Student Life

Graduate Student Spotlight

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1st place poster at Acoustical Society of America

Lindsey Kummerer, AuD, was awarded first place in the Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Best Student Poster Award competition at the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America held in New Orleans from May 18–23.

Kummerer's poster, "Evidence of compensative listening for speech segregation in hearing-impaired adults," was described by the judges as "super innovative" and "very informative for future development to improve hearing aids."

Kummerer is a clinical audiologist enrolled in the dual AuD/PhD program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South Florida (USF). She earned her doctorate in audiology in 2023 and is now completing her PhD in communication sciences and disorders.

A member of the Auditory Behavioral Research Laboratory at USF, Kummerer's research interests include objective and physiological measures of auditory function, including otoacoustic emissions and middle ear muscle reflex, speech-in-noise performance, cocktail party listening, and subclinical hearing loss.

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GeoSciences PhD Student recieves Boren Fellowship

Victoria Brown was determined to find a way to travel to East Africa to gather data for her PhD research on coffee agriculture. Brown worked for coffee importers before starting her graduate studies, struck by the many challenges in the industry’s supply chain. She had also studied abroad in Tanzania, which planted a seed for her future goals.

Studying Swahili was a top priority when thinking about conducting her research abroad, as speaking with local farmers is vital to her work. To accomplish both goals, she applied and was selected for a Boren Fellowship to travel to Tanzania. There, she will study Swahili at Ewaso Maasai College and conduct research with the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI).

The Boren Awards offer both undergraduate and graduate students funding to spend at least one semester abroad studying a critical language. Graduate students, like Brown, can also participate in research projects during their fellowship. Brown will spend the 2025-26 academic year immersing herself in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania where there is a high concentration of coffee farming. Full article available on the Office of National Scholars website here.

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Helping those who help us

Most of us keep our distance from people with a cold, flu, COVID-19 or other nasty conditions, but what about those who meet them up close, often under stressful circumstances? How do first responders stay healthy in otherwise unhealthy places?

That’s the focus of a student at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health (COPH) currently working on his master’s with a concentration in global communicable disease and epidemiology. Logan Sharp summarized his efforts in a presentation titled “Needs Assessment of Infection Prevention and Control Training for Emergency Responders (ICER),” which he gave at the 2024 Interprofessional Education Collaborative fair and won best poster.

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A Journey of Academic Excellence

Darlshawn Patterson serves as a member of the American Educational Research Association’s Division G’s Social Contexts of Education Graduate Student Executive Committee (GSEC) and together with her team, has planned the upcoming event to be held at the AERA 2025 Annual Meeting: Research, Remedy, and Repair: Toward Just Educational Renewal titled “Strategic Silence & Bold Resistance: Navigating Educational Renewal in an Era of Oppression.”

Patterson is the incoming Chair of the Doctoral Students Innovative Community Group (DSICG) of the esteemed Literacy Research Association (LRA), having served as Co-Chair for the past two years.

Patterson is co-author of a chapter titled “Complicating Postcolonial Logics: Toward Transraciolinguistic Justice in Literacy Instruction,” currently in press, to appear in the eighth edition of the book titled “Theories, Models, and Practices of Literacy” (TMPL), which will be published in 2025 by the Editorial Team of esteemed literacy scholars: Misty Sailors, Idalia Nuñez, Vaughn W. M. Watson, James V. Hoffman, & Donna Alvermann. TMPL has been a foundational book for the field of literacy since the first edition in 1969. This text has been used as a core text for graduate programs, including advanced masters and introductory doctoral courses and in international spaces. As such, it has long served as the most comprehensive source available for connecting multiple and theories of and about literacy; it has a history of representing both classic and cutting-edge contributions from top scholars.

Patterson's recommendations for schools and teachers has been highlighted in Education Week’s ‘Embracing Subtraction’ within "14 Things Schools Should Stop Doing Now" 

Patterson is author of the book review of "Black Immigrant Literacies" published this past year and has served as Research Assistant for the just-published Cambridge University Press book, "Literacies of Migration Translanguaging Imaginaries of Innocence.”

