Over $5500 in prizes were awarded at the Student Research Expo that occurred this past Friday (April 25th at the UI Commons) for undergraduate research posters, graduate student presentations, student artwork, and Teaching Excellence Awards for graduate teaching assistants/instructors (all winners listed below); in addition, two prizes were awarded to Colleges.
 
This was the 20th year that the GPSA has coordinated the Expo, the first year for these specific College awards, and the first year that the event was open to all students on campus (undergrad, grad, law).
 
One College award was given to the College with the highest participant participation rate of its graduate-level students in the Student Research Expo. The clear winner was the College of Graduate Studies. An award of $250 will be transferred to COGS with the stipulation that COGS use these funds for an award to one of its graduate-level students sometime during the 2008-09 academic year.
 
The other College award was given to the College with the highest volunteer judge participation rate by its faculty or instructional/research staff. The winner in this instance was the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Graduate Studies. An award of $250 will also be transferred to CALS with the stipulation that CALS use these funds for an award to one of its graduate-level students sometime during the 2008-09 academic year.
 
I wish to thank all of the student and faculty participants in the Student Research Expo and the members of the public who attended.  Below is a complete list of all the day's winners.
Craig Watt
GPSA President and Student Research Expo Coordinator

Student Artwork:
Erik Allen, Senior, Art & Design
"Bob," Wire Sculpture
$150
 
Arielle Kronenberg, Junior, Art & Design
untitled (6 faces/panels), Ink Pen
$150
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Undergraduate research poster awards:
 
3rd place (3 awards of $100):
Amy Bresley, HPERD
Kim Russo, Biological Sciences
Raechel Bianchetti, Environmental Science
 
2nd place (1 award of $150):
Amy Winegardner, MMBB
 
1st place (1 award of $200)
Trevor Fulton, Environmental Science
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Graduate and Professional Student Association Teaching Excellence Awards:
(not associated with graduate presentations at the Expo)
 
Melanie Johnson, Environmental Science
Stacey Dunn, Biological Sciences
Shannon Amberg, Conservation Social Science,
Todd Ott, Forest Resources
David Brunner, HPERD
Chris Powell, Forest Resources
Maaike Davidson, Theatre and Film
Wendy Estes-Zumpf, Fish & Wildlife Resources
Samuel Ndegeah, Geography
Cheryl Weiss, HPERD
Erik Thornquist, English/TESL
Niko Balkenhol, Fish & Wildlife Resources
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Graduate student winners in the Presentation category (judging of the "presentation" aspect of the research presentation) are:
 
3rd place (4 awards @ $100 each):
Ryan Pollyea, Geological Sciences
Alexis Lewis, Conservation Social Science
Leah Brueggeman, PSES
Leigh Winowiecki, PSES
 
2nd place (2 awards @ $150 each):
Claudia Hemphill Pine, Environmental Science
Karen Vaughan, PSES
 
1st place (1 award @ $200)
Ingrid Fruth, MMBB
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Graduate winners in the Research category (judging of the "research" aspect of the research presentation) are:

3rd place (4 awards @ $100 each):
Kenichi Shimizu, Chemistry
Wioletta Pyrzak, MMBB
Fei Pan, Forest Products
Mei Wu, CASPEL
 
2nd place (2 awards @ $150 each):
Jennifer Jensen, Environmental Science
Justin Barnes, HPERD
 
1st place (1 award @ $200)
Lydia Clayton, PSES
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The Overall graduate research presentation winners:
A tie for 2nd place
(2 awards @ $275 each; splitting the 2nd place award of $300, and the third place award of $250)
Libbie Oram, Environmental Science
Jennifer Stenglein, Environmental Science
 
1st place, Top Graduate Presentation Award, $500
Christina Airhart, MMBB

 

College of Graduate Studies Awards (not affiliated with graduate student presentations at the Student Research Expo):

Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award

Ahmad Abu Abdo                                   PhD Civil Engineering                             College of Engineering

Wendy Estes-Zumpf                               PhD Fish and Wildlife Resources            College of Natural Resources

 Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award

Michael Falkowski                                 PhD Forest Resources                           College of Natural Resources

Outstanding Graduate Leadership Award

Craig Watt                                             MS Conservation Social Science            College of Natural Resources

Donald Crawford Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award

Ronald L Crawford                                  Microbiology, Molecular Biology and       College of Ag & Life Sciences                                                                          Biochemistry

Stephen Devadoss                                 Agricultural Economics and Rural           College of Ag & Life Sciences
                                                                                            Sociology         

Multicultural Fellowship 

Lubia Cajas Cano                                   PhD Environmental Science                    College of Graduate Studies

Tshering Sherpa                                     PhD Neuroscience                                 College of Graduate Studies

McNair Fellowship

Frank Battick                                         MS Materials Science and Engineering    College of Engineering

Connie Carson                                       PhD Food Science                                 College of Ag and Life Sciences

Rick Henderson                                     PhD Chemistry                                      College of Science

Doctoral Scholarly and Creative Activity Fellowship

Niko Balkenhol                                      PhD Fish and Wildlife Resources            College of Natural Resources

Jennifer Jensen                                      PhD Environmental Science                    College of Graduate Studies

Libbie Oram                                           PhD Environmental Science                    College of Graduate Studies

Michael Ostergaard                                PhD Chemistry                                      College of Science

Benjamin Oswald                                   PhD Bioinformatics and Computational    College of Graduate Studies       
                                                                                                        Biology

Mary Oswald                                         PhD Biological Science                          College of Science