Outstanding Master's Thesis or Research Project Award
Overview
The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences' Committee on Graduate Studies has established two Outstanding Thesis/Research Project Awards. Each award carries a $750 stipend. One awardee is selected from among Summer and Fall graduates and a second from among Spring graduates.
Call for Nominations
Eligibility:
Students must be nominated by their thesis or research project advisor with the endorsement of either the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair of the department.
Nomination Instructions:
Departments are strongly encouraged to select no more than one nominee for each cycle of the award. However, multiple nominees from a single department will be accepted if a department determines that more than one student truly warrants the nomination. In these cases, a separate letter is required for each nominee. Letters must be explicit about the relative merits of each.
Each nomination must include the following:
- A letter of support prepared and signed by the student's advisor and endorsed by the Director of Graduate Studies or Chair of the department. The letter should address the following award criteria:
- The overall quality of the thesis or research project (e.g., research design, organization of material, clarity of writing, interpretation of findings)
- The methodological rigor and/or innovation of the thesis or research project
- The significance and/or originality of the thesis or research project to the field: Why is the work "outstanding" by disciplinary standards? The thesis or research project should be described so that an audience outside of the field can understand the significance.
- The letter may also address the following, as appropriate:
- The trans-disciplinary/interdisciplinary nature of the research
- Resulting publications, presentations, and performances (or the promise thereof)
- Receipt of departmental honors or other awards
- An abstract of the thesis or non-thesis project
- An electronic copy of the thesis or research project document. Print copies will not be accepted.
If you have questions or need more information, please email coga@ku.edu or call 785-864-4201.
Current Year Winners
Daniel Ibanez IV (2026)
Dynamic species on dynamic landscapes: Genomic resolution of the 𝘏𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢 species complex in the Solomon Islands
Danny’s thesis focused on a group of roundleaf bats (genus Hipposideros) that do not conform to traditional definitions of species. Previous studies produced conflicting results regarding their evolutionary relationships. To address this, Danny analyzed whole-genome data from 30 individuals across three species and found that these bats are more connected than previously thought, with evidence of gene flow between species. He also found that they exhibit remarkable flexibility in body size, with rapid changes occurring across island populations.
This work contributes to Danny’s broader research elucidating the evolutionary history of understudied bat groups. Now, as a first-year PhD student at the Biodiversity Institute, he is developing projects that expand this work to investigate not only the genomics of these bats, but also the viruses they host. Danny does this using the invaluable resource of museum specimens while actively supporting the maintenance and growth of the KU Natural History Museum Mammalogy Collection.
Danny’s thesis focused on a group of roundleaf bats (genus Hipposideros) that do not conform to traditional definitions of species. Previous studies produced conflicting results regarding their evolutionary relationships. To address this, Danny analyzed whole-genome data from 30 individuals across three species and found that these bats are more connected than previously thought, with evidence of gene flow between species. He also found that they exhibit remarkable flexibility in body size, with rapid changes occurring across island populations.
This work contributes to Danny’s broader research elucidating the evolutionary history of understudied bat groups. Now, as a first-year PhD student at the Biodiversity Institute, he is developing projects that expand this work to investigate not only the genomics of these bats, but also the viruses they host. Danny does this using the invaluable resource of museum specimens while actively supporting the maintenance and growth of the KU Natural History Museum Mammalogy Collection.
Ibrahim Adedapo Tella (2026)
Heatwave Impacts on Dust Emissions Across North Africa: From the 2020 Godzilla Event to Multi-Year Variability
Ibrahim's thesis investigates how extreme heatwaves influence mineral dust emissions over North Africa, with a focus on the June 2020 “Godzilla” dust event, the most intense transatlantic dust outbreak in over two decades. While strong winds and convective systems are well-known drivers of dust activity, his work highlights the critical role of preceding and concurrent heat waves associated with the Saharan Heat Low. He shows that these heat extremes enhance dust emission by drying soils and shifting the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity, ultimately creating favorable conditions for mesoscale convective systems and haboob formation.
Using advanced atmospheric modeling alongside observation datasets, Ibrahim demonstrates that heat waves significantly amplify dust mobilization. Sensitivity experiments with dampened surface temperature conditions reveal weakened convective activity and substantial reductions in dust uplift, confirming the importance of heat-driven processes. Extending beyond a single event, his multi-year analysis using statistical causality methods shows that extreme temperatures consistently precede increases in aerosol loading across North Africa, with strong regional variability in the underlying mechanisms. His work provides new insight into the coupled role of heat extremes and atmospheric dynamics in shaping major dust events and their far-reaching impacts.
Ibrahim's thesis investigates how extreme heatwaves influence mineral dust emissions over North Africa, with a focus on the June 2020 “Godzilla” dust event, the most intense transatlantic dust outbreak in over two decades. While strong winds and convective systems are well-known drivers of dust activity, his work highlights the critical role of preceding and concurrent heat waves associated with the Saharan Heat Low. He shows that these heat extremes enhance dust emission by drying soils and shifting the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity, ultimately creating favorable conditions for mesoscale convective systems and haboob formation.
