As an Army Veteran, Occupational Therapist, and two-time Olympic Biathlete, Kristina Sabasteanski has an impressive biography and a bit of a competitive streak. She also clearly has a calling to serve. After completing her master’s in occupational therapy at the University of Southern Maine, Sabasteanski started the Veterans Adaptive Sports & Training (VAST) program at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester, Maine with help from the Libra Foundation in May of 2012.

Funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the goal of the VAST program is, “to promote lifelong health and well-being of veterans with disabilities through regular participation in a VAST array of physical activities and sports.” While the focus is on veterans with disabilities, any and all veterans are welcome to participate. Research indicates that those with disabilities who get daily exercise experience decreased rates of stress, depression, and secondary medical conditions. In addition, they experience positive benefits, including higher self-esteem and employment rates, educational success, and improved quality of life.

Sabasteanski has also put her own Olympic training experience to use by helping train disabled veterans, including Eric Frazier, to compete in the Paralympic winter games. “It’s nice the knowledge I used 20 years ago can help someone,” Sabasteanski said of helping Frazier tweak his technique. “This is paying it forward.” To learn more about Kristina’s work visit the University of Southern Maine website or VAST.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: University of Southern Maine

How long does it take to charge your cell phone? Priyanka Ketkar, a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Delaware, is working to create a battery that takes minutes to fully charge. Ketkar, as part of the Epps Research Group, intends to produce flexible, safer, faster-charging batteries. The challenge so far has been that improving the battery performance has led to safety and stability issues.

The Epps team has patented an idea to improve battery performance by “introducing tapers into the polymer membrane electrolytes that allow the lithium ions inside the battery to travel back and forth faster.” By using block polymers (two or more polymer chains that differ in properties), the team can create polymers that maintain the advantageous features of each material. “Previous methods for increasing conductivity have either made the polymer harder to process or used greater amounts of chemical solvent, which makes the material more flammable and less environmentally friendly,” Ketkar said. “That is why I am really excited about this new approach.”

Ketkar hopes to make a difference in the world through her research and expects to finish her PhD in 2021. She will be presenting her work at the 2019 American Physical Society Meeting in Boston this March. To learn more about Priyanka’s work visit the University of Delaware website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson, University of Delaware

A recent PhD recipient in computer science from North Carolina State University, Veronica Catete is so passionate about her work that she actively seeks out opportunities to share her passion with the world. Catete is particularly interested in sharing her passion with “middle school and high school students from rural areas who face the same limitations in computing education” as she did. Catete’s graduate research focused on “broadening participation in computing,” and she found herself involved in a number of outreach efforts both locally and all the way to Africa.

As a student, Catete served as president of the Students & Technology in Academia, Research and Service (STARS) Computing Corps at NC State, an organization that provides students with the opportunity to learn more about computer science and possible careers, participate in service projects and outreach programs, and engage in research. She also spent time working in Rwanda with high school students, introducing them to the world of computer science and helping them learn to develop mobile apps that would benefit the public. “One was a milk delivery app, where you could enter in the type of milk you wanted, how much you needed and your location,” Catete said. “It would send a ping off to a delivery service, and they would deliver milk to your home. I would never have thought of that, but that’s really cool.”

Dr. Catete is currently a research scholar at North Carolina State University working on STEM + C, an NSF-funded project that aims to integrate computing into K-12 STEM courses through teacher training and is the staff advisor to the STARS Computing Corps. To learn more about Veronica’s work visit the NC State website or her personal website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Becky Kirkland, NC State University

Contacts:

Katherine Hazelrigg, Council of Graduate Schools

(202) 461-3888 | khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Beth Dempsey, ProQuest

(248) 349-7810 | beth.dempsey@proquest.com

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Mohamed S. Ibrahim and Eiko Strader during the Council’s award ceremony during the 58th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Dr. Ibrahim completed his PhD in 2018 at Duke University in electrical and computer engineering, and Dr. Strader received her PhD in 2017 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in sociology.

Bestowed annually since 1982, the awards recognize recent doctoral recipients who have made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, an international leader in dissertation archiving, discovery, and access, sponsors the awards and an independent committee from the Council of Graduate Schools selects the winners. Two awards are given each year, rotating among four general areas of scholarship. The winners receive a certificate, a $2,000 honorarium, and funds for travel to the awards ceremony.

