Published: May 11, 2020

With the generous support of donors and the CU Boulder community, the Graduate School offers awards, grants, and fellowships that support the outstanding research, creative work, and teaching of our graduate students. Congratulations to our award winners and many thanks to the faculty and staff who support them in their research, creative work, and teaching, as well as to the donors whose generosity make these awards possible.

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Graduate Part-Time Instructors Teaching Excellence Awards

Recognizes excellent graduate student teachers.

I am convinced that students learn better by engaging in processes that incorporate their communicative and technological habits. I believe that linguistic competence and cultural knowledge are equally necessary to advance in the acquisition of a language. I follow a learner-centered, communicative, content-based, and backward-design approach in planning and conducting my classes. I believe that teaching and research should go hand in hand, and that technology in the classroom is vital to student learning process.

The core of my teaching philosophy is that it is best for students to seek out diverse perspectives on course topics, engage critically with everything that they learn, and to take responsibility for their performance in the class. To keep students engaged, I like to ask questions, include time for discussion, and use as many live and interactive demos as possible, no matter the class size.

I believe that the biggest goal of education is to help students become active members of society at the local, and in many cases, the international level. I am particularly convinced that learning foreign languages is a critical part of that goal. I am persuaded that studying different languages helps students to discover the unknown and see the world with curiosity and more respect for differences.

 

My teaching philosophy is that my role is to teach—but, it is also to listen, to engage, to challenge, to learn, to interact, and to inspire. My goal is to intellectually challenge students and to provide them with the analytical tools and critical thinking skills to look at the world around them in a different way. As an educator, I am dedicated to dismantling and challenging existing hierarchies of knowledge and to use this antagonism as a tool that both inspires and complicates students’ worldviews.

Christopher Jorde, Department of Political Science

Curiosity inspires my teaching philosophy and invites me to continue learning. One of the many joys of the teaching role is that students will often say or write things that challenge my views on a given subject. Class discussions often offer powerful invitations to explore familiar terrain through new lenses, and I am lucky and grateful to be a part of them.

My teaching philosophy draws from sociocultural theories of learning. As culturally and historically constructed beings, we all have unique funds of knowledge and identity that we draw upon to make sense of our interactions in the natural and social world. Learning occurs when we build upon these funds to incorporate new understandings, explanations, or practices in useful ways.

I believe accounting instruction must challenge students to think critically. Challenging students to understand the logic of accounting provides them with a base knowledge which they can then apply to critically evaluate any transaction. This cultivates critical thinkers that are better prepared for future employment. I am also a firm believer that learning is an active process, and that even lectures are best understood when accompanied by illustrations of how concepts are actually applied.

Jashodhara Sen, Department of Theatre & Dance 

Erica Van Steenis, School of Education 

Kim Truong Vu, Department of Sociology

Dissertation Completion Fellowships

Reynolds Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Stephanie Couey, Department of English

Juan Tiznado Aitken

Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering

Kaitlyn Davis

Department of Anthropology

Emily Hite

Department of Anthropology

Kimberly Killen

Department of Political Science

Alexandra Lloyd

Department of Philosophy

Travis Mcdevitt-Galles

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Kathryn Randall

Department of History

Rupak Shrestha

Department of Geography

Andrea Tilstra

Department of Sociology

Sheela Turbek

Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

MFA Completion Fellowship

Provides one academic semester of financial support.

Elspeth Schulze

Department of Art & Art History 

Elspeth Schulze is from south-central Louisiana, where water has as much hold as land. She holds a BA in Literature from Loyola University New Orleans and an AAS in Fashion Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She has worked over the years as an artist assistant, pattern maker, production manager, and most recently, as Gallery Director at Adrian College in Michigan. Recent exhibition venues include Oklahoma Contemporary in Oklahoma City, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, RedLine in Denver, and Calico in Brooklyn, New York

Summer Fellowships

Provides a $6,000 fellowship over the summer term. 

Alejandra Abad, Department of Art & Art History 
Nuha Albadi, Department of Computer Science 
Sabina Altus, Department of Applied Mathematics 
Jocelyn Armes, School of Music 
Amy Burkhardt, School of Education 
Andrew Campbell, Department of Mathematics 
Georgios Charisoulis, Department of Geography
David Chu, Department of Classics
Mikaela DeRousseau, Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
Jared Desjardins, Department of Linguistics
Erik Funk, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Lucas Gagnon, Department of Mathematics 
Shirley Huang, Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
Jacob Hutfles, Department of Mechanical Engineering 
Nicholas Light, Leeds School of Business
Brian Marein, Department of Economics 
Melissa Mazzo, Department of Integrative Physiology 
David Miller, Department of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
Erica Nieblas, Department of Philosophy 
Joel Ornstein, Department of Mathematics
Jeremiah Osborne-Gowey, Department of Environmental Studies 
Hannah Paul, Department of Political Science 
Alberto Roper Pol, Department of Aerospace Engineering Science 
Christina Ryder, Department of Anthropology
Dan Simon, Department of Sociology
Sherri Sheu, Department of History
Irena Stevens, Department of Technology, Cybersecurity & Policy 
Andrew Stocker, Department of Mathematics 
Amanda Rose Villarreal, Department of Theatre & Dance
Mike Zawaski, Department of Geological Sciences

