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Call for Dissertation Grant Proposals AERA Grants Program Seeks Proposals for Dissertation Grants

Deadline: May 30, 2024

With support from the National Science Foundation, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Grants Program seeks proposals for Dissertation Grants. The AERA Grants Program provides advanced graduate students with research funding and professional development and training. The program supports highly competitive dissertation research using rigorous quantitative methods to examine large-scale, education-related data. The aim of the program is to advance fundamental knowledge of relevance to STEM education policy, foster significant science using education data, promote equity in STEM, and build research capacity in education and learning. Since 1991, this AERA Program has been vital to both research and training at early career stages.   

The Grants Program encourages the use of major data sets from multiple and diverse sources. It emphasizes the advanced statistical analysis of data sets from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other federal agencies. The program also supports studies using large-scale international data systems (e.g., PISA, PIRLS, or TIMMS) that benefit from U.S. federal government support. In addition, statewide longitudinal administrative data systems (SLDS) enhanced through federal grants are also eligible for consideration. The inclusion of federal or state administrative information that further expands the analytic capacity of the research is permissible. The thrust of the analysis needs to be generalizable to a national, state, or population or a subgroup within the sample that the dataset represents.

The Grants Program is open to field-initiated research and welcomes proposals that:

• develop or benefit from advanced statistical or innovative quantitative methods or measures;
• analyze more than one large-scale national or international federally funded data set, or more than one statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) or incorporate other data enhancements;
• integrate, link, or blend multiple large-scale data sources; or
• undertake replication research of major findings or major studies using large-scale, federally supported or enhanced data.

The Grants Program encourages proposals across the life span and contexts of education and learning of relevance to STEM policy and practice. The research may focus on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to such issues as student achievement in STEM, analysis of STEM education policies, contextual factors in education, educational participation and persistence (pre-kindergarten through graduate school), early childhood education and development, postsecondary education, and the STEM workforce and transitions. Studies that examine issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion across STEM topics and/or for specific racial and ethnic groups, social classes, genders, or persons with disabilities are encouraged.

Applicant Eligibility Dissertation Grants are available for advanced doctoral students and are intended to support the student while analyzing data and writing the doctoral dissertation. Proposals are encouraged from the full range of education research fields and other fields and disciplines engaged in education-related research, including economics, political science, psychology, sociology, demography, statistics, public policy, and psychometrics. Applicants for this one-year, non-renewable award should be advanced doctoral students at the dissertation writing stage, usually the last year of study. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents enrolled in a doctoral program. Non­U.S. citizens enrolled in a doctoral program at an U.S. institution are also eligible to apply. Underrepresented racial and ethnic minority researchers as well as women, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.

Data Set Eligibility The dissertation research project must include the analysis of large-scale data. The data set can originate from one or multiple sources, including (1) federal data bases, (2) federally supported national studies, (3) international data sets supported by federal funds, or (4) statewide longitudinal administrative data systems (SLDS) enhanced through federal grants. Although the emphasis is on large-scale education data sets and systems, other social science and health-related databases that can advance knowledge about education and learning are eligible for consideration.

Many national data resources, including important longitudinal data sets, have been developed or funded by NCES, NSF, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Institutes of Health, or other federal agencies. International datasets such as PISA, PIAAC, TIMMS, and others are supported. If international data sets are used, the study must include U.S. education.

NCES has enhanced and improved SLDS through grants to nearly every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and America Samoa. This federal investment has produced state-level data from pre-K to grade 12, through higher education, and into the workforce. Many SLDS are available for analysis and can be used to address salient issues in education research or linked with other data sets.

Data Set Access The data set(s) of interest must be available for analysis at the time of application. Use of public or restricted-data files is permissible. Prior to receiving funding, students must provide documentation that they have permission to use the data for the research project. In many cases, graduate students will gain access to restricted files through a faculty member or senior scholar.

Data Sharing All data or data-related products produced under the AERA Grants Program must be shared and made available consonant with ethical standards for the conduct of research. Grantees are expected to place article-related data, [1] codebook or coding procedures, algorithms, code, and so forth in an accessible archive at the time of publication. Also, at a reasonable time after completion of the dissertation research, all data or data-related products must be archived at the AERA-ICPSR Data Sharing Repository supported by NSF and located at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. AERA provides guidance to facilitate the data sharing and archiving process.

Dissertation Grant Award

Award Component 1, $27,500 Stipend . AERA will award each grantee up to a $27,500 stipend to study education, teaching, learning, or other education research topics using one or multiple large-scale databases. The funds can be used for research-related expenses such as tuition, living expenses, travel to secure data enclaves or scholarly conferences, books, computer equipment, and other expenses directly related to conducting this research. As part of the proposal, applicants provide a budget that outlines anticipated research-related expenses. AERA encourages cost sharing from universities in the form of tuition assistance, office space, university fees, and other expenses. In accordance with AERA's agreement with NSF, institutions cannot charge overhead or indirect costs to administer the grant funds. In addition to the funding, grantees will be paired with a Governing Board member who will serve as a resource and provide advice and feedback to grantees and monitor grantees’ progress.

Award Component 2, AERA Research Conference. Grantees will participate in an AERA research conference held in Washington, DC. During this 2-day conference grantees will participate in seminar-type sessions on substantive, methodological, and professional issues. Also, they will have the opportunity to network and interact with the Grants Program Governing Board, senior scholars and researchers, other graduate students who use large-scale datasets in their research, and representatives from key federal agencies such as the National Center for Educational Statistics, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. The award will cover all travel and lodging expenses for grantees to participate in the conference.

Award Component 3, AERA Annual Meeting Capstone Research Institute. Each spring AERA holds its Annual Meeting which brings together over 15,000 researchers, scholars, and policy leaders to present their research, share knowledge, and build research capacity through over 2,000 substantive sessions. Grantees will take a data analysis or appropriate methods course while attending the AERA Annual Meeting. The grantees will present their research in an invited poster session along with other graduate students who received dissertation support from AERA and other prestigious fellowship programs. Finally, grantees will participate in a Capstone conference directly after the Annual Meeting that will address issues such as building a research agenda, searching for a faculty appointment, and publishing research. Grantees must include travel and lodging expenses to the Annual Meeting in their budget.

Informational Webinar Applicants are encouraged to watch the informational webinar to learn more about the AERA Grants Program and discuss the application process..

Project Dates AERA is flexible on research project start dates, depending on what is best for the applicant. The earliest date a grant may start is approximately three months following the application deadline. Alternatively, an award start date several months or more after that may be requested.

