The NDSU Graduate School has awarded Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships to six students for the 2010-11 academic year. Each fellowship recipient will receive a stipend distributed during 12 months, plus additional funding for academic travel and supplies.
“This fellowship represents a significant accomplishment for our doctoral students at NDSU,” said David Wittrock, dean of the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies. “The recipients of this prestigious honor were selected from a pool of highly qualified candidates.”
The fellowship recipients were selected from a group of 26 applicants by the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Committee, which included Brandy Randall, human development and family science; Kimberly Vonnahme, animal and range sciences; Iskander Akhatov, mechanical engineering; and Seth Rasmussen, chemistry and molecular biology.
Application evaluation criteria included a summary of quality of the student’s research and credentials, a timeline for dissertation completion within 12 months and the quality of the adviser’s mentoring plan.
Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipients and their dissertations are:
Sara Moeller, College of Science and Mathematics, psychology, "Goals, Structures, and Personality: Using Cybernetic Theory to Understand Behavior"
Yamaya Sosa Machado, College of Science and Mathematics, psychology, "Studies of Asymmetries in Visuospatial Attention"
Praveen Shukla, College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, "Inhibition of Nitric Oxide Signaling by Melatonin in Porcine Coronary Arteries"
Lindsay Merchant, College of Science and Mathematics, mathematics, “The Game of Nim on Graphs”
Rasool Aghatehrani, College of Engineering and Architecture, electrical and computer engineering, “Control Measures for Ancillary Services in Microgrids with Renewable Energy Resources”
Sujan Henkanaththegedara, College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies, environmental and conservation sciences, "Ecology and Population Dynamics of Endangered Mohave tui chub (Siphateles bicolor mohavensis)"