Graduate Division names six winners for mentoring awards

The Graduate Division recently named the winners for two awards for graduate students who have distinguished themselves in the area of undergraduate research supervision: the Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award and the Dean's Graduate Mentoring Award (a new award this year). The Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Award is available to students in the College of Engineering; Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences Division of the College of Letters and Science; and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. The Dean's Graduate Mentoring Award is available to students in the Humanities and Fine Arts and Social Sciences Divisions of the College of Letters and Science and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education.

The winners of the 2016 Fiona and Michael Goodchild Graduate Mentoring Awards are:

• Jeffrey Bowen (Psychological & Brain Sciences), nominated by Nancy L. Collins (Psychological & Brain Sciences)
• Kaziya Lee (Psychological & Brain Sciences), nominated by Karen K. Szumlinski (Psychological & Brain Sciences)
• Kelly Thomasson (EEMB), nominated by Stephen Proulx (EEMB)

The winners of the 2016 Dean's Graduate Mentoring Awards are:

• Holly Roose (History), nominated by Paul R. Spickard (History)
• Benjamin Smith (Communication), nominated by Michael Stohl (Communication; Director, Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies)
• Vanessa Witenko (GGSE), nominated by Victor Rios (Sociology)

These students are recognized for distinguishing themselves through their excellence in and contributions to undergraduate research supervision and for encouraging others to become involved in these research efforts. Each of these students receives a $1000 award. We interviewed the winners on topics related to their graduate education and their work as mentors. Read on to find out a little bit more about each of them.