Funding Restrictions Dissertation Grantees may not accept concurrent grant or fellowship awards from another agency, foundation, institution or the like for the same dissertation project that is funded by the AERA Grants Program. If the awardee is offered more than one major grant or fellowship for the same project for the same time period, in order to accept the AERA Grants Program Dissertation Grant, the other award(s) must be declined. Awardees may accept Research Assistant or Teaching Assistant appointments at their doctoral institutions and may have additional employment.

If the applicant is employed by a contractor of NCES, NSF, other federal agency, state agency, or other entity that provides the dataset proposed for the project, the dissertation research must not be considered part of the applicant's work responsibilities. An additional letter from the applicant's employer is required as part of the application submission, stating that the dissertation project is separate from the applicant's job duties. This letter must be sent electronically by the deadline to [email protected] .

Evaluation Criteria Evaluation criteria include the significance of the research question, the conceptual clarity and potential contribution of the proposal, the relevance to an important STEM education policy issue, the strength of the methodological model and proposed statistical analysis, and the applicant’s relevant research and academic experience. Additionally, the review criteria include the following: What is already known on the issue? How might this project inform STEM education policy? How does the methodology relate specifically to the research question? Does the applicant know the data set? Does the analytic plan fit the question and the data? How does this project promote equity in STEM education and learning? Is the applicant qualified to carry out the proposed study? Reviewers will be members of the AERA Grants Program Governing Board. Due to the large volume of applications received, the AERA Grants Program is unable to provide individual feedback on unfunded proposals.

Reporting Requirements Dissertation Grantees will be required to submit a brief (3-6 pages) progress report midway through the grant period. A final report will be submitted at the end of the grant period. The final report consists of an extended dissertation abstract (3-6 pages), a statement of research dissemination and communication activities and plans (1-3 pages), and the complete approved dissertation. It should be submitted electronically to [email protected] . All reporting requirements and deadlines are outlined in the award letter.

Funding Disbursement Funding will be linked to the approval of the progress report and final report. Grantees will receive one-half of the total award at the beginning of the grant period, one-quarter upon approval of the progress report, and one-quarter upon approval of the final report. Grants are awarded through the grantee’s institution. In accordance with AERA's agreement with NSF, institutions cannot charge overhead or indirect costs to administer the grant funds.

Considerations in the Development of the Proposal Applicants are strongly encouraged to read Estimating Causal Effects: Using Experimental and Observational Designs , by Barbara Schneider, Martin Carnoy, Jeremy Kilpatrick, William H. Schmidt, and Richard J. Shavelson prior to submitting a dissertation grant proposal. Selection bias is a recurring issue during the review process and should be addressed in the proposal.

Applicants should choose research topics that can be supported by the samples and variables contained in the proposed data set(s). Applicants should also be familiar with the User Guides and/or Manuals (e.g., use of design weights and design effects) of the specific data sets. Applicants should be familiar with statistical methods and available computer programs that allow for sophisticated analyses of the selected data.

Applicants should explicitly address the curricular content when it applies. Applicants are encouraged to capitalize on the capacity of large-scale data sets to examine diverse populations, including racial, ethnic, social class, and gender groups. Studies are encouraged that promote or inform diversity, equity, and inclusion for underrepresented population as well as across STEM topics. The proposed topic must have education policy relevance, and the models to be tested must include predictor variables that are manipulable (e.g., course work in mathematics, instructional practices used by teachers, parental involvement). Studies focusing on STEM education policy are strongly encouraged. Studies that model achievement test data should clearly define the achievement construct and identify the kinds of items to be used to operationalize the topic of interest. Also, when planning to use existing sub-scales, the applicant should describe why these sub-scales are appropriate and how they will be applied. Existing sub-scales provided by NCES or other agencies may not be appropriate for the proposed construct.

Dissertation Grant Application Guidelines AERA Grants Program

Application Deadline All applications for the AERA Grants Program must be completed using the AERA online application portal by 11:59pm Pacific time on May 30, 2024 . An applicant may submit only one proposal to the AERA Grants Program for review at any one time. Due to the large volume of applications received, the AERA Program is unable to provide individual feedback on unfunded proposals.

Submission Information Please enter the background information requested in the proposal submission portal. This includes the applicant’s contact and background demographic information. Also, enter the proposal title, amount of funding requested, and the start and end dates of the project.

Dataset(s) used: Name data set(s) used (e.g., ECLS­K, ELS:2002, IPEDS, CCD, AddHealth, SLDS-State, PISA, and so forth). Proposals must include the analysis of at least one large-scale federal, international, or state administrative data system.

Dissertation abstract Enter the abstract of your proposed research project (250 words maximum).

Contribution to the field Briefly describe the potential contributions this research will make to the field of education (250 words maximum). You may cut and paste or type into the text box.

• Statement of how this research advances the current state of knowledge in the field, substantively and/or methodologically
• Theoretical or conceptual framework for the research
• Brief review of relevant research/policy literature
• Research questions, hypotheses to be tested
• Description of methodology including the data set(s) and justification for selecting data file to address research question; any additional or supplemental data sample (e.g., groups used, exclusions to sample, and estimated sample sizes); rationale for variables used; and specification and clarification of variables and analytic techniques
• Data analysis plan and/or statistical model or formulas, appropriately defined
• Brief dissemination plan for this research including proposed conferences to present the findings and potential scholarly journals to publish the research  
• Variables list: A categorized list of the variables from the NCES, NSF, or other data set(s) that will be used in this research project. (2 single-spaced pages maximum)  
• References cited (not part of page limit)  
• Budget . Awards for Dissertation Grants are up to $27,500 for 1­year projects. The budget must include funds to attend the AERA Annual Meeting. The funds can be used for research-related expenses such as tuition, living expenses, travel to secure data enclaves or scholarly conferences, books, computer equipment, and other expenses directly related to conducting this research. AERA encourages cost sharing from universities in the form of tuition assistance, office space, university fees, and other expenses. In accordance with AERA's agreement with NSF, institutions cannot charge overhead or indirect costs to administer the grant funds. There is no specific template for the budget. It may be a simple 2­column format or a more complex spreadsheet. (no page limit)  
• Research and academic employment history
• Relevant graduate courses in statistics and methodology
• Relevant publications and presentations
• Relevant professional affiliations and/or memberships

Please combine items 1-5 as one PDF document and upload on online application.