Read COE Spotlight 

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Presenting poster at NACCHO 360 conference in July

Sarah is presenting a poster at the NACCHO 360 conference in July for her paper, "Climate Change and its Effects on Disaster Mitigation Planning for American Indian/Alaskan Native Tribes: A Case Study Review"

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Student published, then presents another accomplishment with travel grant

Anthropology Ph.D. candidate Sherilyne Jones recently published the following: "Museums and community engagement in Belize: Case studies for protection and active participation of knowledge" in Communities and Museums in the 21st Century.

Additionally thanks to her travel grant, she participated in the Commonwealth Association of Museums (CAM) Conference in New Zealand and presented her research. Sherilyne was also elected to the Board of the CAM.

Finally, she is presenting "(TH-108) Engaging Communities in Environmental Research across Scales (PESO)" at this year's Society for Applied Anthropology. Sherilyne will be rotating off the Board of Directors as the student representative, after serving 3 years.

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Student presenting at the 18th Annual Conference of the Florida Society of Social Sciences (F3S)

"I will be presenting at the 18th Annual Conference of the Florida Society of Social Sciences (F3S) on the topic of "Paradiplomacy in Argentina and Brazil: A Perspective from Their Federal Governments." This presentation is an integral part of my ongoing research, which aims to analyze the international relations of subnational entities. Having previously focused on Argentine paradiplomacy from a legal standpoint during my graduate studies in Constitutional Law and International Law, I have broadened my scope. Currently enrolled in the Master in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies program at the Institute for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean (ISLAC), I have expanded my research to include a comparative analysis of South American countries with federal systems, particularly Brazil and Argentina. In addition to my legal approach, I have incorporated insights from international relations and political science into my research."

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Ph.d. student's co-authored article published, and presenting a paper at prestigious conference

He co-authored an article titled, "Exploring Headteachers' Struggles in Overseeing Kindergarten Education at Basic Schools: An In-Depth Study in Awutu Senya East Municipality." which was published in the International Journal of Early Childhood Education, Vol. 4, Issue No. 2

In addition, his paper "Learning Centers' Impact on Literacy Development: Perspectives of Effutu Municipal Kindergarten Teachers," has been accepted for presentation in a Research-in-Progress Roundtable Series session at the prestigious 2024 AERA Annual Conference in Philadelphia.

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Doctoral Student article wins award and published

Copngratulations to Christopher David Adkins! peer-reviewed article, "The Canine Crucible of Labor, Love, Killing, and Kindness of the Gold Rush North" was published in the journal Alaska History (Vol. 38, No. 2).

It received the Morgan and Jeannie Sherwood Award for the best article published in the
journal. The article is drawn from research he has conducted for his dissertation in the history department at USF.

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Doctoral candidate challenges psychologists to improve patient care by recognizing their own mental health

Researcher Andrew Devendorf shares how his brother's death inspired his passion to normalize discussions surrounding depression and other mental health concerns.
Story originally by Sandra C. Roa, University Communications and Marketing.

Boundless Bulls is a collection of stories about what truly makes USF great – the people. It is a focus on our community footprint, our impact and the trajectory of where we can go together.

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Mcknight Fellows Photoshoot by Dr. Travis Bell

The McKnight Fellows were so kindly helped by Dr. Travis Bell in their recent headshot photoshoot. The Fellows want to thank Dr. Bell for his time and geneorsity, and for arranging the professional sessions.

 

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recently published an article in "Race and justice" Journal based on M.A. thesis

Congratulations to College of Behavioral and Community Sciences Doctoral student Carl L. Reeds, who recently published an article based on his Master's thesis.

The article is titled, "A Test of the Association Between Racial Economic Threat and Racial Disparities in Jail Incarceration Across Counties in the United States" and was published in 'Race and Justice' journal.

This publication included his former committee members Drs. Lorie Fridell, Mateus Rennó Santos, and John Cochran. 

Read the Article

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student published article in International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media

College of Arts and Sciences Master's student Zane Willard had his article "Reframing performance's ontology: hybridity in contemporary performance art's ontology" published in the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media!

 

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Graduate students Caroline Arias and Victoria Salinas named TIPH ambassadors

This past July, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) named Caroline Arias and Victoria Salinas, two USF College of Public Health (COPH) MPH in epidemiology students, ambassadors for their This Is Public Health (TIPH) initiative 2022-2023 cohort.

ASPPH launched the TIPH Ambassador program in 2017. Nominated by their institutions, students who participate as ambassadors help raise awareness about the field of public health by leading virtual events, taking over the TIPH social media accounts and contributing to projects and presentations to assist in the growth of interest in public health education and careers.

