Graduate Student Award Winners Recognized in April 26 Ceremony

The Auburn University Graduate School and the Graduate Student Council hosted the annual Graduate Awards Ceremony on April 26 in the Melton Student Center Ballroom. Over 200 graduate students, faculty mentors, friends and family attended the awards ceremony to recognize student achievement in more than a dozen different categories including outstanding master’s thesis, outstanding doctoral dissertation, and three different graduate fellowships. In addition, one staff award and one faculty award were presented, including the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards. The Graduate Student Council (GSC) recognized nineteen Graduate Student Senators, as well as the Executive Board members from the past academic year while introducing the newly elected 2024-2025 GSC Executive Board. The Graduate School congratulates the following students and faculty for their dedication, perseverance, and achievements:

 

President’s Award

• Soolim Jeong, School of Kinesiology

 

Merriwether Fellowship

• Selim Bakir, Hospitality Management
• Cassidy Brydon, Clinical Psychology
• Sukanya Dasgupta, Earth System Science
• Matthew Gladfelter, Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences
• Anthony Matthews, Civil Engineering
• Pritam Mitra, Applied Economics
• Muztahid Muhammad, Mechanical Engineering
• Ernest Opoku, Chemistry
• Swati Singh, Forestry

 

Williams Graduate Fellowship

• Molly Orr, Pharmacy
• Mike Smith, History

 

C.L. “Shot” Senn Fellowship

• Carly Cummings, Wildlife Sciences
• Elijah McAllister, Administration of Supervision & Curriculum

 

Three Minute Thesis Winners

• Overall Winner: Jacob Botello, Biological Sciences
• Runner-Up: Natasha Grabau, Biomedical Sciences
• People’s Choice Award: Adebowale Oyerinde, Nutritional Sciences

 

Rebecca Roden Award

• Theresa Morgan, Graduate School
• Kirby Norrell, Biological Sciences
• Lisa Ross, Curriculum and Teaching

 

Master’s Thesis Awards

Social Sciences Category:

• Karl Christensen, Human Development and Family Science
• Courtney Furlong, Human Development and Family Science
• Allison Tidwell, Human Development and Family Science
• Serhat Yildiz, Nutrition

  Life Sciences Category:

• Suman Budhathoki, Biosystems Engineering
• Olamide Durodola, Biosystems Engineering
• Caroline Gregg, Poultry Science
• Ansley Hamid, Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences
• Samuel Krebsbach, Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences

 

Distinguished Dissertation Awards  

Biological/Life Sciences Category:

• Suma Basak, Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences
• Emily Driessen, Biological Sciences
• Joshua Flees, Poultry Science
• Renlei Ji, Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology
• Hemendra Kumar, Biosystems Engineering
• Sindhu Ramesh, Pharmacology
• Aftab Siddique, Poultry Food Science

Humanities/Fine Arts Category:

• Russell Allison, History

 

Outstanding Graduate Student Awards

Masters’ recipients 

• Kyle Benbow, Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Emily Brigham, Human Development and Family Science
• Eliana Gabriella Cochas Ramon, Hispanic Studies
• Aleksandr Dolgavin, Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Alexandra Jackson, Poultry Science
• Preetika Kauer, Biosystems Engineering
• Nicholas Kertz, Animal Sciences
• Tanner Koza, Mechanical Engineering
• Muhammad Shahan Qamar, Aerospace Engineering
• Claire Schloemer, Entomology and Plant Pathology
• Olivia Frances Sciandra, Wildlife Sciences
• Katherine Sofia Sierra Melendrez, Poultry Food Science
• Claire Stovall, Consumer and Design Sciences
• Michael Zirpoli, Mathematics and Statistics

 

Doctoral recipients 

• Nabeel Ahmad, Mechanical Engineering
• Adam J. Book, Consumer and Design Sciences
• Cassidy Brydon, Clinical Psychology
• Tianshi Che, Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Joseph Gulizia, Poultry Sciences
• Md Mahmud Hossain, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Chloe S. Jones, Kinesiology
• Mallory Jordan, Earth System Science
• Xuejia Kang, Pharmaceutics
• Vladislav Korostelev, Materials Engineering
• John Mahas, Entomology and Plant Pathology
• Sangeet Makhija, Biomedical Sciences
• Kritika Malhotra, Biosystems Engineering
• Teanna Moore, Educational Psychology
• Noemi Oeding, Public Administration and Public Policy
• Orobola Olajide, Chemistry
• Wenjing Ren, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences
• Souvika Sarkar, Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Mengwei Xuan, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Jyoti Yadav, Biomedical Sciences

 

  Frank Sturm Memorial Fellowship 

• Matthew T. Garnett, Chemical Engineering

 

  Outstanding Graduate Mentor Awards

• Symone Alexander, Chemical Engineering
• Brian Anderson, Civil Engineering
• Evelyn Hunter, Special Education, Rehabilitation, and Counseling
• Michael Roberts, Kinesiology
• Ashraf Uddin, Geosciences
• Michelle Zorn, Management and Entrepreneurship

 

  Outstanding First Year Experience (FYE) Mentor Award

• Monday Nnakwe, Mathematics
• Tayler Schillerberg, Earth System Science

 

Outstanding Service to Auburn Research Award

• Soundarya Korlapati, Computer Science & Software Engineering
• Obosede Muinat Onifade, Sociology
• Claudia Ann Rutland Landrum, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science

 

Outstanding Graduate Student Council Senator Awards

• Esther Akinrinde, Industrial & Systems Engineering
• Olivia Brahms, Biological Sciences
• Scott Chumley, Physics
• Olumide Falana, Biosystems Engineering
• Temitope Folorunso, Wildlife Sciences
• Travys Harper, Building Science Construction
• Jasmine Nicole Kelley, Management
• Mackenzie Leavitt, Psychological Sciences
• Lauryn Lewis, Social Work
• Onyedika Mbelu, Mechanical Engineering
• Will McAtee, Aerospace Engineering
• Temitope Popoola, Crop, Soils & Environmental Science
• Steven Porterfield, Materials Engineering
• Rehman Qureshi, Aerospace Engineering
• Mrinmoy Saha, Mechanical Engineering
• Harrish Kumar Senthil Kumar, Chemical Engineering
• Beatrice Severance, Entomology & Plant Pathology
• Logan Turner, Biological Sciences
• Katherine Waters, Business Administration & Finance

 

Photos from the event can be viewed on the Graduate School’s Flikr account. The Graduate School sponsors a variety of awards and fellowship programs for faculty and students to recognize achievement in teaching, research, and service. For more information on student awards, visit http://graduate.auburn.edu/current-students/awards-and-grants/ or contact the Auburn University Graduate School’s Associate Dean, Dr. Maria Witte, at wittemm@auburn.edu.