Letter(s) of support: The letter(s) must be sent separately, by the faculty member. One substantive letter of support is required from the applicant's primary faculty dissertation advisor that includes an indication of the applicant's current progress toward the degree and expected date of completion, and of the student's potential for success in his or her anticipated career path.

If the applicant is from a discipline other than education, a second letter of support from a faculty advisor who has an education research background is also required if the primary faculty advisory does not specialize in education research. Although this second letter should focus mainly on the applicant's qualifications, research experience, and potential, it should also include a brief paragraph on the advisor's own education research experience.

Further Questions Contact George L. Wimberly, Co-Principal Investigator, AERA Grants Program ( [email protected]) or 202-238-3200 if you have questions regarding the application or submission process. NOTE: All awards are contingent upon AERA's receiving continued federal funding.

Visit the AERA Grants Program Website at http://www.aera.net/grantsprogram .

[1] Awardees with access to data under restricted access provisions are expected to archive a detailed specification of the data set so that others can request the same data under the same or similar restricted conditions. 

Graduate School

• Request Information
• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

What is the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship? 

The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write their dissertation during the fellowship year.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION WINDOW? 

The 2024-25 application window will open October 9, 2023. The submission deadline is February 23, 2024 by 5:00 p.m. central time.

Deadline extensions will not be granted; late submissions will not be accepted.

How much is the award? 

$25,000 stipend, academic year tuition at the general graduate rate for up to 14 credits per semester, subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for up to one calendar year, and a $1,000 conference grant.

Who Is Eligible? 

Programs may nominate Ph.D. candidates if the nominee:

• will have passed the written and oral preliminary examinations by February 23, 2024.
• will have completed all program coursework by the end of the spring semester 2024 (NOTE: nominee may be registered for program coursework in spring 2024, but may not have any incompletes in program coursework at the time of nomination).
• is expected to graduate in calendar year 2025.

HOW DO I APPLY? 

Program Nomination required. Please reach out to your Director of Graduate Studies or Graduate Program Coordinator .

Colleges have a set number of nomination slots. Check with your program to find out more information about your college’s internal selection process.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS?

Completed by Nominee (Ph.D. candidate) and submitted directly to the nominating program

• Nominee’s Education Statement
• Nominee’s Summary of Accomplishments
• Nominee’s Statement of Research, see details below

Completed by Nominating Program

• DGS Questionnaire

At the request of a Ph.D. candidate, two (2) letters of recommendation are required.

• One letter from the nominee’s Advisor and/or Co-Advisor, see details below
• One letter from a non-advisor, see details below

All application materials are forwarded to the student’s graduate program for submission to the electronic nomination form . The graduate program will upload a single PDF of the application materials in the following order:

• Nominee's Education Statement
• Nominee's Summary of Accomplishments
• Nominee's Statement of Research
• Two Letters of Recommendation

Required PDF title format: Nominee Last Name, First Name - Program

Further Information

For more information about internal review and nomination procedures, please contact your Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) or designated program support staff. If you have additional questions, contact the  Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards .

APPLICATION MATERIAL INSTRUCTIONS

+ nominee’s statement of research, required elements.

• Maximum three pages, single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins.
• Include a working title for your research at the top of the proposal.
• Under the title, include an abstract, limited to 100 words, in terms that are jargon-free and accessible to the non-specialist.  

Appendix Page

Key references, diagrams or pictures may be included (but they are not required) on a single additional appendix page (no formatting requirements).

Expectations of content

• Provide a clear summary of your dissertation research and highlight your original contributions to the research, especially if part of a larger research project.
• Describe where your research fits within the context of existing research in the field and the contributions your research will add.
• Describe the area(s) of impact that you see your research having.
• Describe how receiving the DDF supports your professional and/or career goals.
• Specialized terminology must be defined. Faculty reviewers are drawn from many different fields across the University.   

Evaluation Rubric

• You may find this rubric  to be helpful as it will be used by the Faculty Review Committee to evaluate DDF applications.

+ LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Advisor or co-advisor (can be co-authored).

• 2-page maximum, may be co-authored by Advisor and Co-Advisor
• Describe the importance and significance of the overall research project and its impact on the broader discipline.
• Describe and provide examples of the specific contribution(s) the nominee made to the research project, demonstrating the nominee’s independence and research originality (e.g. invited presentations, awards, honors received).
• Describe how the nominee has evolved as a researcher, how that has guided their dissertation research project, and how they will benefit from the DDF.
• Describe the nominee’s timeliness of progress toward the degree. Has this nominee performed below, met, or exceeded expectations and provide explanation for any extenuating circumstances.

Non-Advisor

• 2-page maximum, from a non-Advisor

+ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the review and selection considerations.

An interdepartmental faculty committee reviews nominations and selects award recipients. This rubric is used in review and for discussion.

Can my co-advisor write the second letter of recommendation?

No, the second letter of recommendation must be from a non-advisor. Your co-advisor can co-author the first letter with your advisor. A committee member or other non-advisor can author the second letter.

Are there any tips for a successful DDF application?

The nominee is encouraged to have their Statement of Research reviewed and critiqued by persons completely outside the field and unfamiliar with the discipline to assure that it meets the wide-audience test of accessibility. Many excellent nominees have not received awards in past years because their statements contained undefined specialized words and dense syntax, making the statement incomprehensible to reviewers not in the nominee's discipline.

DDF Conference Grant

The DDF Conference Grant supports a recipient’s presentation of dissertation research at a conference while on DDF tenure. The application form, which includes instructions and more information, is linked in the DDF Terms & Conditions. Applications are accepted on the 6th of every month, September through May, during a recipient’s DDF tenure.

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Dissertation Grant

Region: North America

A research grant for PhD students at universities in the United States and Canada, who are underrepresented in the field of computing and pursuing research aligned to the research areas carried out by researchers at Microsoft.

How to submit a proposal

Doctoral students enrolled in their fourth year or beyond of PhD studies and who are underrepresented in the field of computing must submit their proposal directly .

Direct any questions not answered in the FAQ to the Grant’s Program Chair, Bongshin Lee , and Program Manager, Mariah L. Christianson, at [email protected] .

Microsoft recognizes the value of diversity in computing. The Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant aims to increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing. This includes those who self-identify as a woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, LGBTQI+, and/or person with a disability.

• Proposals and letters of recommendation were accepted through Monday, March 22, 2021 at 12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Daylight Time
• Recipients announced by June 30, 2021

Provisions of the 2021 award

• The 2021 Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant recipients will receive funding up to $25,000 USD for academic year 2021-22 to help them complete research as part of their doctoral thesis work.
• An invitation to the PhD Summit: a two-day workshop in the fall hosted by Microsoft Research where grant recipients will meet with Microsoft researchers and other top students to share their research. We hope to offer both a virtual and in-person participation option; we will continue to monitor local and national health and safety guidance and may hold a completely virtual event if advisable.