Arias and Salinas have the honor of being part of the largest cohort to date, with 59 graduate students representing 40 schools and public health programs. 

Read the full story from USF Health

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McKnight Doctoral Fellow Awarded additional 2-Year Florida Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Scholarship

Congratulations to Stephanie Rosado, a McKnight fellow and College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS) PhD student, for receiving another award from the Florida Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network!
This year’s application pool was highly competitive and Rosado was one of 150 scholars accepted into their 2022-2024 cohort. 

"[The Florida AHEC Scholars program will provide Rosado with opportunities to enhance her knowledge and skills beyond the traditional classroom to better prepare her as a future health professional. She will have 40 hours of didactic learning paired with 40 hours of community-based or clinical-based learning per year.]" Congratulations Stephanie!

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Doctoral Student Presents at Florida Association for Behavior Analysis (FABA)

Congratulations to College of Education Doctoral Student Rachel Davis on her presentation of her research section at an annual Behavioral Analysis conference!

"I recently presented at the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis (FABA) in Ponte Vedra, FL for the annual conference. 

I presented during a multi-paper session titled "Why Can't We All Just Get Along: Working in Schools with BCBAs Employed by the School District" with my section - "Data Collection in Schools: Meaningful and Practical Methods to Collect Data in Public Schools""

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MPH student wins biosecurity competition

Congratulations to College of Public Health MPH student Nick Cropper, who was part of a three-person international team to win the Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition. 

The competition was sponsored by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in partnership with several other global health security organizations. NTI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization based in Washington, D.C., focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity.

Read more from the College of Public Health

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Doctoral student veteran receives Tillman Scholarship

Congratulations to doctoral student veteran Rio Tate, who recently received a 2022 Tillman Scholarship through the Pat Tillman Foundation! A College of Behavioral & Community Sciences doctoral student and United States Air Force veteran, Tate is one of only 60 US service members to earn this national recognition.

Read more from the USF Newsroom

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PH.D. STUDENT AWARDED department of defense scholarship

Congratulations to Physics Ph.D. Student Noah Schulz, who was awarded a scholarship under the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship-for-Service Program. The SMART Program, funded by the Department of Defense (DoD), is a combined educational and workforce development opportunity for STEM students.

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Ph.D. Candidate awarded NOAA Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship

Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Natalia López Figueroa, who was awarded a Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship administered by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management!

"The two-year fellowship begins August 1, 2022 and will support López Figueroa’s dissertation work on Cassiopea in the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) in Puerto Rico... The hallmark of this fellowship is a professional development, mentoring, and networking opportunities. Reserve mentors will help students network and make connections with the broader coastal management community. Fellows will also have regular training webinars and in-person training courses on searching for a job, project management, and leadership. Lopez-Figueroa is one of 18 fellows in this cohort announced by NOAA."

Read more from the College of Marine Science

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Presidential fellow receives fulbright award

Congratulations to Presidential Fellow Stephan Hassam (Ph.D. Candidate, History), who received a Fulbright Award for the 2022-23 academic year!

Mr. Hassam provided a brief description of his research: "While the Roman period is well documented in Sicily, it is less so in late antiquity. To understand the social and economic transformations on the island after the fall of the Roman empire, it is necessary to bring minor archaeological sites into dialogue with villas, ports, cities, and the routeways that connect them. My project uses spatial analysis to examine changes in spatial relationships of minor late antique sites through time to provide a nuanced vision of shifting landscapes after the fall of the Roman empire. Furthermore, the digital technologies used to map these sites and their inclusion in a GIS also serves to digitally preserve and disseminate this cultural heritage. The resultant map of lesser-known sites in eastern Sicily will be an excellent resource to scholars for research and local cultural heritage practitioners to plan and carry out management projects."

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Graduate Students Recognized by NSF GRFP

Two USF graduate students have received accolades from the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), which recognizes outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievement in science and engineering research. Congratulations!

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Ph.D. Student Awarded American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship

Prisca Lin, PhD Student

The American Heart Association (AHA) has awarded a two-year predoctoral fellowship to Prisca Lin, a PhD student in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The award will go towards her project titled “Defining a Factor Induced Endothelial Tubulogenesis, Sprouting, and Pericyte Recruitment.”

Read more from USF Health