NDSU’s College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies has awarded Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships to six students for the 2018-19 academic year. Each fellowship recipient will receive a stipend plus additional funding for travel. The awards are designed to increase the completion rate of doctoral students.

“All the applications we received were excellent; their quality is a testament not only to the abilities and high-impact research of our doctoral students, but also to the passionate engagement and superior mentoring of their doctoral advisers,” said Claudia Tomany, dean of the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies. “I’m very proud of our new fellows.”

Support of $24,000 enables students to dedicate their time exclusively to dissertation research. In addition, $2,500 was awarded for research supplies and to support student travel for presentations at national and international meetings. Students are required to have advanced to candidacy for the doctorate and are expected to complete their dissertation during the year of funding.

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipients, courses of study and advisers are:

·     Gazala Ameen, plant pathology; Adviser: Robert Brueggeman

·     Alec Lackmann, environmental and conservation sciences; Adviser: Malcolm Butler

·     Amber Kaiser, cereal science; Adviser: Clifford Hall

·     Ashleigh Petts, English; Adviser: Mary McCall

·     Manoj Shah, molecular pathogenesis; Adviser: Teresa Bergholz

·     Logeeshan Velmanickam, electrical and computer engineering; Adviser: Dharmakeerthi Nawarathna

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.

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