Eligibility criteria

• Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Grant recipients should support this mission and embrace opportunities to foster diverse and inclusive cultures within their communities.
• PhD students must be enrolled at a university in the United States or Canada.
• Proposed research must be closely related to the general research areas carried out by researchers at Microsoft as noted in the Our research tab above.
• Students must be in their fourth year or beyond of a PhD program as of March 22, 2021, the proposal deadline. Students must have started their PhD in September 2017 or earlier to be considered in their fourth year of the program having taken into account transfers, approved leaves of absence, etc.
• PhD students submitting a proposal for this grant must self-identify as a woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, LGBTQI+, and/or person with a disability.
• PhD students must continue to be enrolled at the university in the fall of 2021 or forfeit the award. Grants are not available for extension. If you require time away for family or medical leave, this will be accommodated. If you are unsure if a particular need for time away will affect the award, you can contact us at Microsoft Research Grants ( [email protected] ).
• Payment of the award, as described above, will be made directly to the university and dispersed according to the university’s policies. Microsoft will have discretion as to how any remaining funds will be used if the student is no longer qualified to receive funding (e.g., if the student unenrolls from the program, graduates, or transfers to a different university).
• Funding is for use only during the recipient’s time in the PhD program; it cannot be used for support in a role past graduation, such as a postdoc or faculty position. Those interested in receiving this grant will need to confirm their PhD program starting month and year, as well as their expected graduation month and year.
• A recipient of the Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant subject to disciplinary proceedings for inappropriate behavior, including but not limited to discrimination, harassment (including sexual harassment), or plagiarism will forfeit their funding.

If you do not meet the above criteria, you may be eligible for other Academic Programs .

Microsoft actively seeks to foster greater levels of diversity in our workforce and in our pipeline of future researchers. We are always looking for the best and brightest talent and celebrate individuality. We invite candidates to come as they are and do what they love.

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Other Training-Related Programs

Dissertation award, program purpose.

Although not technically fellowships, these grants support dissertation research costs of students in accredited research doctoral programs in the United States (including Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories or possessions).

Eligibility

Career level.

U.S. citizen or permanent resident, enrolled in a research doctoral degree program.

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• NOT-OD-24-129: Updates to NIH Institutional Training Grant Applications for Due Dates on or After January 25, 2025
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• NOT-OD-23-076: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipends, Tuition/Fees and Other Budgetary Levels Effective for Fiscal Year 2023

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made two awards to APSA to administer the Political Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program. The NSF awarded APSA $1,410,000 to administer the DDRIG program from 2020 to 2023, and they renewed this award to continue its administration from 2023 to 2026.

"APSA is excited to support the advancement of knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics by providing funding for highly promising doctoral dissertation research. The program also plans to draw upon APSA’s networks and programming to promote diversity and representation throughout the recruitment, selection, and support of awardees."   

– Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director of APSA

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant project provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards will support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program will award between twenty and twenty-five grants yearly of between $10,000 and $15,000 to support doctoral dissertation research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. The 2024 cycle of APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants opens April 1, 2024 and closes June 15, 2024.

The program will also connect awardees to APSA’s extensive professional development and public engagement networks and resources, to amplify the effect of the award on the awardee’s career and on the impact of their work as they explore solutions to a wide range of institutional, political, and social challenges. In addition, it will support the advancement of national health, prosperity, and welfare, by supporting projects that identify ways to use knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics to benefit society. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants was funded under  NSF award number 2000500  and under NSF award number 2317099 .

Advancing diversity and inclusion in the profession is a key priority of the association and the  APSA Strategic Plan . As such, APSA is committed to identifying and supporting especially promising doctoral dissertation research, particularly research by scholars from groups, institutions, and geographic areas that are underrepresented in political science. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants Program is dedicated to recruiting diverse applicant and reviewer pools to fund doctoral students from diverse groups and institutions, and ultimately support increased participation of women and underrepresented minorities in political science research.

For more information, contact  [email protected] .

All proposals for APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants must include the following:

These frequently asked questions will be helpful to PhD students who are considering applying for the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

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Five UW–Madison students awarded National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships

Five UW–Madison graduate students have received dissertation fellowships from the National Academy of Education (NAEd) and Spencer Foundation.

The competitive NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship aims to encourage early-career scholars from a range of disciplines to pursue research that can improve education. Competitive applicants are those who bring fresh, constructive perspectives to the practice of education anywhere in the world. In addition to a stipend, the award supports fellows’ professional development through mentoring at retreats led by senior scholars.

This year, 35 fellowships were awarded , including five UW–Madison awardees:

• Yaa Oparebea Ampofo , Educational Policy Studies
• Ariel Borns , Educational Policy Studies
• Anshu Jain , Educational Policy Studies
• Jonathan Marino , Educational Policy Studies
• Alexandra Pasqualone , Educational Policy Studies and History

Read more about each Spencer Fellow below.

Yaa Oparebea Ampofo

Against the backdrop of climate change and environmental degradation across Africa, and as a community-engaged scholar, Yaa Oparebea’s research journey is enhanced by her own hopes and anxieties about the future. Her dissertation, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and Zeit Stiftung Bucerius, explores how Ghanaian youth learn about, experience, and make sense of climate change and other socio-ecological disruptions to their routines and livelihoods. This research also examines how different learning frameworks, environments, and pathways attend to human-planetary health and wellbeing, with a focus on examining their capacities to capture the broad public imagination and influence public policy.

To examine these topics, Yaa Oparebea conducted six months of community mappings and institutional ethnography and 12 months of extensive interviews, participant-observations, and focus group discussions with focal youth participants to look at three major themes: first, how core institutions associated with youth education – such as family, schools, religious institutions, and workplaces – socialize young people about crisis, socio-ecological change, and human-planetary wellbeing; second, how youth make sense of and respond to these efforts in relation to their daily experiences; and third, how youth generate knowledges and actions that may offer new hope to their survival and thriving.

“A study of how youth learn across diverse institutionalized spaces offers a critical, interdisciplinary analysis of knowledge production, teaching, and learning, and new ways of understanding sense-making, experience, and action,” Yaa Oparebea said. “This project challenges pervasive colonialist approaches that overdetermine the importance of formal schooling and overlook youth’s agency in knowledge generation. It informs how we might imagine radically different and decolonizing educational pathways to support youth in generating alternative, hopeful livelihoods and futures, for themselves and the planet.”

