News: 2015, October 23rd

Six honored with 2015 Master’s Thesis Awards

Six recent Auburn University graduates have been selected as winners of the Graduate School’s 2015 Master’s Thesis Awards.

Award winners are Millie Harrison, Xia Li and Derek Pope in the Social Sciences/Business/Education category; and Jeff Chieppa, Jacqueline Gimmler and Annelise Mowry in the Life Sciences category.

Pope and Mowry have also been nominated to represent Auburn at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools’ Master’s Thesis Awards competition.

The Master’s Thesis Awards recognize the scholarship of master’s students whose theses make an unusually significant contribution to their respective disciplines. Auburn’s colleges and schools nominate students for the awards, and an award committee named by the Graduate School selects the winners for the two categories.

This year’s winning theses are:

• “’What’s It Supposed to Be?’ … ‘Cooked.’ The Communication of Information-Seeking Tactics on Hell’s Kitchen” by Millie Harrison. Her thesis committee consisted of Auburn faculty members Mary Helen Brown (chair), Brigitta Brunner and Lauren Reichart Smith. Harrison graduated in May 2014 with a master’s degree in communication and is now enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational communication and technology at the University of Texas at Austin.
• “Impact of decreased wetlands on microclimate of Kolkata, India” by Xia Li (thesis embargoed for non-Auburn University users). Her thesis committee consisted of Auburn faculty members Chandana Mitra (chair), Luke Marzen and Li Dong. Li graduated in August 2015 with a master’s degree in geography and is now looking for a full-time job opportunity while working as a volunteer worker for Auburn’s Department of Geosciences.
• “How do genotype, stimulus conditions, and acute dopaminergic administration interact to influence the temporal allocation of credit?” by Derek Pope. His thesis committee consisted of Auburn faculty members M. Christopher Newland (chair), Martha Escobar and Chris J. Correia. Pope graduated in December 2014 with a master’s degree in psychology and is now enrolled in Auburn’s doctoral program in psychology.
• “Interaction of Future Climate Change Scenarios of Elevated Tropospheric Ozone and Altered Rainfall on Loblolly Pine Seedlings Inoculated with Ophiostomatoid Fungi” by Jeff Chieppa (thesis embargoed for non-Auburn University users). His thesis committee consisted of Auburn faculty members Arthur Chappelka (co-chair), Lori Eckhardt (co-chair) and Scott Enebak. Chieppa graduated in May 2015 with a master’s degree in forestry and is now enrolled in a doctoral program in evolutionary ecology at Northern Arizona University.
• “Determining canine skin concentrations of terbinafine to guide the treatment of Malassezia dermatitis” by Jacqueline Gimmler. Her graduate adviser was Dawn Merton Boothe. Gimmler graduated in August 2015 with a master’s degree in biomedical sciences and now works at the Animal Dermatology Referral Clinic in Texas.
• “Energetic tradeoffs between reproduction and longevity in the house mouse (Mus musculus)” by Annelise Mowry. Her thesis committee consisted of Auburn faculty members Wendy Hood (chair), Andreas Kavazis and Geoffrey Hill. Mowry graduated in August 2015 with a master’s degree in biological sciences and is now searching for a job in the Atlanta area.

Award winners receive an honorarium of $250 and a certificate, which is presented at the Graduate School’s annual awards ceremony each spring.

The categories for the Master’s Thesis Awards rotate each year. The Graduate School is now soliciting nominations for the 2016 categories: Mathematics/Physical Sciences/Engineering and Humanities/Fine Arts.