UW Graduate School Award Winners Named

May 4, 2005 -- Outstanding students and an instructor in the University of Wyoming Graduate School have been selected to receive awards for their teaching and research accomplishments.

The Ellbogen Outstanding Graduate Assistant Teaching Awards, which recognize exceptional contributions to undergraduate education, were awarded to: Bradley Bakken, zoology and physiology; Dan May, mathematics; Cassandra Paul, physics and astronomy; Jeanne Rothaupt, family and consumer sciences/counselor education; Mary Katherine Scott, modern and classical languages; John Solis, adult learning and technology/instructional technology; and Justin Stewart, communication and journalism.

Three students received Outstanding Dissertation Awards. Winners, with their projects and UW mentors were:

Stephen Gray, botany, "Long Term Climate Variability and Its Implications for Ecosystems and Natural Resource Management in the Central Rocky Mountains," and mentor Stephen Jackson, botany professor.

Xudong (George) Hu, chemical and petroleum engineering, "Laser Induced Fluorescence Characterization and Kinetic Modeling of NOx Conversion in Nonthermal Plasma," and mentor Maciej Radosz, chemical and petroleum engineering professor.

Sugata Tan, chemical and petroleum engineering, "SAFT Modeling of Complex Phase Transitions" and mentor, Radosz.

Outstanding Master's Thesis Awards were presented to five students. Award recipients, with their projects and UW mentors were:

S.V.B. Janardhan Garikipati, chemical and petroleum engineering, "Effect of Oxygen and Pressure on Nitric Oxide Conversion in Non Thermal Plasma," and mentor, Radosz.
Jo Sharratt, economics and finance; "Diversifying Your PORTfolio One Bottle at a Time," mentors, Lee Sanning, economics and finance visiting assistant professor, and Sherrill Shaffer, economics and finance distinguished professor.

Sigan Hartley, psychology, "Perceptions of Stress and Coping Strategies Among Adults with Mild Mental Retardation: Insight into Psychological Adjustment," and mentor William MacLean Jr., psychology professor.

Jennifer Wright, psychology, "Children's Early Moral Development: An Analysis of Moral Language in Children's Talk," and mentor Karen Bartsch, psychology associate professor.

Darren Rhea, zoology and physiology, "Factors Affecting Assessments of Salmonid Populations in Wyoming Reservoirs Using Hydroacoustic Techniques and Floating Experimental Gillnets," and mentor Wayne Hubert, fish biologist with the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit based at UW.

John Tschirhart, economics and finance professor, received the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Mentor Award. The award recognizes and honors the important contribution that graduate faculty mentors make to guiding and assisting students during the transition from novice to expert in a discipline.

Posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2005