Yaa Oparebea’s goal is that such research may deepen our understanding of how various crises are shaping and transforming the work of educators, as well as how we create opportunities for new and powerful educational approaches to realizing sustainable human and planetary wellbeing. Her work speaks to how we might reimagine the educational programs, pedagogies, and policies that support African youth as they situate their needs, responsibilities, and future livelihoods in response to the rapid socio-ecological changes that are reshaping life across the continent and the world.

Ariel Borns

Ariel’s dissertation research explores the interplay of equity-oriented educational reforms around language and literacy in schools serving multilingual students in Indigenous communities in Guatemala. She has conducted qualitative research on projects affiliated with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, including one that has examined how literacy coaches adapt to a school district’s K-5 literacy reforms. In other work, Ariel has examined migrant and refugee youth’s experiences of belonging and activism in a community-based organization as they contend with the intersecting challenges of racialized immigration and education policies in the U.S.

Her research has been supported by Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowships, a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, and the Arvil S. Barr Graduate Fellowship from the UW–Madison School of Education. At UW–Madison, she works with the Qualitative Research Methods Group and International and Comparative Education Research Group. She holds a master’s in Educational Policy Studies from University of Wisconsin–Madison, a master’s in Teaching from Clark University, and a bachelor’s degree in International Development and Social Change and Spanish from Clark University. Prior to her doctoral studies, Ariel was a public school teacher in the U.S.

Ariel’s dissertation examines Guatemala’s national coaching reform, which aims to achieve equity through decentralized efforts to support high-quality instruction as well as linguistically and culturally relevant education for Indigenous populations, who comprise over 50% of the national population.

“Coaching is heralded as solving a host of issues, including weak leadership and ineffective literacy instruction,” Ariel said. “Despite the popularity of coaching reforms for improving teachers’ classroom practices and student reading achievement in the U.S. and in low- and middle-income countries, resources and systems to support such organizational improvements are often lacking, even after successful pilot programs.”

Ariel’s work draws on over 600 hours of observations at public primary schools in Indigenous communities and staff professional development, document analysis, and over 50 interviews with educators and key-informants involved in Guatemala’s coaching system to examine how Indigenous peoples embedded within the state as educational leaders understand, negotiate, and challenge international- and state-driven narratives around language, literacy, quality, and equity. Findings from her research reveal the ways the coaching model sought to improve instruction across three interrelated components of the education system – systemic change, pedagogical improvement, and ethnolinguistic inequality. The findings of this study have the potential to inform efforts to leverage coaching to achieve ethnolinguistic and educational equity in diverse contexts around the globe.

“I hope my research generates insights regarding the potentials, challenges, and unintended effects of educational policies, such as instructional coaching, in ways that promise to improve linguistically and culturally relevant literacy instruction in Guatemala and other low- and middle-income countries,” Ariel said.

Anshu grew up in a non-metropolitan city in north India, and later spent most of his youth in New Delhi, where he first experienced life as a transgender man. Prior to joining UW–Madison, he obtained a master’s degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi and worked in three educational and gender/sexuality rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in north India. During the third year of his PhD, he also completed a master’s in Gender and Women’s Studies at UW–Madison. Through his work, he seeks to learn from and contribute to transgender support networks, movements, and politics in India. As a teacher, scholar, activist, and writer, his goal is to work towards expanding educational rights, policies, and practices in India to make them relevant for trans individuals and to write about how trans people in India survive and thrive.

Jonathan Marino

Jonathan’s dissertation, funded by Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships, explores the spread of large-scale early grade reading interventions across many developing countries in recent years. Focusing on the case of Uganda, Jonathan traces the emergence of new early grade reading curricula, pedagogies, assessments, and teacher trainings that have been rolled out countrywide in the past decade. Utilizing participant observation in four focal primary schools, interviews with teachers and policymakers, analysis of documents, and a teacher survey, Jonathan seeks to understand the frictions that emerge when implementing standardized reading curricula across diverse linguistic and regional contexts.

“My hope for the dissertation is that it improves our understanding of reading and reading pedagogies in highly multilingual settings and offers recommendations to an early grade reading field that is growing at a rapid pace,” Jonathan said. “More generally, as a researcher, practitioner, and advocate, I hope to participate in movements for educational justice that center the concerns of our youngest learners and enhance the working conditions and well-being of their teachers and caregivers.”

Alexandra Pasqualone

During her time at UW, Pasqualone has served as a project assistant (PA) at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) and a teaching and research assistant to several EPS professors. Currently she is supporting research on UW’s history of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a PA for the Center for Campus History (CCH). She also co-founded and co-leads the History of Education Graduate Students (HEGS) organization.

Beyond her involvement on campus, Alexandra has spent the last several years studying Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) regions and languages through coursework, a 2019 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) in Meknes, Morocco, a Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship in 2020-2021, and a CLS Refresh course in Spring 2022. Pasqualone has volunteered as co-facilitator of a bilingual course on Palestinian Apartheid through the Yallah Al-Quds Program and will intern this summer with the American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (ADC), supporting work related to federal recognition of a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) category.

Alexandra’s dissertation explores the relationship between public schooling and identity formation among youths of Arab descent in Dearborn, Michigan, from 1948 to 2001. This period stretches from the heightened immigration of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) populations to the Midwest following the establishment of Israel to the rise in Islamophobia after 9/11.

“Among a highly concentrated community of Arab immigrants, Dearborn’s youth formed diverse understandings of what it meant to be Arab, what it meant to be American of Arab descent, and how to contend with these identities,” Alexandra said. “This intertwined process of identity formation and racial formation was complex as youth of Arab descent simultaneously asserted their own conceptions of their identities and responded to non-Arabs’ often racist and inaccurate perceptions regarding SWANA populations.”

Grounded in archival sources and oral interviews, Alexandra’s dissertation explores the nuances surrounding the identities of Arab populations in the U.S. and complicates current historical understandings of education and its relationship to race, ethnicity, and what it means to be American.

As a researcher, Pasqualone’s interests center around the power of student voice and youth activism, the history of adolescent educational experiences, and the relationship between schools and themes of race, equity, and identity. She hopes her work on Arab American youth will not only bridge the fields of educational history and Arab American studies, but that it will underscore the distinct experiences and identities of youth of Arab descent as they navigated public schools. More broadly, her research and use of oral history aims to apply student-centered approaches to historical research illuminating the importance of youth as historical actors and pointing to history as a valuable tool for approaching contemporary questions regarding the impact of schools on the identities and experiences of the students they serve.