“The Distinguished Dissertation Awards recognize the significant contributions young scholars make in their disciplines,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “Dr. Ibrahim and Dr. Strader’s work demonstrates the value and impact of graduate education to the world.”

“These are exceptional scholars who have contributed important insights to their fields,” said Allan Lu, ProQuest Vice President, Research Tools, Services & Platforms. “We’re proud to recognize their work and are confident these dissertations significantly move forward their fields of study.”

The 2018 Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering was presented to Dr. Ibrahim for his dissertation, Optimization of Trustworthy Biomolecular Quantitative Analysis Using Cyber-Physical Microfluidic Platforms. Ibrahim’s work involves microfluidic biochips, or lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technology. These devices integrate one or more laboratory functions on a single integrated circuit, commonly called a chip, and operate using quantitative analysis protocols, including things like blood glucose testing, DNA forensics, pathogen detection, and cancer research. Ibrahim’s dissertation addresses the challenges associated with design optimization and security threats that exist in the development of microfluidic technology and bridges the fields of molecular biology, computing, and electrical engineering. Through his research, Ibrahim hopes to, “streamline design methodologies related to the miniaturization of quantitative-analysis protocols.” Dr. Ibrahim is currently a research and development engineer at the Intel Corporation.

Dr. Strader received the 2018 Award in Social Sciences for her dissertation, Immigration and Within-Group Wage Inequality: How Queuing, Competition, and Care Outsourcing Exacerbate and Erode Earnings Inequalities. In response to the policy rhetoric regarding the economic threat of increased immigration to low-educated, native-born men in the labor market, Strader analyzes 100 metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2007 to better understand the regional differences in the way immigration affects wages. She concludes that, “the wage effects of immigration are the result of gendered, raced and classed queuing processes, as well as changes in household production decisions.” Dr. Strader is currently as assistant professor of public policy and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at The George Washington University.

More information about the CGS / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award is available at www.proquest.com/go/scholars or at www.cgsnet.org.

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Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Steven W. Matson, dean of The Graduate School and professor of biology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the 2018 recipient of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Matson received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 58th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

For his invaluable contributions to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate community, Dr. Matson becomes the third Debra W. Stewart Award recipient. A passionate advocate for graduate education, Dr. Matson developed a number of professional development programs aimed at preparing the next generation of academics as well as the next generation of business, non-profit, and civic leaders. Under Matson’s tenure, UNC launched several Professional Science Master’s degrees, designed to meet the needs of today’s professionals who want to expand their technical and business knowledge and apply it to emerging professional fields within science and health.

During his years as dean, the Diversity and Student Success program was established within The Graduate School, providing programming to support first-generation, international, underrepresented minority, military-affiliated and LGBTQIA graduate students.

Matson has been involved in many CGS projects, including PhD Career Pathways, Professional Development for Graduate Students in STEM Fields, and the Future of the PhD Dissertation. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, the Board of Directors of the Graduate Record Exam (Chair, 2016-17), and on the Board of Directors for the TOEFL Exam. He also served as President (2016-17) of the North Carolina Council of Graduate Schools.

“Steve Matson works for our graduate students in every possible way. From encouraging their research and teaching at Carolina to preparing them for the rapidly changing global job market, he has tirelessly served as Dean of The Graduate School since 2008,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt. “Dr. Matson has led the creation of powerful initiatives that encouraged community, diversity and academic accomplishment, expanding interdisciplinary funding and professional development. Our graduate students have benefited greatly from his leadership, and our university is indebted to him for his outstanding service.”

“Providing programming and resources to support first-generation, international, underrepresented minority, military-affiliated and LGBTQIA graduate students by establishing the Diversity and Student Success program within The Graduate School at UNC demonstrates Steve’s dedication and commitment to establishing an inclusive graduate school community,” said Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost for graduate and professional studies at Texas A&M University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors. “Steve has always been generous with his time and willing to share his invaluable experience and advice mentoring new graduate deans.”

