From left: Jennifer Kraemer, Weikang Lin, Del Guynes, Michael Luzuriaga, Bujie Du, Patricia Chen and David Quintero were among the students recently honored for their dissertation and research work by the Office of Graduate Education.

Ten graduate students at The University of Texas at Dallas recently were honored by the Office of Graduate Education for their dissertations and research.

Seven students received the Best Dissertation Award from their respective schools, two were awarded the David Daniel Thesis Award, and one student received the IKA Graduate Research Leadership Fellowship Award. The awards were presented as part of an April reception celebrating excellence in graduate education.

“Every day UT Dallas doctoral students, through their work, make a significant impact on their fields of study. The students recognized at this event are doing research and shaping their areas of study at an extraordinary level.”

Dr. Juan González, dean of graduate education at UT Dallas

“Every day UT Dallas doctoral students, through their work, make a significant impact on their fields of study,” said Dr. Juan González, dean of graduate education and the Francis S. Johnson Chair for Graduate Education. “The students recognized at this event are doing research and shaping their areas of study at an extraordinary level.”

UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson noted the importance of faculty mentors in the doctoral process and congratulated the recipients for their awards and research efforts.

“I’m very mindful that the completion of a doctoral dissertation means doing something very challenging — you are creating new knowledge in an original area, which is not an easy thing to do,” said Benson, who holds the Eugene McDermott Distinguished University Chair of Leadership.

UT Dallas awards more than 200 doctoral and professional degrees each year across 32 disciplines.

Best Dissertation Awards

Faculty committees in seven of the University’s eight schools chose the following recipients:

Jennifer Kraemer MA’01, PhD’18, School of Arts and Humanities (Humanities – with a concentration in studies in literature)
Title: “Adapting Marriage: Law Versus Custom in Modern English Plays”
Research Mentor: Dr. Jessica Murphy

Del Guynes PhD’17, School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication)
Title: “What Drives Online Citizen Journalism in Malaysia? A Reasoned Action Model Approach”
Research Mentor: Dr. Angela Lee

Christopher de Solis PhD’18, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (Cognition and Neuroscience)
Title: “Virtual Tool Development for Investigations of Learning Memory”
Research Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Ploski

Patricia Chen PhD’18, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences (Public Policy and Political Economy)
Title: “The Search for Clarity: An Impact Assessment of Permanent Supportive Housing in Dallas, Texas, and Comparative Case Studies of Housing First in Five Cities”
Research Mentor: Dr. Richard Scotch

Yongping Zheng PhD’18, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science (Materials Science and Engineering)
Title “Theoretical and Experimental Study of Catalysis on Clean Energy Applications”
Research Mentor: Dr. Kyeongjae “K.J.” Cho

Manmohan Aseri PhD’18, Naveen Jindal School of Management (Management Science)
Title: “Strategic Challenges in the Digital Advertising Ecosystem”
Research Mentors: Dr. Vijay Mookerjee and Dr. Milind Dawande

Weikang Lin PhD’18, School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Physics)
Title: “Testing the Dark Sector Versus Modified Gravity Models in Cosmology”
Research Mentor: Dr. Mustapha Ishak-Boushaki

Two Students Earn Daniel Awards

Two students earned the David Daniel Thesis Award, which is supported by an endowment established in 2006 by Daniel, President Emeritus of UT Dallas and former deputy chancellor for The University of Texas System. The awards recognize an exceptional doctoral student each year in the Jonsson School and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

This year’s recipients were Michael Luzuriaga in chemistry and biochemistry and David Quintero MS’18, PhD’18, in mechanical engineering. Dr. Jeremiah Gassensmith was Luzuriaga’s research mentor, and Dr. Robert Gregg was Quintero’s mentor.

IKA Graduate Research Leadership Fellowship Award

Bujie Du, mentored by Dr. Jie Zheng, received the inaugural IKA Graduate Research Leadership Fellowship Award. The award, sponsored by lab equipment company IKA, honors an outstanding student in chemistry or biochemistry for research excellence, as well as outstanding citizenship. Du’s research unveiled how kidneys filter ultra-small engineered particles, which may lead to new ways of developing targeted therapy for the detection and treatment of kidney diseases and cancers.