Summer Fellowship, Helen Christy Fellow

Cassandra Gonzalez

Cassandra Gonzalez, Department of Ethnic Studies

My research examines the phenomenon of domestic human trafficking utilizing and intersectional criminological framework. Within this research, I focus on the experiences of Black individuals as both victims and perpetrators of trafficking and how their intersecting identities of race, class, gender, and sexuality may interact with their experiences of exploitation and navigating the criminal legal system. My research methods include interviewing Black women survivors of trafficking, field observations of anti-trafficking events, and a historical analysis of the evolution of slavery, sexuality, and race. I love dogs, getting coffee with friends, and reading anything I can get my hands on. I hope be employed as a tenure-track professor at a historically Black college/university (HBCU) or at a criminology/criminal justice department where I can mentor undergrads and graduate students. 

Three Minute Thesis

In the Three Minute Thesis (3MT), competitors describe their research in three minutes. They use only one static slide, in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. This event is held annually at the beginning of the Spring semester and is free and open to the public.

Adam Lamson

Department of Physics

Jason Zhang

Department of Computer Science

Jocelyn Armes

School of Music

Donor Awards

These awards are made possible by the Graduate School's generous donors. The Figueroa Family Fellowship provides financial support to a science or engineering student committed to positively impacting the cu boulder community and beyond. The Carol B. Lynch Memorial Fellowship provides a $2,500 fellowship to a student in the sciences whose research interests are interdisciplinary. The Sheryl R. Young Memorial Fellowship provides a $4,000 fellowship to a student in the sciences. 

Figueroa Family Fellowship, 1st Place

I study how humans alter the way closely-related species interact and the evolutionary consequences of those altered interactions. Specifically, I explore how when humans build cities, they can cause the species that live there to interbreed and produce hybrids. Combining genomics and field studies, I investigate how disturbance modifies interactions between chickadees to promote hybridization. My work focuses on establishing a long-term study, the Boulder Chickadee Study, as an experimental framework and community science network.

Figueroa Family Fellowship, 2nd Place

My research focuses on appropriate methods for removing toxic organic contaminants from drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and landfill leachate. Currently, my work involves the use of biochar, a sustainably-produced, low-cost, charcoal material for the sorption of aqueous organic contaminants, which has broad application for water quality globally and can be adopted in remote communities to improve drinking water quality in areas impacted by toxic chemicals.

Figueroa Family Fellowship, Honorable Mention

Asais Camila Uzcategui, Materials Science & Engineering Program

Carol B. Lynch Memorial Fellowship

Fiona Bell, ATLAS Institute 

Sheryl R. Young Memorial Fellowship

Kiera van der Sande, Department of Applied Mathematics

Cynthia H. Schultz Graduate Student Small Grant

These awards are made possible by the generous donation of the Schultz family, and in Loving Memory of John & Cynthia Schultz.

Tarren Andrews

Ernest A. Bigelow Award

Tarren Andrews, Department of English

Kathleen McGuire

Hope Schultz Jozsa Award

Kathleen McGuire, Department of Anthropology

Megan Healy

Jenny Kate Collins Award

I am a third year Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Violin Performance and a Graduate Teaching Assistant. As a TA, I have assisted with undergraduate music appreciation courses, performed in the CU Symphony Orchestra, and currently meet with Masters and Undergraduate violin students for weekly private lessons to assist in their technical and musical development. In addition to my studies at CU, I perform with several regional orchestras, including the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic, Fort Collins Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra. I also maintain a private studio of 15 violin students ranging from ages 5-75 and run a wedding and event music business. I am honored to receive the Jenny Kate Collins award to support my dissertation project, The Maud Powell Project. The Maud Powell Project celebrates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and Women's Suffrage with five new works for solo violin inspired by and dedicated to Maud Powell, the first great American violin soloist. The works, commissioned from American composers Lauren Bernofsky, Elisabeth Blair, Stephanie Ann Boyd, Jessica Meyer, and Hilary Purrington, will be premiered and professionally recorded in the Summer of 2020. The works will subsequently be performed in a variety of contexts, including solo violin recitals, lecture recitals, and outreach performances with dancers from Life/Art Dance ensemble for children and for senior citizens living in low income housing communities in the Denver Metro area. If you are interested in learning more about the project, you may visit www.meganhealymusic.com/the-maud-powell-project
Sierra Jech

Paula C. Moore Award

As part of the Barger Lab in the EBIO Department, my research focuses on improving techniques for restoring drylands that have been impacted by human activities. I am fascinated by biological soil crusts in drylands which are communities of diverse microorganisms that live at the soil surface and have important ecological functions. Biological soil crusts offer promising opportunities for improving soil stability and fertility in degraded landscapes, so I plan to employ microbiological tools for current cultivation efforts to produce viable biological soil crust inoculum at large scale. As a first step, we will track the survival of the biological soil crust community members after application to a degraded landscape using genetic and chemical techniques.
Kathryn Grabenstein

Verona Walker Award

Kathryn Grabenstein, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

 

Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants

The Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants are competitive awards sponsored by the Graduate School that support the research, scholarship and creative work of graduate students from all departments at CU Boulder. Funding for the Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants program comes mainly from private donations. Some awards are made possible by the generous donation of an individual or family, often in honor of a family member. The highest-ranked proposals are considered for a Named Graduate Student Grant.