The award was created in 2016 by the CGS Board of Directors to recognize outstanding leadership in graduate education, and particularly those leadership qualities exemplified by the Council’s fifth President, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee considers nominees with a strong reputation for ethics and integrity, a history of active participation in the graduate community, and a record of strategic vision and actions resulting in meaningful impacts. Areas of special consideration include evidence-based innovation, program development, diversity and inclusion, student learning and career outcomes, personnel management, policy advocacy in support of graduate education and research, and fiscal responsibility.

Nominees for the award must be a current senior, graduate dean at a CGS member institution (Regular or Associate) and cannot be an active member of the CGS Board of Directors. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a selection committee of former graduate deans in the CGS community. The winner receives a $4,000 prize to support continuing innovations at the awardee’s institution.

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Contacts:

Katherine Hazelrigg, CGS

(202) 461-3888 | khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Jason Baran, ETS

(609) 683-2428 | jbaran@ets.org

Washington, DC – Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ETS presented Vanderbilt University with the 2018 ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Mark Wallace, dean of the Graduate School and Louise B. McGavock Endowed Chair, accepted the co-sponsored award on Vanderbilt’s behalf during the award ceremony at CGS’s 58^th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

The ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s and doctoral levels while promoting inclusiveness. The winning institution is selected on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools. The winner receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

The proposal for Vanderbilt University’s Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Development Institute, Supporting the Transformation from Students to Leaders promotes graduate student leadership development through three innovative interventions. “FirstGen Success” will provide graduate students who self-identify as first-generation students with three avenues of support: discussion groups and social events, formal training events, and experiential learning of professional norms. “Training Tomorrow’s Mentors” aims to improve the quality of mentoring by providing training to mentees that will prepare them to be the mentors of tomorrow. Lastly, through “Managing Conflict and Difficult Conversations,” external mediation skills trainers will conduct workshops to teach students, postdocs, faculty, and staff how to confront and successfully navigate conflict.

“We are honored and delighted to be the recipient of this generous award from ETS and CGS. Establishing the Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Institute is among several bold strategic investments that Vanderbilt University is making in Ph.D. education, so we are deeply honored with this recognition” said Mark Wallace, dean of the Graduate School and Louise B. McGavock Endowed Chair, Vanderbilt University. “The support provided through this award will allow us to build innovative new programming to provide the tools for our graduate students to become society’s future leaders--through robust career development support, a collaborative culture that encourages interdisciplinary discovery, and much more.”

“We are grateful to ETS, whose support makes possible this innovative way to promote best practices among graduate schools. Vanderbilt’s Russell G. Hamilton Leadership Development Institute is a model that addresses the needs of all graduate students, with particular attention to first-generation students, underrepresented minorities, and women in the academy and is one that could be replicated on other campuses,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

“Vanderbilt deserves this honor in recognition of the school’s approach to advancing graduate education by holistically supporting the graduate student lifecycle,” said David G. Payne, vice president and COO of ETS’s Global Education Division. “Their system not only includes an integrated set of supports that help students to be successful on their academic and career journeys, but it also successfully promotes diversity and inclusivity.”

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Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2018 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Carrie Hyde, associate professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 58th Annual Meeting.

The Arlt Award is given annually to a young scholar-teacher who has written a book deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to scholarship in the humanities. Dr. Hyde becomes the award’s 48^th recipient for her book, Civic Longing: The Speculative Origins of US Citizenship (Harvard UP, 2018). She received her PhD in English from the Rutgers University, New Brunswick in 2011.

In Civic Longing: The Speculative Origins of US Citizenship, Hyde examines the evolution of the way citizenship was conceptualized in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War. No Constitutional definition of citizenship existed until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, which led politicians and writers to seek a construct of citizenship in fiction, religion, political philosophy, law, and literature imparted with moral and/or ethical guidance. Through Civic Longing, Hyde provides, “a powerful critique of originalism, and challenges anachronistic assumptions that read the definition of citizenship backward from its consolidation in the mid-nineteenth century as jus soli or birthright citizenship.”

“The Council of Graduate Schools is delighted to present this year’s Arlt award to Dr. Hyde for the outstanding scholarship in her recent book Civic Longing. The Arlt award recognizes exceptional work by early-career humanities faculty, and Dr. Hyde’s work is an invaluable contribution to understanding the history of U.S. citizenship and its complexities,” said Dr. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools.

