The Graduate School is pleased to announce the 2024 Best Dissertation Award Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Best Dissertation Award! A student from each of four groups – arts and humanities, biological and life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and social sciences and education – was chosen by faculty from the broad disciplinary area. Selections were based on the originality and importance of the research, as well as the potential for the student to make an unusually significant contribution to their field.
ARTS & HUMANITIES
Dr. Caroline Doenmez, Anthropology
- Advisor(s): Drs. Hoon Song, Jean M. O’Brien
- Dissertation Title: Carrying Water: Indigenous Women Reclaiming Birthing Sovereignty along the Red River
- Current Position: Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
BIOLOGICAL & MEDICAL SCIENCES
Dr. Trevor Weiss, Plant and Microbial Biology
- Advisor(s): Dr. Feng Zhang
- Dissertation Title: Improving plant genome editing: CRISPR meets epigenetics
- Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California - Los Angeles
Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
Dr. Vidya Chhabria, Electrical Engineering
- Advisor(s): Dr. Sachin S. Sapatnekar
- Dissertation Title: The Next Wave of EDA: Exploring Machine Learning and Open-source Philosophies for Physical Design
- Current Position: Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Dr. Sophia Magro, Developmental Psychology
- Advisor(s): Dr. Glenn Roisman
- Dissertation Title: Measuring, Predicting, and Understanding the Consequences of Teacher-Student Relationships from Kindergarten to Grade 6: Evidence from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
- Current Position: NIMH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University
Dr. Pearl Han Li from the Social Sciences category, academic year 2022-23 recipient, and Dr. Vidya Chhabria from the Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering category, academic year 2023-24 recipient, are nominated by the University of Minnesota to the national 2024 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award competition.