Recipients of Spring 2021 Funding

Benn Williams, Fellowships and Awards Coordinator | Posted on April 30, 2021

Access to Excellence, Award for Graduate Research, Dean's Scholar, Graduate Mentoring, and the Provost's Graduate Internship Award

The Graduate College is pleased to announce the winners of five internal competitions: the Access Fellowship (retention); Award for Graduate Research (spring competition); the Dean's Scholar Fellowship; the Graduate Mentoring Award; and the Provost's Graduate Internship Award.

Recipients have been notified. Please note that the Graduate College reserves the authority to announce additional winners if funding can be secured.

The Graduate College wishes to thank the members of our awards committees for their service and to all of the applicants.

Access to Excellence Fellowship (retention round) Heading link

The goal of the Access to Excellence Fellowship is to increase the number of students from historically underrepresented groups in graduate education who enter careers as researchers and college faculty. (There are two competitions: the recruitment-round recipients were announced earlier; below are the retention-round recipients.)
Last Name First Name Department/Program
Beasley Letrice Special Education
Brown Jasmine Disability Studies
Byrne Cecily Kinesiology
Carpio Rios Meloddye Hispanic and Italian Studies
Domínguez-Fret Nancy Curriculum & Instruction (LLC)
Ramírez José History

AGR and Deiss/AGR Heading link

The Graduate College’s longest-running support for research by graduate students, the Award for Graduate Research funds three categories: research travel, summer research stipend, and materials/supplies. The W.C. and May Preble Deiss Fund for Biomedical Research Award funds research in clinical or basic medical science and recipients of the Deiss/AGR are marked with an asterisk (*).
Last Name First Name Department/Program
Bandela* Mounica Bioengineering
Baños Arjona Juan Antonio Studio Art
Batista* Annanda Nursing - Biobehavioral Health Science
Beaudreau Kimberly History
Britt Krystal Anthroplogy
Byrne* Cecily Kinesiology
Carpio Rios Melodyye Hispanic and Italian Studies
Dighe Anish Vikas Chemical Engineering
Duangchan Cherdsak Nursing - Population Health
Evans Kathryn History
Gao* Yuan Mechanical Engineering
Kang Veronica Special Education
Lee Fani Disability Studies
Lee* Sueyeon Nursing - Nursing Administration
Nadeem* Taliha Physiology and Biophysics
Nauman* Mirielle Pharmacognosy
Nguyen* Thu Chemistry
Ramkumar Pradeep Kumar Mechanical Engineering
Ruth Andrew Economics
Shahmohammadi Mina Chemical Engineering
Sharma Ajapa History
Solomon Sathishkumar* Asha Mathew Nursing - Biobehavioral Health Science
Sung* Choa Nursing - Biobehavioral Health Science
Taves Amanda Photography
Tucker Danielle MSCS
Varillas Rosa Anthropology
Wooden Leslie Art History
Yarbrough Andrea MUSE
Zhao Ningning (Derek) Sociology

Dean's Scholar Fellowship Heading link

The Dean’s Scholar Fellowship is intended to provide the most distinguished, advanced-level graduate students with a period of time dedicated solely to the completion of their programs.
Last Name First Name Department/Program
Biyashev Ismael History
Burke Kelly Psychology
Chaet Jozi Anthropology
Fitzpatrick Zachary Germanic Studies
Kaelin Vera Rehabilitation Sciences
Lam Trinh Bioengineering
Liu Xizhi MSCS
Mahapatra Sayantan Chemistry
McElroy Katherine Economics
Morvarid Hashem Philosophy
Radoman Milena Neuroscience
Skowron Kornelia Medicinal Chemistry

Graduate Mentoring Award Heading link

Graduate Mentoring Awards are designed to encourage and award excellence and innovation in all aspects of graduate mentoring.
Last Name First Name Rank/Title Department Division
Hughes Ashley Assistant Professor / Research Health Scientist Health Informatics / Edward Hines VA Medical Center Life Sciences
Kornbluh Anna Professor English Arts and Humanities
Morales P. Zitlali Associate Professor Curriculum & Instruction Behavioral and Social Sciences
Yang Jie Professor Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences

Provost's Graduate Internship Award Heading link

The Provost’s Graduate Internship Award (PGIA) incentivizes graduate students to independently identify short (3-month) internship opportunities that might lead to employment following graduation.
Last Name First Name Department/Program Host (and location)
Bhandari Avash History Martin Chautari (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Chidambara Kani Nishithan Balaji Chemical Engineering Worldwide Liquid Sunshine (Chicago)
Dobrowolska Joann History University of Illinois Press (Urbana/Champaign)
Gadbois Hannah Art History University of Illinois Press (Urbana/Champaign)
James Lisa Hispanic and Italian Studies LAS Academic Affairs (Chicago)
Magnone Celia Criminology, Law and Justice The Chicago 400 Alliance
Meza Adan History UIC Office of Global Engagement (Chicago)
Oladosu Mariam Public Health - Epidemiology and Biostatistics Great Lakes Center - Occupational Health (Chicago)
Rahman Md Mizanur Disability Studies UIC Disability Cultural Center (Chicago)
Szustak Bailey Philosophy CIRTL at UIC (Chicago)
Zhao Ningning (Derek) Sociology Chengbei Middle School (Jingjing, China)
Modified on April 30, 2021