Created in 1971, the Arlt Award honors the first president of CGS, Gustave O. Arlt. The winner must have earned a doctorate within the past seven years, and currently be teaching at a North American university. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a panel of scholars in the field of competition, which rotates annually among seven disciplines within the humanities. This year’s field was English and North American Language and Literature. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.

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CGS Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg                                                                  ETS Contact: Jason Baran

(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu                                                (609) 683-2428 / jbaran@ets.org

In Master’s Degree Programs, Admissions Processes Prioritize Retention

CGS Study Highlights Goals and Limitations of Current Master’s Admissions Processes

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) released findings from a year-long study designed to better understand the processes and criteria used to evaluate applicants to master’s degree programs. Supported in part by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the project sheds new light on the way master’s programs select their future students.

Among the project’s key findings is that both master’s program faculty and graduate deans consider the ability to successfully complete coursework to be an important criterion for evaluating candidates for admission. In a survey conducted by CGS, 79% of research-focused master’s program directors and 84% of professionally-focused master’s program directors identified the potential to complete coursework as a very important consideration during the admissions process. This finding suggests that universities place higher value on the likelihood of a student’s retention relative to their potential to contribute to the program environment and other factors.

The findings also shed light on the various weight given to common elements in a student’s application package. According to the survey, letters of recommendation are used to evaluate a wide range of cognitive and non-cognitive attributes. For example, letters of recommendation were used by 90 to 92% of the graduate program directors as evidence of an applicant’s non-cognitive qualities, such as persistence, dependability, and collegiality/collaboration/cooperation. Because letters of recommendation can introduce biases into the admissions process, however, this finding suggests that it is very important for programs to develop consistent ways of evaluating a letter’s contribution to the admissions package.

“There is quite a bit of agreement about the evaluation criteria and processes used in master’s admissions, and the apparent focus given to student retention is good news,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “However, this study also uncovered opportunities to help master’s admissions committees and deans achieve their admissions goals more effectively. We need better resources, such as rubrics, to help universities consider candidates consistently and with attention to the full range of attributes they are seeking for their programs.”

David Payne, ETS vice president of global education, said, “The programs and deans surveyed consistently identified critical thinking as a key attribute they consider when evaluating an applicant’s potential to achieve desired outcomes, such as degree completion and post-graduate success. The GRE® General Test measures aspects of critical thinking in each of the test’s three sections, and it continues to provide value as a common, objective measure to compare applicants with various backgrounds and educational experiences. The report recommends that those involved in the admissions process receive more training around evaluating submitted materials, including score interpretation and avoiding bias. This may include how reviewers should weight GRE scores — as part of a holistic admissions process that places appropriate value on all submitted materials — to achieve their program’s enrollment goals.”

The study’s authors outline five recommendations aimed at master’s education leaders interested in improving the master’s admissions process. The recommendations include providing greater transparency in master’s admissions procedures, providing information and support to help admissions committees avoid biases, offering training to increase faculty and staff involvement in the process, and developing tools to evaluate non-cognitive attributes. The report also calls for additional research to clarify best practices in this area.

More information about the report, including data tables from the surveys, can be found on the CGS website.

About the report

Master’s Admissions: Transparency, Guidance, and Training is the final report of the CGS/ETS Master’s Admissions Attributes project, which was conducted in three stages: regional focus groups to develop survey tools; two surveys, one for graduate school staff and for master’s program directors; and a colloquium to discuss the results from the two surveys and their implications. Three research questions were developed to guide the conversation: 1) What is success in a master’s program? 2) What attributes are currently used in admissions decisions to predict success? 3) What evidence is currently used to evaluate the attributes? The report outlines and summarizes the project findings.

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Alisha J. House has always been driven by a spirit of service. Before enrolling as a graduate student at Cleveland State University, House served in the United States Navy from 2007 until 2011. In the Navy she served as a nuclear reactor operator and technician before moving up to become a petty officer. These dual passions for service and science would motivate House to return to graduate school after her naval service.