Using advanced atmospheric modeling alongside observation datasets, Ibrahim demonstrates that heat waves significantly amplify dust mobilization. Sensitivity experiments with dampened surface temperature conditions reveal weakened convective activity and substantial reductions in dust uplift, confirming the importance of heat-driven processes. Extending beyond a single event, his multi-year analysis using statistical causality methods shows that extreme temperatures consistently precede increases in aerosol loading across North Africa, with strong regional variability in the underlying mechanisms. His work provides new insight into the coupled role of heat extremes and atmospheric dynamics in shaping major dust events and their far-reaching impacts.
Past Recipients
- Kyle Davis (2025)
- Counties in Full Swing: Shifting Geographies of the Trump Coalition, 2016-2024
- Xingning Luan (2025)
- Intimacy and Autonomy: Ma Xianglan's Social Networks in Late Ming China
- Marcela Paiva Veliz (2025)
- Plants as Relatives: Silphium Ethnobotany, Decolonization and Traditional Knowledge
- Amanda Gehin (2025)
- Tritrophic Interactions with Silphium integrifolium at the Axis: Mediation of Silflower-Insect Interactions by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
- Rachel Andreini (2024)
- Affliction to Influence: The Negation of Nervous Sensitivity from Feminine Sensitivity in Marie Corelli's A Romance of Two Worlds
- Jordan Cortesi, Psychology (2024)
- (Mis)perceptions of Racial Wealth Inequality: The Role of Colorblind Racism and Implications for Public Policy
- Qixin Pan, Sociology (2024)
- A Psychological Contract or a Golden Chain? Revisiting a Case Study of Kansas Power & Light Workers, 1956-1958
- Kim Conger, Physics & Astronomy (2023)
- Investigating Environmental Processing of Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster
- Jenna Williams, Chemistry (2023)
- Chondroitin Sulfate Glycosaminoglycans Inhibit CNS Myelination with Molecular Specificity
- Jacob Z. Tindan, Atmospheric Science (2023)
- Day-night Differences and Long-term Trends in Dust Activities Over the Dust Belt of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in the Early 21st Century.
- Laura Muñetón, Sociology (2023)
- Whose Work is Essential? Rethinking Class in a Time of Crisis
- Sharon Mugg, English (2022)
- Rethinking Art and Virtue in Shakespeare's As You Like It
- Keana Koun Tang, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (2022)
- Uncovering the early diversification of core eudicots in western North America: structurally preserved fruits from Late Cretaceous deposits of Sucia Island
- Jennifer Babitzke, Sociology (2022)
- The Cumulative Cost of Care: Caregiving Over the Life Course and Severity of Depression
- Rebecca Woolbert, Applied Behavioral Science (2021)
- Teaching Graphing Using Enhanced Written instruction: Does Chunk Size Matter?
- Alexis Exum, Psychology (2021)
- Culturally-Informed Theory for Disordered Eating in Black Women
- Nick Banach, English, Creative Writing (2020)
- Case Study: Becoming
- Morgan McComb, English (2020)
- "Everything is Here and Now": The Polyvocal Poetry of Naomi Long Madgett
- Erin Bojanek, Clinical Child Psychology (2019)
- Postural Control Processes During Static and Dynamic Activities in Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Austen McGuire, Clinical Child Psychology (2019)
- The Association between Dimensions of Maltreatment and Academic Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care
- Lucas McMichael, Geography & Atmospheric Science (2018)
- Assessing the Mechanisms Governing the Daytime Evolution of Marine Stratocumulus Using Large-Eddy Simulation
- Che-Ling Ho, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2018)
- First Finding of Succulence and c4/CAM-Cycling Photosynthesis in a Grass: Ecophysiology on Spinifex littoreus in Coastal Region of Taiwan
- CJ Grady, Geography & Atmospheric Science (2018)
- Delineating Sea-Level Rise Inundation: An Exploration of Data Structure and Performance Optimization
- Carolina Bejarano, Clinical Child Psychology (2017)
- Motivation and Hedonic Hunger and Predictors of Self-Reported Food Intake in Adolescents: Disentangling Between-Person and Within-Person Processes
- Melissa Gilstrap, English (2016)
- Re-Placing the Prostitute: Ruth Hall and the Spatial Politics of the Streetwalker
- Meghan Kelly, Geography (2016)
- Mapping Syrian Refugee Border Crossings: A Critical, Feminist Perspective
- Joshua Meisel, Geography (2015)
- Historical Demographics, Student Origins, and Recruitment at Off-Reservation Indian Boarding Schools, 1900
- Elizabeth Adams, Classics (2014)
- Esse videtur: Occurrences of Heroic Clausulae in Cicero's Orations
- Laurie Gayes, Clinical Child Psychology (2014)
- A Meta-Analysis of Motivational Interviewing Interventions for Pediatric Health Behavior Change
- Gopolang Mohlabeng, Physics & Astronomy (2013)
- A Redshift Dependent Color-Luminosity Relation in Type 1a Supernovae
- Jeanne Tiehen, Theater (2013)
- Frankenstein on Stage: Galvanizing the Myth and Evolving the Creature
- Laurie Petty, Sociology (2012)
- Department Chairs and High Chairs: The importance of perceived department chair supportiveness on faculty parents' views of departmental and institutional kid-friendliness
- Steven Roels, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2012)
- Not Easy Being Mead's: Comparative Herbivory on Three Milkweeds, Including Threatened Mead's Milkweed (Asclepias meadii), and Seedling Ecology of Mead's Milkweed