Beverly Sears Named Graduate Student Grants

Derek LeFebre

Dean's Award

Derek LeFebre, School of Education

Laura Maurer

CURFA Carl Kisslinger Research Award

I'm originally from Pennsylvania and completed my undergraduate degree at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. I love watching sports, particularly baseball. I'm also an avid reader and enjoy running in my spare time. My research is focused on exploring main group metals as emissive organometallic centers for technologies such as photovoltaics, OLEDs or photocatalysis. I'm investigating using bismuth instead of more expensive transition metals that are currently implemented in these technologies. I've been working on making bismuth organometallic complexes and studying their photophysical properties.
Alex Standen

Ray Hauser Award

My research focuses on environmental history and political ecology in the Caribbean. My current project examines a series of hurricanes in Puerto Rico in the 1920s and 1930s and the environmental and political changes that followed. I'm specifically interested in natural hazard events, agriculture, land reform, and political movements.
Cassandra Gonzalez

Eloise Timmons Award

Cassandra Gonzalez, Department of Ethnic Studies

Anne Fetrow

Friends of the Graduate School Award

Anne Fetrow, Department of Geology

Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants

Alejandra Abad, Department of Art & Art History
Nathan Anderson, Department of Integrative Physiology
Ciara Asamoto, Department of Geology
Ashlyn Barnett, Department of Theatre & Dance
Srinjita Bhaduri, Department of Computer Science
Laurel Brigham, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Gabriela Buitron Vera, Department of Spanish & Portuguese
Marielle Butters, Department of Linguistics 
Kelly Carscadden, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Zachary Cooper, Department of Anthropology
Sara Cottle, Department of Journalism
Jack Dalton, Department of Anthropology
Sarah Davis-Mauney, Department of Theatre & Dance
Sasha de Koninck, Department of Intermedia, Art, Writing, and Performance
Simone Domingue, Department of Sociology
Nick Dragone, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Bailey Duhe, Department of Anthropology
Jessie Egan, Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
Ian Elliot, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Tracy Fehr, Department of Sociology
Carrie Fleming, Department of Sociology
Anne Fritzon, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
Kelsey Fuller, School of Music
Erik Funk, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Chloe Garfinkle, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Laurel Gibson, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
Angela Hansen, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Brandon Hayes, Department of Mechanical Engineering 
Kate Hinshaw, Department of Art & Art History 
Emily Hite, Department of Anthropology
Shirley Huang, Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
Emily Irvin, Department of Art & Art History
Deidre Jaeger, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Claire Karban, Deparment of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Sean Keyser, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ruiqi Li, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Josette Lorig, Department of English
Molly McDermott, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Tina Melie, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biolgy
Andrew Morgenthaler, Department of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
Toma Peiu, Department of Emergent Technologies and Media Arts Practices
Jacob Pettine, Department of Physics
Chelsea Pretz, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Vishal Ray, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Will Reed, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Devon Reynolds, Department of Environmental Studies
Kailey Shara, ATLAS Institute
Sherri Sheu, Department of History
Ji Shouse, Department of Asian Languages & Civilizations 
Joel Singley, Department of Environmental Studies
Ryan Smith, Department of History
Hillary Steinberg, Department of Sociology
Amanda Villarreal, Department Theatre & Dance 
Robery Weiner, Department of Anthropology
K. Woodzick, Department of Theatre & Dance
Megan Zabinski, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Professional Development Digital Credential Badges

The Graduate School at CU Boulder is offering digital credential badges that may be earned by current graduate students and postdocs participating in our professional development opportunities. These digital badges are online microcredentials that allow students to showcase skills, competencies or achievements they have gained through learning experiences.

Maria Calahorra

Maria Calahorra-Jimenez

PhD candidate in the Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, Communication Badge

Georgiana Salant

Georgiana Salant

PhD candidate in Biochemistry, Communication and Leadership Badges 

Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award

Recognizes outstanding mentorship of graduate students and contributions to graduate education.

Ciarlo

David Ciarlo

Department of History

Higashida

Cheryl Higashida

Department of English

Richter

Antje Richter

Department of Asian Languages & Civilizations

Roland

Kaifa Roland

Department of Anthropology

Honorable Mentions

Casey Fiesler, Department of Information Science
Tania Martuscelli, Department of Spanish & Portuguese
Eric Pederson, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience
Brian Toon, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Sabrina Volpone, Leeds School of Business
Deborah Whitehead, Department of Religious Studies