Since she arrived at Cleveland State University in 2012 as a post-baccalaureate student in the College of Sciences and Health Professions, House has continued her service by participating in organizations meant to empower veterans as well as women in science. House founded the CSU chapter of the Global Medical Brigades in 2013. The organization’s mission is to “resolve global health and economic disparities by empowering student volunteers, local professionals, and community members in a collaborative holistic approach to sustainable development in under resourced regions.” To that end, House oversaw and participated in two medical mission trips to Nicaragua (2013) and Panama (2014). While at CSU, she has also been active in two other organizations – the Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Research Club and the Scientista Foundation – which aim to improve research opportunities as CSU, particularly for women.

House’s growth as a volunteer has been matched by her growth as a student and researcher. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Clinical and Bioanalytical Chemistry at CSU. Her research “involves developing differentiation methods for induced pluripotent stem-cell derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs), and the subsequent biochemical characterization of them using mass spectrometry.” This research is part of a larger project helmed by her advisor, Yana Sandlers, in the field of metabolomics and aims to better understand Barth’s Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which leads to slow and diminished development in men. The hope is that this research will provide a better understanding of Barth’s Syndrome and guide the development of new treatments.

House’s combination of curiosity and discipline has helped her excel as a graduate student. She was always interested in designing experiments and thinking about how to better integrate research findings with clinical applications. Success did not always come easily to House, however, and that’s when her military background proved particularly valuable.  “The level of determination and perseverance that I have needed to use to make it this far could only have been instilled by the United States military,” she said. “To be honest, there were times when I felt like I wasn't going to make it all the way, and that I would end up leaving school with a master's degree instead of a PhD.” Still, she persevered and will be graduating with her doctorate next spring.

After finishing her degree, House hopes to continue to serve patients by bridging the gap between research and clinical application of stem cells. This career path perfectly fits her two passions for serving others and scientific research and has motivated her to become a more successful graduate student. To learn more about Alisha and her work, visit the Cleveland State University website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.

Photo Credit: Cleveland State University

One of the challenges facing many graduate students is to find a project that will have practical application. Even more difficult, is to find a project that will help people on days that are painful and frightening. Jeffrey Brookins, a Master of Science graduate in Materials Science and Engineering from Michigan Tech University, is the rare student with a project that does both. Brookins worked on developing improved surgical clips for use during laparoscopic surgeries – minimally invasive procedures designed to minimize external scarring, often within the abdominal or pelvic cavities. Current clips are reported to cause nausea, digestive complications, and localized pain. Jeffrey’s clips, by contrast, are bioabsorbable and disappear harmlessly after they serve their function as a mechanical lock during the natural wound healing process.

Jeffrey’s journey began at Michigan Tech in 2008. He was a curious student, but didn’t feel in control of his education. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. So, in 2010 he decided to leave Michigan Tech and join the United States Marines Corps. Brookins ended as a Sergeant in the Marines, serving from 2010 to 2013 and spending two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

While in Afghanistan, Brookins was struck by how valuable medical knowledge was to military operations. It was here that his intellectual curiosity met his passion. After leaving the military, Brookins returned to Michigan Tech with the intention of pursuing a medical career. He was struck, however, by research being done on stents by a Materials Science professor, Dr. Jaroslaw Drelich. After joining Professor Drelich’s research group, Surface Innovations, Brookins worked on a variety of projects and stated that Prof. Drelich “had one of the greatest impacts on me and inspired me to never be content with mediocre work; ask the tough questions and make the hard work worth it.”

Drelich was also a mentor who supported Brookins’ work and encouraged him to stay on for his master’s degree at Michigan Tech, after graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 2017. During this time, Drelich learned that Brookins was more than just a good student. “Jeff is very good cook” he joked in an interview with us, “and his Polish cuisine dishes could make his grandmother proud.”

After receiving his M.S. in 2018, Brookins was accepted to a doctoral program in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Though he has just started his program, Brookins continues to be interested in metallurgy and is focusing his research on building the next generation of high strength metals. These advanced materials could find a broad use from the energy to the structural sectors. Brookins credits his military experience with helping him find his passion and succeed as a graduate student. 

To learn more about Jeffrey and his work, visit the Michigan Tech website.

Visit the GradImpact Feature Gallery to learn more about the amazing, innovative research being done by graduate students and alumni across the world.