UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thirteen graduate students received the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal in recognition of their outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research in any of the disciplinary areas of arts and humanities; social sciences—applied and basic; physical and computational sciences—applied and basic; life and health sciences; and engineering.
The Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, considered to be among the most prestigious available to Penn State graduate students, provides funding to full-time research doctorate students who have passed their comprehensive examinations and have received approval of their dissertation topic.
Award recipients and their programs of study are:
- Moses Ajemigbitse, doctoral student in environmental engineering;
- Laura Freitas Almeida, doctoral student in art history;
- Sarah Eissler, doctoral student in rural sociology with a dual title in human dimensions of natural resources and the environment;
- Sara Klee, doctoral student in plant pathology;
- Johann Le Guelte, doctoral student in French;
- Leigha MacNeill, doctoral student in psychology;
- Cody Messick, doctoral student in physics;
- Sohrab Rahimi, doctoral student in architecture;
- Nichole Sell, doctoral student in biobehavioral health;
- Jacob Snyder, doctoral student in mechanical engineering;
- Ching-Wen Tan, doctoral student in entomology;
- Shannon White, doctoral student in ecology; and
- Kehao Zhang, doctoral student in materials science and engineering.
Each student received a $5,000 award and was recognized at the Graduate School Alumni Society’s Recognition Dinner on March 23. Funds for these awards were made possible by a gift from the Penn State Alumni Association.
The graduate students also were honored during the annual Graduate Student Awards Luncheon on April 11 at the Nittany Lion Inn. More information about the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medals is available on the Graduate School’s website.