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The program aims to foster innovative teaching and research, and to develop scholars, teachers, museum curators, and heritage and planning professionals capable of interpreting the role of art, architecture, visual culture and cultural production in the broadest sense. Because of its programmatic links with other interdisciplinary research centers and graduate programs within the University, our program offers a unique opportunity to graduate students wishing to undertake innovative studies of a cross-disciplinary nature, with a stress on the development of critical theoretical and historical perspectives in relation to the visual arts, photography, architecture, planning and the wider built environment at local, national and global levels.

Essential to our integrated program is the active working relationship between faculty and students in an intellectual environment. Students are offered a unique opportunity to engage in advanced studies and research in theory and criticism, the social history of art, feminist interpretations of art, the history and theory of photography, architectural history, the study of museums and art world institutions, media studies and digital art history from early modern to modern and contemporary.

The combined MA-PhD program in art history is a two-stage program that provides the opportunity for a graduate student to complete a MA degree while working toward a PhD degree. This combined program allows applicants who have a MA degree in another related field (such as a Master of Education or a Master in Museum Studies) or qualified students with BA degrees to apply directly to the PhD program. This fast-track program does not require a MA thesis and entails fewer credits than the two separate degrees combined.

Program Requirements

Course requirements.

Students pursuing the PhD in Art History must take a minimum of twelve graduate-level courses (48 credits), which includes:

• ARTH 500 Theory and Methods of Art History (required in first year)
• At least four courses (16 credits) must be taken with different faculty members in art history, which may include associated and visiting faculty
• ARTH 699 Dissertation (as required to maintain registration after admission to candidacy)

The Art History Graduate Committee may require additional coursework as a condition for admission. For courses outside the department and independent studies, students submit a petition to the graduate committee.

Foreign Language Requirements

MA-PhD students must pass two examinations demonstrating an ability to read research literature in the student’s areas of interest in at least two appropriate languages of scholarship in addition to English. Work in certain fields may require additional languages. One language examination must be passed before the MA is awarded and before the student is formally admitted into the PhD program.

Students may seek a waiver of one or more of the language requirements by petitioning the Graduate Committee in writing and providing appropriate documentation of their competency in the language(s) in question.

Master’s Comprehensive Examination

The master’s comprehensive examination has been incorporated into the mandatory seminar on theory and methods. All students are required to pass ARTH 500 Theory and Methods, with a grade of B or better. At the discretion of the Art History Graduate Committee, students failing to achieve the required grade may be asked either to repeat the course or, in exceptional cases, to redo the examination assignment.

Dissertation Committee

The student must choose a dissertation supervisor by the beginning of the second year. In conjunction with the student’s supervisor, who chairs the committee, the student chooses two additional members from Binghamton University’s graduate faculty, at least one of whom must be a member of the art history faculty. In extremely rare cases, off-campus specialists in the subject area may be invited to serve, though no honorarium can be offered for such services. This committee is then appointed by the Art History Graduate Committee, who must also approve any subsequent changes.

Master’s Qualifying Paper

The qualifying paper should be a revised and properly formatted version of a paper written for a graduate art history course at Binghamton. The formally approved dissertation supervisor and one other departmental faculty member, chosen in consultation with the student, read, approve and offer comments on the qualifying paper. The departmental graduate committee reviews the evaluations of the two readers, along with evaluations of coursework solicited from other faculty members who have taught the student at the MA level. The student must submit the qualifying paper for approval by the beginning of the second semester of the second year in order to be eligible to be considered for the PhD program. If the qualifying paper is approved, the student will be awarded a MA degree and will be given PhD status. If the student is directed out of the MA-PhD track, the student will be advised on how to complete the semester with a master’s thesis.

Dissertation Proposal

The dissertation proposal is a description of the proposed research project that serves as the basis for the dissertation. The student must submit a formal, written proposal for dissertation research on an approved topic, outlining in detail the problem, method of inquiry and relevant literature on the subject. The three-member dissertation committee must accept this proposal. The committee must include the supervisor as chair, and at least one additional member from the art history faculty.

A signed copy of the proposal must be deposited with the department after successful completion of the examination.

PhD Comprehensive Examination

Students must pass a comprehensive examination before a committee designated by the Art History Graduate Committee. This examination will focus on: 1) the circulated dissertation proposal; and 2) professional knowledge and practice, based on a familiarity with broad methodological and historiographical questions in the discipline, as demonstrated by syllabi and/or proposals in the student’s chosen professional field, as agreed with the chair of the examining committee.

Doctoral students (who entered the program in or after fall 2010) are required to pass the PhD comprehensive examinations within 18 months of completing coursework. Students who do not meet this deadline will receive a grade of U (unsatisfactory) for ARTH 698 until the examination has been passed. In clear cases of extenuating circumstances, students may file a petition for an extension.

Dissertation and Defense

When the final draft of the dissertation has been accepted by the student’s supervisor and committee, the dissertation is defended in an oral examination that is open to the public and is conducted by the student’s dissertation committee and an outside examiner, appointed by the vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. The final dissertation must be submitted electronically in accordance with Graduate School regulations (with a hard copy required by the department). An acceptable dissertation demonstrates the student’s ability to handle significant problems in the history of art, architecture, visual culture or the built environment in a critical and scholarly manner and makes a contribution to the discipline.

Additional Information About the Program

The required coursework for the MA-PhD must be completed with regular letter grades and a grade point average of B or better, in addition to required registration for dissertation research and preparation. A student must receive a grade of B- or better for an ARTH course to count toward the degree.

For more information about the Art History MA-PhD program, please refer to the Art History Department website . To apply to the Art History MA-PhD program, please visit the University Admissions website .

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UB Awards 320 Biomedical Science Degrees; 35 Earn PhDs

Commencement 2024.

Lauryn Alexandria Scott, a biomedical sciences undergraduate student, is all smiles as she walks across the stage during the May 19 biomedical sciences commencement ceremony.

By Dirk Hoffman

Published May 29, 2024

Thirty-five doctoral, 76 master’s and 209 baccalaureate candidates were eligible to receive degrees in biomedical science fields during the May commencement ceremony.

2024 Commencement Video

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Six graduate students and nine senior undergraduates were singled out for special honors, including four graduates who received a Chancellor’s Award, the highest State University of New York undergraduate honor.

