Awards recognize top presentations at Graduate Research Symposium

Rachel Doran

Rachel Doran, winner of the Chancellor's Award at the Graduate Research Symposium. (Photos by Heimo Schmidt)

Joanna Meadvin and Tyrus Miller

Joanna Meadvin, winner of the Humanities Division Alumni Association Award, with Tyrus Miller, vice provost and dean of graduate studies.

UCSC graduate students from all divisions shared their research with faculty, staff, friends, colleagues, and the local community at the 10th Annual Graduate Research Symposium held at McHenry Library on Friday, May 9. The symposium included posters, oral presentations, and films, music, and other media presentations.

An Awards Reception was held on the south lawn immediately after the symposium. Two awards recognizing outstanding presentations in any discipline were awarded: a $250 cash Graduate Dean's award and a $500 cash award for the Chancellor's Graduate Research Prize. The deans of each academic division awarded a $100 gift certificate for the UCSC bookstore for the best presentation in the division. The UCSC Alumni Association also sponsored prizes, a $150 gift certificate for the UCSC bookstore, honoring presentations in each academic division. The award winners of the 9th Annual Graduate Research Symposium are listed below.

Chancellor’s Award: Rachel Doran, Molecular, Cell, & Developmental Biology, for the poster presentation "Learning from veterans: A closer look at elite controllers of HIV for HIV vaccine development"

Graduate Dean’s Award: Noel E. Smyth, History, for the poster presentation "The Natchez diaspora: A history of indigenous displacement in early America"

Arts Division

Alumni Association Award: David Kant, Music, for the media presentation "Thresholds and fragile states: The music of chaos"

Dean’s Award: Lena Jackson, Social Documentation, for the media presentation "Crenshaw"

Jack Baskin School of Engineering

Alumni Association Award: Aaron Reed, Computer Science, for the oral presentation "Ice-Bound: An interactive book enabled by research in technology and arts"

Dean’s Award: Kate Norris, Electrical Engineering, for the poster presentation "Resistive switching behavior of SiO2 cosputtered with platinum"

Humanities Division

Alumni Association Award: Joanna Meadvin, Literature, for the poster presentation "Anhelos que aún no se han realizado: Jewish writers and the making of the Jewish Americas (1890-1970)"

Dean’s Award: Jessica Y. Neasbitt, History of Consciousness, for the oral presentation "Of lasers and labia: An examination of the major players, investments, and stakes of female genital cosmetic surgery in the U.S."

Physical & Biological Sciences Division

Alumni Association Award: Rachael Orben, Ocean Sciences, for the oral presentation "Bigger is not always better: Body size predicts individual winter foraging strategies of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) in the Bering Sea"

Dean’s Award: Danica Roth, Earth Sciences, for the oral presentation "Rocks go boink: How much does river bedload shake the bed?"

Social Sciences Division

Alumni Association Award: Sharifa Crandall, Environmental Studies, for the poster presentation "Microclimate matters: Airborne fungal spores in a coastal forest and grassland"

Dean’s Award: Joanna Weill, Psychology, for the poster presentation "Do capital jurors represent the 'conscience of the community'? The biasing effects of death qualification"