The inaugural winners of the Office of Graduate Studies Best Dissertation Awards were honored at an April reception. They are, from left, Micaela Chan MS'12, PhD'16, Sergey Lebedev PhD'16, Monica Salazar PhD'16, Frederico Silva de Araujo PhD'16, Laura Jackson, Michael Andreen MFA'10 and Yuan Zhang.
In recognition of excellence among doctoral students, The University of Texas at Dallas' Office of Graduate Studies has introduced an awards program honoring the top doctoral dissertation in each school.
Winners of the inaugural 2017 Best Dissertation Award were announced at an April reception celebrating excellence in graduate education.
The recipients are:
- Monica Salazar PhD'16, School of Arts and Humanities
- Michael Andreen MFA'10, School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication
- Micaela Chan MS'12, PhD'16, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Laura Jackson, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences
- Fred Araujo PhD'16, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science
- Sergey Lebedev PhD'16, Naveen Jindal School of Management
- Yuan Zhang, School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Two students earned the David E. Daniel Graduate Fellowship, which is supported by an endowment established in 2006 by the former UT Dallas president. The award recognizes an exceptional doctoral student each year in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Recipients of the David E. Daniel Graduate Fellowship are Wenwen Huo (left), molecular and cell biology, and Sujeet Patole, electrical engineering.
The recipients were Sujeet Patole in electrical engineering and Wenwen Huo in molecular and cell biology.
Two students who previously received Best Teaching Assistant Awards from their schools also were recognized at the event: Kevin Wells in the School of Arts and Humanities and Nimmy Mammoottil in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
“Congratulations to all the award winners,” said Dr. Marion Underwood, dean of graduate studies and Ashbel Smith Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. “Their hard work and creativity earned them this honor and, I believe, will serve them well in their future endeavors.”
UT Dallas awards about 190 doctoral and professional degrees each year across 31 disciplines in seven schools.
“These students highlight the quality of graduate education throughout UT Dallas’ programs, which is vitally important for enhancing our reputation as a prominent research university,” Underwood said.