News: 2014, March 2nd

 

2014 Merriwether Fellows, Outstanding Graduate Students announced

 

Twenty-four Auburn University graduate students have been selected as winners of three of the Graduate School’s annual awards.

Twenty students have been selected as the 2013-14 Outstanding Graduate Student Award honorees, while four doctoral students have been selected for the Merriwether Fellowship. From the Outstanding Graduate Student honorees at the doctoral level, Jake Jensen was also chosen as the Graduate School’s President’s Award winner.

The Merriwether Fellowship is awarded to doctoral students who show great promise in their academic fields. First awarded in 1971, the fellowship provides a $2,000 stipend and is the result of an anonymous donation in honor of Harry Merriwether, a 1943 Auburn graduate. The Outstanding Graduate Student Awards recognize Auburn’s most distinguished graduate students. Ten students are chosen at the master’s/educational specialist level, and 10 more are chosen at the doctoral level.

Departments nominate students for the awards, and the winners are then chosen by a committee of graduate faculty.

The students will be recognized with other award winners at the Graduate School’s annual awards ceremony on Monday, April 21, in the Student Center Ballroom.

Award winners and their areas of study are listed below.

Merriwether Fellows

  • Symon Gathiaka (Chemistry)
  • Alyssa McElwain (Human Development and Family Studies)
  • Jessica Sims (English)
  • Thomas Stegeman (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Outstanding Doctoral Students

  • Yanyan Gong (Civil Engineering)
  • Hui Huang (Biomedical Sciences)
  • Jake Jensen (Human Development and Family Studies)
  • Xunfei Jiang (Computer Science and Software Engineering)
  • Andrea Larsen (Fisheries)
  • Farruk Lutful Kabir (Biomedical Sciences)
  • Scott Martin (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Branson Maynard (Chemistry)
  • Hillary Plummer (Kinesiology)
  • Arianna Tieppo Rappo (Chemical Engineering)

Outstanding Master’s Students

  • Valeria Albanese (Biomedical Sciences)
  • Audrey Gamble (Agronomy and Soils)
  • Hamid Ghaednia (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Courteney McNamee Holland (Animal Sciences)
  • Allison Keever (Wildlife Sciences)
  • Kathleen Kent (English)
  • Shannon (Beth) McDaniel (Human Development and Family Studies)
  • Carley Muschara (English Language Arts Education)
  • Hunter Rogers (Chemical Engineering)
  • Simin Zou (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

President’s Award

  • Jake Jensen (Human Development and Family Studies)

To read more about the Graduate School’s annual awards, visit the Web page.

Last modified: July 12, 2016