Evening of Excellence
Honoring the Graduate School’s Best and Brightest Scholars
The Graduate School hosted the third annual Evening of Excellence on April 13, 2017 at Banyans on the Ridge to honor 34 new graduate student scholarship recipients. In addition to the student scholarships, the Graduate School also awarded the second Graduate School Mentor Academy Award for Excellence.
Promising students were nominated for scholarships by college deans based on their merit and qualifications for each scholarship. Students were nominated from the colleges of Arts and Sciences; Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences; Education; Veterinary Medicine; Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture; and the Graduate School.
In addition to these scholarships, the Graduate School also facilitates the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation scholarship each year. WSU was designated as an ARCS recipient in 1999 and works closely with the Graduate School in selecting graduate students in the natural sciences, medicine, animal sciences, and engineering. Several ARCS scholars will also be in attendance at the Evening of Excellence.
2017 Scholarship & Fellowship Recipients
Graduate School Dissertation Year Fellowship

Karen P. DePauw Leadership Award

Arnold and Julia Greenwell Memorial Scholarship for Social Sciences and Humanities
David Bolingbroke, History; Xue Zhang, Teaching and Learning; Pierce Greenberg, Sociology; Martha Jane Jenkins, Counseling Psychology; Dean William Andrefsky, Michael Lengefeld, Sociology; Haseeb Ahmed (Economics). Shuang Liu, Communications (No photo)
Richard R. and Constance M. Albrecht Scholarship
Andrew Iverson, Educational Psychology; Nasreen Shah, Counseling Psychology; Darin Weed, Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology; Peter Olsoy, Earth and Environmental Sciences; Jacob Day, Chemistry, Dean William Andrefsky. Not Shown: Greg Collinge, Chemical and Bioengineering and Md Taibur Rahman, Materials Science and Engineering.
Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship

Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship Second Year Students

Charles Allen Master’s Thesis Award

Graduate School Mentor Academy Award for Excellence

2017 Scholarship/Fellowship Recipients
Graduate School Dissertation Year Fellowship
Nicole Ferry, Teaching and Learning
Brenden Higashi, Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs
Judith Wait, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Richard R. And Constance M. Albrecht Scholarship
Greg Collinge, Chemical and Bioengineering
Jacob Day, Chemistry
Andrew Iverson, Educational Psychology
Peter Olsoy, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Md Taibur Rahman, Materials Science and Engineering
Nasreen Shah, Counseling Psychology
Darin Weed, Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology
Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship
Laura Ahlers, Molecular Biosciences
David Alpizar, Educational Psychology
Miriam Fernandez, English
Roxanne Moore, Teaching and Learning
Ashley Railey, Individual Interdisciplinary
Seyed Ali Rokni Dezfooli, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Yang Song, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Second Year Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship
Korey Brownstein, Molecular Plant Sciences
Shaofang Fu , Materials Science and Engineering
Kimberly Lackey, Biological Sciences
Thu (Lily) Ly, Chemical and Bioengineering
Robert Orpet, Entomology
Craig Owen, Materials Science and Engineering
Gang Xu, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Charles Allen Master’s Thesis Award
Mycah Harrold, Psychology
Sarah Morton, Sociology
Karen P. Depauw Leadership Award
Kari Ann Gaither, Pharmaceutical Science
Graduate School Mentor Academy Award for Excellence
Dr. Phyllis Eide, College of Nursing
NSF Graduate Research Fellows
Jessie Arneson
Elias Bloom
Nicole Clark
Gregory Collinge
Jessamyn Dahmen
Sofia D’Ambrosio
Rachel DeTar
Alexandra Fraik
Kari Gaither
Cameron Hohimer
Travis King
Michael Meyer
Aaron Ogden
Lori Phillips
Vanessa Rose
Corey Ruder
Joseph Taylor
Iva Tews
Darin Weed
GPSA Excellence Awards
Davi Kallman – Outstanding Graduate Assistant
Gracen Smith – Outstanding Graduate Assistant
Andrea Smith – Outstanding Teaching Assistant
Natalie Peer – Outstanding Teaching Assistant
Seyed Ali Rokni Dezfooli – Outstanding Research Assistant
Henry Sintim – Outstanding Research Assistant
Nicole Ferry – Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor
Jordan Engelke – Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS)
2017 President’s Award for Leadership
Megan Azee Brendal
Kakali Bhattacharya Chakrabarti
Yu-Chung Chang
Shuresh Ghimire
James P. Kent
Melanie Thornton
Brittany L. Wood
ARCHIVES
2016 Scholarship Recipients
- Graduate School Scholarship
- Ann Chittenden Holland Master’s Thesis Award
- Arnold and Julia Greenwell Memorial Scholarship for Social Sciences and Humanities
- Richard R. and Constance M. Albrecht Scholarship
- Russ and Anne Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship
- Charles Allen Master’s Thesis Award
- Graduate School Mentor Academy Award for Excellence