2019-2020 Dissertation Fellowship Recipients

Childhood Studies

Katherine Fredricks, PhD Candidate in Childhood Studies
Proposed Dissertation Title: Docusoap Reality Television and Discourses of Girlhood

Samantha White, PhD Candidate in Childhood Studies
Proposed Dissertation Title: Shaping the Body: African-American Girls and Health, 1919-1940

Elisabeth Yang, PhD Candidate in Childhood Studies
Proposed Dissertation Title: Producing Moral Agents: Infant Personhood in Medical and Pedagogical Discourse, 1811-1850

2019-2020 Dean’s Graduate Conference Travel Grant Recipients 

Childhood Studies (MA/PhD)Computational & Integrative Biology (MS/PhD)Public Affairs (MS/PhD)BiologyCreative WritingCriminal JusticeEnglishPsychologyTeacher Education

Ryan Bunch
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: American Musicological Society
Conference Location: Boston, MA
Presentation Title: Valuing Musical Childhoods: Methods and Multiplicities
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Meredith Bak

Kacey Doran
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: Society for the History of Children & Youth Conference
Conference Location: Sydney, Australia
Presentation Title: Your Link to the Past: Children & Young Adults’ Video Game Corrections to Nintendo’s Famous Hero of Time
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Lynne Vallone

Gaylene Gordon
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting
Conference Location: San Francisco, CA
Presentation Title: The Relationship Between Crime, Gangs, and Vacant Buildings/Public Housing
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Michelle Meloy

Kathleen Kellett
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: 2019 Children’s Literature Association Conference: “Activism and Empathy”
Conference Location: Indianapolis, IN
Presentation Title: Reclaiming Weaponized Narratives: The Power and Potential of Adolescent Monstosity in Contemporary YA Genre Fiction
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Meredith Bak

Michelle Lyttle Storrod
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: The American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting
Conference Location:San Francisco, CA
Presentation Title: Girls and Gangs: What has changed in the past two decades of gang research?
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Lauren Silver

Halle Singh
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: International Conference on Gender Studies
Conference Location: Oxford, UK
Presentation Title: Panoptic Gaze – Girl Visibility in Social Media Cyberspace
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Lauren Silver

Lidong Xiang
PhD, Childhood Studies
Conference Title: 2019 Children’s Literature Association Conference: “Activism and Empathy”
Conference Location: Indianapolis, IN
Presentation Title: The Employment of Geographical Empathy of Little Friend in the National Discourse
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Lynne Vallone

Heather Ciallella
PhD, Computational & Integrative Biology
Conference Title: 8th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology
Conference Location: Gaithersburg, MD
Presentation Title: Predictive Multitask Deep Learning Modeling of Estrogen Receptor
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Hao Zhu

Gabriele Stankeviciute
PhD, Computational & Integrative Biology
Conference Title: 2019 Great Wall Symposium
Conference Location: Paris, France
Presentation Title: Differential Modes of cross linking established spatially distinct regions
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Eric Klein

Tara Carr-Lemke
PhD, Public Affairs
Conference Title: Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC): Emerging Engagement Scholars Workshop (EESW)
Conference Location: Denver, CO
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Maureen Donaghy

Conference Title: Urban Affairs Association
Conference Location: Washington, DC
Presentation Title: Urban Immigration Policy Choices in a Broken Federal System
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Maureen Donaghy

Christina Curran-Alfaro
MS, Biology 
Conference Title: Society for Neuroscience
Conference Location: Chicago, IL
Presentation Title: Mapping Spatial Memory in Fish
Faculty Adviser: Dr. William Saidel

Steven Schulze
MS, Biology
Conference Title: 54th European Marine Biology Symposium
Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland
Presentation Title: A new record of marine tardigrade from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean
Faculty Adviser: Dr. John Dighton

Sarah Browning
MFA, Creative Writing
Conference Title: Associated Writers & Writing Programs (AWP)
Conference Location: San Antonio, TX
Presentation Title: Who Says?
Faculty Adviser: Ms. Lauren Grodstein

Gabrielle Spence
MA, Criminal Justice
Conference Title: American Society of Criminology
Conference Location: San Francisco, CA
Presentation Title: Good Parents, Bad Kids: Authoritative Parenting, Delinquent Peer Associations, and Juvenile Arrests
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Jane Siegel

Laurene Dayton
MA, English
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

Michael Doran
MA, English
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

Keith Kelley
MA, English
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

Erin Miller
MA, English
Conference Title: International Writing Center Association Annual Conference
Conference Location: Columbus, OH
Presentation Title: Beyond the Session: Note-taking Strategies for Tutors
Faculty Adviser: Dr. William FitzGerald

George Tillman
MA, English
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

Megan Walter
MA, English
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

Kristin Kelly
MA, Psychology
Conference Title: The Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Conference Location: New Orleans, LA
Presentation Title: Perceptions of Weight Change in Same-Sex and Heterosexual Romantic Relationship
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Charlotte Markey

Georgette Birmelin
MAT, Teacher Education
Conference Title: The Mount: Edith Wharton’s Home
Conference Location: Lenox, MA
Presentation Title: Forum: Unpublished Letters of Edith Wharton
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Carol Singley

2019-2020 Dean’s Graduate Research Grant Recipients 

Childhood Studies (MA/PhD)Computational & Integrative Biology (MS/PhD)Biology

Michelle Lyttle Storrod
PhD, Childhood Studies
Research Topic: Digital Justice – Girls Juvenile Justice, Phones & Social Media
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Lauren Silver

Mary Mitsdarffer
PhD, Childhood Studies
Research Topic: Understanding the Impacts of Federal and State Immigration Enforcement
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Dan Hart

Mark Nessel
PhD, Computational & Integrative Biology
Research Topic: Nutrient enrichment effects on communities
Research Adviser: Dr. Angelica Gonzalez

Gabriele Stankeviciute
PhD, Computational & Integrative Biology
Research Topic: Characterizing bacterial ceramide synthesis
Research Adviser: Dr. Eric Klein

Christina Curran-Alfaro 
MS, Biology
Research Topic: Mapping Spatial Memory in Fish
Faculty Adviser: Dr. William Saidel

Kartina DeWitt
MS, Biology
Research Topic: Stoichiometric niches of pitcher plants across spatial scales
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Angelica Gonzalez


2018-2019 Graduate Grant Recipients
2017-2018 Graduate Grant Recipients
2016-2017 Graduate Grant Recipients
2015-2016 Graduate Grant Recipients