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Campus & Community

Summer Fellowships Help Doctoral Candidates Focus on Finishing Dissertation

Wednesday, July 10, 2019, By Kathleen Haley
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College of Arts and SciencesFellowshipsGraduate SchoolMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public AffairsResearch and Creative

Darci Pauser, a doctoral candidate in the Maxwell School, is examining regional freshwater access from water basins controlled by two powerful Middle Eastern countries. Ashley O’Mara, a Ph.D. candidate in English in the College of Arts and Sciences, is researching literature of the English Reformation to better understand queer asexuality and sexuality more broadly in today’s society.

This summer, both are able to dedicate more hours toward their research and dissertations with the help of a new Graduate School fellowship.

Pauser and O’Mara are among 50 doctoral candidates who were awarded $4,000 Summer Dissertation Fellowships, which provide funding to help candidates focus on their dissertations instead of having to work extra hours—away from their research—to support themselves.

Darci Pauser

“Without the Graduate School Summer Fellowship, I would have had to take on additional work hours to cover basic living expenses,” Pauser says. “This funding fills an important financial gap between annual academic cycles and has made it possible for me to focus on further data analysis and writing during the summer.”

The fellowships were initiated to provide funding to help doctoral candidates complete their dissertations in a timely manner and to address the need for more summer funding opportunities. The funding is provided through the Invest Syracuse initiative to strengthen support for graduate education and research.

“We had a tremendous response from doctoral students across the entire University. Having received well over 170 applications, we elected to fund an additional 20 slots based on the depth and strength of the applicant pool, bringing the total to 50 funded fellowships,” says Associate Provost and Graduate School Dean Peter Vanable. “This funding initiative is integral to a broader set of initiatives to elevate the success of our doctoral students in completing their degrees in a timely fashion.”

Pauser’s dissertation examines the regional political dynamics of water sharing from the Tigris-Euphrates, originating in Turkey, and the Jordan-Yarmouk, originating in Israel.

“Both Turkey and Israel affect the quality and quantity of freshwater available to neighboring countries via their domestic water management policies,” says Pauser, who is majoring in international relations, with a minor in public policy. “By determining the ways in which international, transnational and domestic pressures for water management are balanced by these regionally powerful countries, I will provide insight into freshwater access within what is projected to be an increasingly water-scarce area.”

head shot

Ashley O’Mara

O’Mara’s research focuses on queer asexuality in the literature of Shakespeare’s time.

“I argue that the English Reformation’s hostility toward celibacy set the stage for heterosexual marriage culture as we now know it,” O’Mara says. “For that reason, sympathetic representations of celibacy could enact resistance to heteronormativity. Recovering those performances can help us better understand not only queer asexuality but also sexuality more broadly today.”

While Pauser and O’Mara focus on their research over the summer, the summer fellowship will help cover their living expenses for the summer.

“My program relies on a nine-month funding situation; bridging the financial gap between semesters is crucial to keep students’ research from being derailed by locating, applying for and securing outside employment to cover cost of living,” O’Mara says.

Following are the students—listed with their program and the name of their faculty advisor—who were awarded fellowships:

  • Giles David Arceneaux, political science, Maxwell School, Colin Elman
  • John Russell Barruzza, history, Maxwell School, Michael R. Ebner
  • Emily Lynn Baxter, school psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Brian K. Martens
  • Maria Fernanda Boza Cuadros, anthropology, Maxwell School, Christopher Decorse
  • Shelby Lois Buffington, bioengineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, James H. Henderson
  • Hugh O. Burnam, cultural foundations of education, School of Education, Dalia Rodriguez
  • Gaye Defne Ceyhan, science education, School of Education, John W. Tillotson
  • Jiaming Cheng, instructional design, development and evaluation, School of Education, Jing Lei
  • Ryan Curl, experimental psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Amy Criss
  • Lorenza D’angelo, philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences, Ben Bradley
  • Martin Joseph De Vita, clinical psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Stephen A. Maisto
  • Meredith Devennie, teaching and curriculum, School of Education, George Theoharis
  • Ryan Disney Patrick Dunk, biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Jason Wiles
  • Nuzhath Fatema, civil engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Shobha Bhatia
  • Sarah M Fleming, literacy education, School of Education, Kelly Chandler Olcott
  • Terese Virginia Gagnon, anthropology, Maxwell School, Azra Hromadzic
  • Srihari Ganesh Prasad, mechanical and aerospace engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Barry D. Davidson
  • Ipshita Ghosh, anthropology, Maxwell School, Azra Hromadzic
  • Joseph Patrick Gonzalez, Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Suzanne Baldwin
  • Martin Alberto Gonzalez, cultural foundations of education, School of Education, Dalia Rodriguez
  • Mallory Hennigar, religion, College of Arts and Sciences, Joanne Waghorne
  • Elan Joseph Hofman, chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Weiwei Zheng
  • Emily Joan Judd, Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Linda Ivany
  • Haejoo Kim, English, College of Arts and Sciences, Coran Klaver
  • Jesse Kosiba, clinical psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Joseph W. Ditre
  • Kathryn Theresa Kozak, counseling and counselor education, School of Education, Melissa Luke
  • Rajesh Kumar, computer and information science and engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Can Isik and Vir V. Phoha
  • Lisa Renee Larowe, clinical psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Joseph Ditre
  • Dongshu Liu, political science, Maxwell School, Dimitar Gueorguiev
  • Wanyi Lu, Earth sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Zunli Lu
  • Tristan Karel Martin, marriage and family therapy, Falk College, Deb Coolhart
  • Montinique Denice Mceachern, marriage and family therapy, Falk College, Deb Coolhart
  • Dezarie Jade Moskal, clinical psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Stephen A. Maisto
  • Ashley O’Mara, English, College of Arts and Sciences, Dympna Callaghan
  • Darci Janel Pauser, political science, Maxwell School, Miriam Elman
  • Harvey Charles Peters, counseling and counselor education, School of Education, Melissa Luke
  • Vincent Portillo, composition and cultural rhetoric, College of Arts and Sciences, Steve Parks
  • Lindsay Rathbun, biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Heidi Hehnly
  • Gabriele Rigo, physics, College of Arts and Sciences, Jay Hubisz
  • Shaundel Nicole Sanchez, anthropology, Maxwell School, Robert A. Rubinstein
  • Johnathan William Sanders, English, College of Arts and Sciences, Chris Hanson
  • Kelly Marie Schmid, biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Jason R. Wiles
  • David John Schwegman, public administration, Maxwell School, Robert Bifulco
  • Rachel Julia Snyder-Lockman, English, College of Arts and Sciences, Dorri Beam
  • Catriona Helen Elizabeth Standfield, political science, Maxwell School, Audie Klotz
  • Sara Ann Swenson, religion, College of Arts and Sciences, Gareth Fisher
  • Hester Petronella Veitch, cultural foundations of education, School of Education, Alan Foley
  • Emma Whittington, biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Stephen Dorus
  • Mingtao Wu, mechanical and aerospace engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Young Moon
  • Huichuan Xia, information science and technology, School of Information Studies, Jennifer Stromer-Galley

To apply for the fellowship, doctoral students must be in good standing, have completed all their required coursework and qualifying exam, have a commitment to making significant progress toward completing their dissertation, and confirm that the fellowship would serve as their primary source of summer funding. Applications were scored by two members of a multi-disciplinary faculty review panel appointed by Vanable.

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Kathleen Haley

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