Graduates completed work in 14 departments or programs of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences :

• biochemistry
• biomedical informatics
• biomedical sciences
• biotechnical and clinical laboratory sciences
• genetics, genomics and bioinformatics
• medical physics
• microbiology and immunology
• natural sciences interdisciplinary
• neuroscience
• nuclear medicine technology
• pathology and anatomical sciences
• pharmacology and toxicology
• physiology and biophysics
• structural biology

Graduates also completed the following programs offered in alliance with the  Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Graduate Division : cancer pathology and prevention, cancer sciences, immunology, and molecular pharmacology and cancer therapeutics.

Fifteen of the doctoral degrees and eight of the master’s degrees were awarded in Roswell Park’s programs.

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, congratulates the Class of 2024.

Lessons Learned From Recent Solar Eclipse

Allison Brashear, MD, MBA , UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, welcomed attendees to the May 19 event at UB’s Center for the Arts and addressed the graduates.

“It fills my heart with immense joy to see all of you gathered here today,” she said.

“In the face of the challenges that have beset us in recent times, these bright scholars and scientists have exhibited extraordinary resilience, determination and perseverance in their academic endeavors. I am confident that these qualities will serve as guiding lights as they embark upon their journeys in their respective fields.”

She noted that biomedical science is one of the broadest areas of medical science and underpins much of modern medicine.

“Biomedical scientists are at the heart of multidisciplinary teams in health care. Biomedical research looks at ways to prevent and treat disease,” Brashear said. “Your innovative approaches and unwavering dedication will continue to push the boundaries of scientific discoveries and technology, leading to a brighter and healthier future for all of us.”

In his address, UB President Satish K. Tripathi, PhD, told the graduates they could learn a lot from the recent solar eclipse that generated excitement in Western New York in early April.

“Allow me to share three tips of advice gathered from the path of totality,” he quipped.

“Reconnect with the natural world, as often as possible. Instead of taking selfies, take time for self-reflection,” he said. “When you give wide berth to the stressors of modern life, you allow yourself space to find both your place in the world and your responsibility to it.”

“Do not regret circumstances beyond your control,” Tripathi added, noting the sunny days leading up to the eclipse, but the extreme cloudiness that persisted over much of WNY on April 8, the day of the event. “Notwithstanding the uncooperative weather, we all experienced a breathtaking moment. Magnify your disappointments and you miss occasions for learning, enrichment and wonder.”

“Lastly, use your expertise for the greater good. When you apply what you have learned for others’ benefit, you put your UB education to its highest purpose,” he said.

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble won two separate graduate awards for her research and dissertation. She is flanked by Mark R. O’Brian, PhD, left, and John C. Panepinto, PhD.

Outstanding Graduates Recognized

Biochemistry graduate student research achievement award.

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble was honored for research that received national or international recognition and for being selected to give an oral presentation at a major national or international meeting.

Dissertation: “Intrafamily Heterooligomerization of the N-Terminal Methyltransferase METTL11A”

Mentor: Christine E. Schaner-Tooley, PhD , associate professor of biochemistry

Roswell Park Graduate Division Award for Excellence in Research

Doctoral graduate Abigail Cornwell was the recipient of this award for outstanding research for her dissertation titled “Impact of Benzodiazepines on the Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Tumor Microenvironment”

Mentor: Michael Feigin, PhD, associate professor of oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Dean’s Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research

Doctoral graduate Haley Victoria Hobble was the winner of this award that recognizes demonstrated excellence in research.

She was honored for her dissertation: “Intrafamily Heterooligomerization of the N-Terminal Methyltransferase METTL11A”

Mentor:  Christine E. Schaner-Tooley, PhD , associate professor of  biochemistry

The Microbiology and Immunology Award for Excellence in Dissertation Research in Memory of Dr. Murray W. Stinson

Doctoral graduate Katherine Shannon Wackowski was honored for her dissertation “Cooperation of RESC Proteins in Trypanosome RNA Editing and Holoenzyme Dynamics”

Mentor: Laurie K. Read, PhD , professor of microbiology and immunology

Dennis Higgins Award for PhD Dissertation Research in Pharmacology and Toxicology

Doctoral graduate Shirley Xu was honored for her dissertation “Troponin-Mediated Autoimmune Mechanisms of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Myocarditis”

Mentor: Umesh Sharma, MD, PhD , associate professor of medicine

Bishop Neuroscience Thesis Award

Doctoral graduate Richard Adam Seidman was honored for his dissertation “Oscillatory Calcium Mediated Regulation of Human Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells”

Mentor: Fraser J. Sim, PhD , professor of pharmacology and toxicology

The Structural Biology Award for Excellence in Dissertation Research in Memory of Dr. Robert H. Blessing

Doctoral graduate Nicholas David Clark was honored for his dissertation “Structure/Function Studies of Virulence Factors from Periodontal Pathogens and Membrane Sphingolipid Hydroxylases”

Mentor: Michael G. Malkowski, PhD , professor and chair of structural biology

The four undergraduate SUNY Chancellor’s Award winners, from left, Bryan R. Renzoni, Lea Kyle, Rachel Esther Sanyu and Sarah Bukhari, along with Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD.

SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence

Sarah Bukhari, Lea Kyle, Bryan R. Renzoni and Rachel Esther Sanyu were recognized with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award. It recognizes students for their integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives that may include leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, entrepreneurship or career achievement.

Bukhari graduates with a bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry. She is an undergraduate researcher in the lab of  Jennifer A. Surtees, PhD , professor of  biochemistry . Bukhari secured funding from the Experiential Learning Network and a Mentored Research micro-credential.

Beyond academics, the Grand Island, New York, native is deeply involved in community engagement, serving as both the volunteer coordinator and vice president of the largest student-run pre-health organization, the Association of Pre-Medical Students, and was awarded a Community Engagement micro-credential and gathering 500+ volunteer hours.

With dual roles as dance coach and social media coordinator for the Pakistani Student Association, she fosters a network of communities to embrace diversity and celebrate traditions.

A native of Martville, New York, Kyle is a University Honors College Scholar who graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry with minors in both physics and public health.

She has been a Student Association, Recreation Department, Student Engagement and TASS Center employee. She also is the current president of UB Rotaract, a volunteering club on campus.

Kyle is also a student researcher in the  Department of Microbiology and Immunology ,  Elizabeth A. Wohlfert, PhD , associate professor of microbiology and immunology, focusing on the effects of chronic inflammation on muscle function due to chronic infection..

