Iman Smith
• Undergraduate Independent Research Award:  Aboli Dahiwadkar
• James R. Anderson Award:  Aboli Dahiwadkar
• Outstanding MS GIS Student:  Molly Schreier
• Outstanding MS GEOINT Student:  Katherine Toren
• O.E. Baker Award:  Allison Bredder
• Outstanding Faculty Specialist:  Erik Duncan 
• Outstanding Post-Doctoral Associate:  Weishu Gong
• Outstanding Research Faculty:  Maria Zubkova 
• Outstanding Instructional Faculty:  Naijun Zhou
• GEOG T-Shirt Design: Chin-Yun Kue
• Maryland Sustainable Agriculture Crowdsourcing Campaign: Joseph Massaro, Cathy Wang and Alaina Goodwin

Check out the slideshow presentation :

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