Category: Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award

Sonia Hernandez-Divers

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2009

Sonia Hernandez-Divers, a recent doctoral graduate in ecology, conducted research on how anthropogenic changes to the landscape affect the dynamics of disease in wildlife populations and communities. Focusing on the shade-grown coffee plantations and adjacent forests in Costa Rica, Hernandez-Divers identified domestic fowl as likely sources of pathogens and then investigated the potential effects on what is probably the most vulnerable species—wild forest birds that forage in shade-grown coffee. Her research provided important evidence that shade-grown coffee does not expose wild birds to increased risk of disease. It also formulated a new paradigm in veterinary medicine: analyzing the prevalence of disease through a better understanding of immunity, pathogen virulence, and environmental influences. Hernandez-Divers is currently an assistant professor in UGA’s School of Forestry and Natural Resources and at the Southeast Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, UGA College of Veterinary Medicine.

John Douglas Powers

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2009

John Douglas Powers, a recent master of arts graduate in sculpture, combines metal fabrication, sound, computer technology, kinetics, animation, and foundry techniques in developing art projects. His large and psychologically charged installations reveal memory, emotion, and language, and his ability to incorporate new technology into his projects expands traditional notions of sculpture; in effect, he transforms old ideas into new concepts and media into art. Powers’ knowledge of art history, and his intense involvement in UGA’s Cortona Program, ground his creative projects both in culture and its social context. His film entry at the Bald Shorts Film Festival in 2007 was selected as the best animated short, and his sculpture was recognized with an International Sculpture Center Student Achievement Award in 2008. Powers is currently an assistant professor of art at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Justin Brown

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2008

Justin Brown, a recent doctoral graduate in pathology, studies the ecology of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) Eurasian viruses—most notably H5N1—in wild bird populations. His research has provided the only comprehensive work related to HPAI H5n1 in North American ducks and gulls. This knowledge is critical to designing surveillance strategies and understanding the potential for these viruses to be maintained in wild bird populations. Brown has also studied the environmental persistence of these viruses, as well as that of wild-type H5 and H7 North American strains. His work may prove critical to assessing the potential of these viruses to move between wildlife and from wildlife to domestic animal populations.

Jianguo Fan

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2008

Jianguo Fan, a recent doctoral graduate in physics and astronomy, investigates the properties of nanostructures. In his research on wetting nanostructured surfaces, Fan identified a clustering phenomenon, called the nano-carpet effect, that can be used to evaluate the capillary force between nanorod arrays—assemblies of small cylindrical objects on a surface. An understanding of the nano-carpet effect can help researchers in developing improved nanodevices or sensors used in liquid environments. Fan has already published 13 papers in refereed journals, nine as first author, and five more await review. He has also filed for two patent applications. He recently received the Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Scholarship, presented by the American Vacuum Society to recognize outstanding graduate students.

John Herbert Hayes

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2008

John Herbert Hayes, a recent doctoral graduate in history, used songs, folklore, oral histories and field studies to recover the Protestant culture of impoverished rural southerners, both black and white, in the early- to mid-20th Century. His work revealed the significance of that religious culture on the development of Johnny Cash, an important popular icon. In deftly analyzing a regional religious culture that has gone largely unexamined by historians despite its centrality to the lives and politics of a sizable population, Hayes argued that religion has been a defining feature of class identify in the New South.

John Anthony

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2008

John Anthony, a recent doctoral graduate in music, conducted research on Theo Charlier and his etudes for trumpet, providing thematic and structural analyses of the etudes and pedagogical strategies for studying them. Anthony’s historical, analytical, and pedagogical treatment of the subject fills a void in brass pedagogy, according to Edward Sandor, professor of trumpet at UGA’s School of Music, and exemplifies the best in doctoral research of its kind. In addition to his outstanding scholarship and academic credentials, Anthony is a superior performer whose trumpet recitals proved him an artist of exceptional talent and ability. Prior to doctoral study at UGA, Anthony performed with regional orchestras and taught at several colleges in the Northeast.

Elizabeth Hohnadel

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2008

Elizabeth Hohnadel, a recent doctoral graduate in clinical and experimental therapeutics, used behavioral, pharmacological, and cellular techniques to research the roles of cholinergic neuronal systems in memory. Using animal models to help define these roles, Hohnadel gained important insights into the treatment of debilitating neurological diseases such as Alzheimers’ and schizophrenia. Hohnadel has already published nine peer-reviewed journal articles, two of which credited her as first author, in two major journals. She currently has two more articles under review.

Pamela Jane Bonner

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2007

Pamela Jane Bonner, a recent doctoral graduate in microbiology, made several important discoveries concerning signal transduction and developmental pathways in the bacterium Myxococcusxanthus. From this work she published seven research articles, three as first author, which appeared in top journals, including Molecular Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology and Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. In addition to her exceptional research, Bonner is also an outstanding teacher and mentor. She received the first Joy Porter Williams Award, a special departmental prize of $1,500 that recognizes excellence in research, teaching and service. In 2004, she received the UGA Teaching Assistant Award, the Presidential Graduate Fellowship, and the ARCS scholarship, among many other awards. She also served as president of the Microbiology Graduate Student Association and as the faculty liaison to the GraduateAffairs Committee.

Giuseppe Lupis

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2007

Giuseppe Lupis, a recent doctoral graduate in music, is a virtuoso pianist whose dissertation, The Published Music of Keith Emerson: Expanding the Solo Piano Repertoire, makes a scholarly and performance-oriented contribution to the field of music. This work presents, for the first time, a biography of Emerson as a composer. It also focuses on three large Emerson works that could convincingly form a full-length solopiano recital. The bibliography material Lupis amassed will be a source of research for years to come. International interest in his work is a testament to the impact this research will have on both music historyand performance.

Tonya Westbrook

on February 18, 2016

Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award 2007

Tonya Westbrook, a recent doctoral graduate in social work, addressed a significant gap in social work knowledge in her dissertation, Initial Development and Validation of the Child Welfare Organizational Structure Inventory. It defined and measured organizational culture as an important multi-dimensional construct that permeates child welfare practice. Westbrook used existing, professionally endorsed guidelines and recommended practices as well as a sophisticated statistical analysis to explorethe initial validity and reliability characteristics of this new measure. Her work has important implications for addressing employee retention and reducing turnover.