Renzoni, of East Amherst, New York, graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry. He is a University Honors College Presidential Scholar and Honors College Ambassador.

A BioXFEL Scholar, he has received multiple research internship positions and worked in two different laboratories, contributing to work on the development of novel organic and organometallic compounds with applications as cancer therapies.

Renzoni has also served as a co-chair of the G14 Leadership Summit, president and executive adviser of UB ChemClub, and both assistant music director and music director of The Enchords, UB’s all-gender a cappella group.

Sanyu, an international student from Uganda, graduates with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology and toxicology.

She is an Honors College Scholar who conducted oncology research within the lab of Wendy Huss, PhD, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and at Johnson & Johnson, where she earned the 2023 Inspire Spotlight Award.

Sanyu has also worked as a student assistant in the Office of Interprofessional Education and an honors peer mentor. 

She is a founder of a health care app and is involved with the community through her work with Suubi Cancer Relief and Hillside Family of Agencies.

Sanyu also loves to dance and was a member of the UBMystique and 8-Count dance teams.

Undergraduate Outstanding Senior Awards

The following awards honor high academic performance and involvement in the campus community and external organizations:

Biochemistry Sarah Bukhari

Biomedical Sciences Alexis Krayevsky

Biotechnology Tanvi Dixit

Medical Technology Eva Wisniewski

Neuroscience Leah Heiler

Nuclear Medicine Technology Kelly Mahan

Pharmacology and Toxicology Rachel Esther Sanyu

Commencement speaker Styliani-Anna (Stella) E. Tsirka, PhD, tells the graduates to never lose sight of the wonder and awe that first drew them to the biomedical sciences.

Keynote Theme One of Compassion, Resilience

Commencement speaker Styliani-Anna (Stella) E. Tsirka, PhD, the Miriam and David Donoho Distinguished Professor of pharmacological sciences and vice dean for faculty affairs at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, spoke about empathy and persistence.

“Beyond the technical skills and academic achievements that you have earned and will continue to earn, what will set you apart is your capacity for empathy, for compassion, your ethical responsibility,” she said.

“In the pursuit of scientific advancement, try not to lose sight of the human element and the living organisms whose lives may be impacted by our work.”

Tsirka noted that biomedical scientists have a serious duty to use their expertise to make society better, alleviate suffering and to promote the health and well-being of all people, regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic status.

“If you decide to further pursue scientific inquiry, do remember that you will need persistence and resilience,” she said. “Experimental science is not for the faint of heart.”

She remarked that her lab members often talk about the fact that it is called “research” instead of just “search.”

“The majority of our experiments will not be successful, but the ones that provide that ‘eureka moment’ will last a lifetime,” Tsirka assured the graduates. “Remember that setbacks are valuable lessons that shape the way for future success.”

Tsirka encouraged the graduates to embrace the idea of lifelong learning.

“To remain at the forefront of your field, you must remain curious and receptive of new ideas,” she said.

“Importantly, science is also delicate. Continue to approach it with integrity and rigor.”

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Melissa Solis Successfully Defends her Dissertation Proposal

Doctoral Program | Student Spotlights

Congratulations to Melissa Solis who on Friday, May 31, 2024, successfully defended her dissertation proposal. The title of Melissa’s study is: A STEM PREPARATION PROGRAM: EXPECTANCY BELIEFS AND PERCEIVED VALUES OF BLACK AND HISPANIC UNDERGRADUATES. Melissa’s research seeks to understand the role STEM support programs play in minority student success. Despite the substantial increase in funding and career opportunities in STEM fields, a significant gap persists in the persistence, attainment, and employment of racially minoritized students in these careers. Only 18% of African American students and 22% of Hispanic students report earning a bachelor’s degree in STEM disciplines, compared to 33% of White students and 42% of Asian students (Chang et al., 2014). This quantitative study will survey STEM majors enrolled in the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) at 4-year institutions across New York state, focusing on their career aspirations, academic goals, and experiences. CSTEP supports undergraduate students who are residents of New York and from African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and who are interested in pursuing STEM majors. Using the expectancy-value theory, Melissa will examine how CSTEP influences expectancy and value beliefs and, in turn, how they influence future aspirations and goals to understand how the program works and if it could potentially contribute to closing the STEM achievement gap.

Dissertation Committee Chair :  Dr. Nora Broege  

Dissertation Committee Members :   Dr. Yiping Wan Dr. Akane Zusho

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The Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership from Manhattanville, offered in partnership with Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES, utilizes a forward-thinking approach to educational leadership that is ideal for practicing and aspiring leaders in any educational context. It is designed to support the goals of educational professionals who seek to develop their leadership skills for career advancement or current job enhancement.   

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The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (HEGS-DDRI)

View guidelines, important information for proposers.

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Supports doctoral dissertation research on the nature, causes and consequences of the spatial dimensions of human activities and/or environmental processes across a range of scales.

The objective of the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes and/or consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity and/or environmental processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research is an arena in which diverse research traditions and methodologies are valid. Recognizing the breadth of the field's contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically sophisticated, generalizable research in all sub-fields of geographical and spatial sciences.

Because the National Science Foundation's mandate is to support basic scientific research, the NSF Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences program does not fund research that takes as its primary goal humanistic understanding or applied research. HEGS welcomes proposals that creatively integrate scientific and critical approaches, and that engage rigorous quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods in novel ways. However, a proposal that applies geographical/spatial methods to a social problem but does not propose how that problem provides an opportunity to make a theory-testing and/or theory expanding contributions to geographical science will be returned without review. HEGS supported projects are expected to yield results that will enhance, expand, and transform fundamental geographical theory and methods, and that will have positive broader impacts that benefit society. A proposal to the HEGS Program must also articulate how the results are generalizable beyond the case study. 

It should be noted that HEGS is situated in the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at NSF. Therefore, it is critical that research projects submitted to the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program illustrate how the proposed research questions engage human dimensions relevant and important to people and societies.  

A proposal that fails to be responsive to these program expectations will be returned without review.

Program contacts

For all general inquiries to the HEGS program, please email [email protected] .  This email will reach all current HEGS program officers and one of them will reply to you.

Program events

• February 1, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 25, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 18, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 11, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours

Additional program resources

• Other Programs in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
• Programs in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES)
• NSF programs to stop accepting proposals via FastLane website

Awards made through this program

Related programs.

• Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS)
• Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (CA-SR)
• Cultural Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (CA-DDRIG)

Organization(s)

• Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
• Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (SBE/BCS)

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Rusmania • Deep into Russia

Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

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