Outstanding Graduate Students | ASU Graduate College

	Littisha Bates, an ABD (all but dissertation) Ph.D. student in the School of Social and Family Dynamics, is researching the effect of social class and race on children's educational achievement throughout school. Working as a research assistant in ASU's Center for Population Dynamics (CePoD), she is taking an innovative look at the effects of both the family and the school environment on children's learning process.
	Brandon Mechtley is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a concentration in Arts, Media and Engineering. He is discovering ways to use media and technology to model interactive scenarios for exploration and decision-making in sustainability issues.
	Jeffrey Boyd is a doctoral student in Computer Science and Engineering with an emphasis in Arts, Media, and Engineering. He works in AME's Biofeedback lab, with a goal to provide better physical therapy for stroke survivors.
	Suneth Attygalle, pursuing a Ph.D. in bioengineering with a specialization in arts media engineering, combines his interests in digital media, computer music, interactive technology and neuroscience/neural engineering. He wants his research to benefit those who are rehabilitating from a stroke, as well as other applications.
	Graduate College Fellows have received merit-based awards from the Graduate College at ASU. These are the most prestigious form of funding because they enable students to focus full time on their studies and research projects. Twenty-two students were awarded one of the following fellowships for the 2007-2008 semesters: Reach for the Stars, Doctoral Enrichment, or Dissertation. Read some examples of their outstanding research and goals.
	Kristine Reich, pursuing a Juris Doctorate in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, has a passion for law and a desire to contribute to the public good. As the president of the Pro Bono Board, she coordinates ASU law students in numerous community service projects, including legal aid for homeless and crime victims; free assistance in tax, disability and elder law; and advocacy against domestic violence and child abuse.
	Dallin Maybee, a law student at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, recently won Best of Show in the 86th Annual Santa Fe Indian Market, one of the most prestigious Indian art shows in the country, for two children’s books that he wrote, illustrated, and covered in beading.
	Dana Bennett, an ASU doctoral student in Public History, has worked in both the public and private sector of public policy and legislation. Her book A Century of Enthusiasm: Midas, Nevada, 1907-2007, a chronological overview of 100 years in a small mining town in northern Nevada, won praise from a U.S. Representative for Nevada.
	Gates Millennium Scholars are chosen for their academic excellence and their promise to assume roles as leaders in their professions and in the community. The program is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to promote academic excellence and increase the number of underrepresented students enrolling in and completing undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
	Sydella Blatch, a PhD candidate in the ASU School of Life Sciences (SOLS), has designed and obtained funding for a program in which minority graduate students in the sciences can serve as mentors for their undergraduate peers.
	Jessica Tartaro, a doctoral candidate, is researching the role of religious and spiritual beliefs in the experience of individuals coping with cancer. For her dissertation, Jessica is recruiting cancer survivors to participate in her study.
	Janelle Kappes, a Ph.D. candidate, is studying extremely low-income ASU students to examine their barriers to success, as well as their personal and academic triumphs. She hopes her research will eventually affect the way student aid is dispersed, as well as recognizing the need to support low-income students with mentoring and preparation for grad school and a competitive workforce.
	Diana Meneses a Ph.D. candidate, researches the contemporary history, arts and culture of Native and Hispanic peoples in North and South America. "I am very lucky I ended up at ASU in one of the top programs in the nation," she says, "studying under one of the foremost historians for Native American contemporary history, Dr. Peter Iverson."
	Erica Morley earned her undergraduate degree in Biology, with two minors in Sports Studies, Recreation and Athletics, and Sports Medicine, and then earned her Masters degree in Kinesiology at ASU. Now working on her doctorate, she says “I decided to come here because the ASU Kinesiology department has an excellent reputation in the field, with a strong biology and biochemistry emphasis in the exercise physiology graduate degree.” Her research focuses on hypertension and the metabolic syndrome.
	Ekaterina Trofimova earned her Bachelor's degree in teaching French and English, with a minor in teaching music, at the respected Komi State Pedagogical Institute (KSPI) in Syktyvkar, Russia, and is now pursuing a Master’s degree in French literature and language at ASU.
	Lydia Bilinsky, an ASU doctoral student in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, is researching how to make PET (positron emission tomography) scans a more accurate tool to diagnose and treat patients with brain diseases.
	LaKresha Graham, pursuing a Ph.D. in Human Communication, is focused on ways to improve communication between cultures, genders, ethnicities, and social classes.
	Karen Butterfield,a doctoral student in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering, hopes to develop synthetic biomaterials that will more effectively mimic the body's natural process in repairing and regenerating tissue after coronary bypass surgeries.
	Grant Crawford, a doctoral student in Materials Science Engineering, is searching for a more durable and high performance prosthetic implant for active adults needing a hip or knee replacement.
	Leah Rohlfsen, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology is researching the sociology of health, illness and aging. With current and future increases in the aging population, it is especially important to look at the difficulties that older adults face, as well as what the aging experience is going to be like for the baby boomers, she says.
	Brenda Ohta, M.S., M.S.W. combines work experience with academic research to help improve the quality of health care for the aging. Much of her research at ASU has evolved from her direct experience as a healthcare professional as the Director of Case Management, Social Work, and Ethics for a multi-hospital system.
	Kristen Hartnett , a Ph.D. candidate in Physical Anthropology, combines Forensic Anthropology with Bioarcheology to work in disaster response and solving crimes. She has accepted a position as Forensic Anthropologist for the New York City Chief Medical Examiner's Office.
	Angela O'Neal, pursuing a Ph.D. in English Literature, was winner of the Best Graduate Student Paper Award at the International Conference on Romanticism and will see her work published by Cambridge Scholars Press. She traces the roots of our current cultural fascination with the super-slender or anorexic body.
	Luz-Andrea Pfister, pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology, studies the co-evolutionary history of humans and tuberculosis. Recipient of a GC Doctoral Enrichment Fellowship for her strong record of achievement and the potential societal impact of her research, Pfister hopes her research contributes to the understanding of this major public health problem in order to better control, and perhaps eliminate, it worldwide.
	Courtney Klein, graduate student in public programs, believed in a world in which young people feel empowered to become leaders in local and global social change; consequently, she helped found Youth Re:Action Corps. Over the next three years, the program will receive significant funding from the Pat Tillman Foundation for expansion in San Jose, Calif. where it was initiated in six high schools in late September.
	Rajen Sidhu, a Ph.D. candidate in materials science and engineering and president of the Fulton Graduate Student Association, believes that graduate students should expand their focus and look beyond just getting a degree in order to have successful future careers, saying that that there is "life beyond the lab."
	Angela Harvey decided to pursue a doctoral degree in Justice Studies after working as a therapist and administrator for youth in the juvenile justice system. She previously contracted and monitored treatment services statewide for juvenile offenders at the Arizona Supreme Court and is now focusing her dissertation research on how court actors understand and construct youths' competency to stand trial in Arizona juvenile courts, and the impact this early decision has on case processing.
	Nathan Wilkens, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in geological sciences, is examining the evolution of ancient ecosystems by studying animal fossils, plant fossils, sediments and the geochemistry of ancient land-based environments to determine how the ancient living system interacted. He focussed his research on several well-preserved desert oases near Moab, Utah, to gain a better understanding of living environments and preservation situations in the Early Jurassic period.
	Pushpak Karnick, doctoral candidate in computer science and engineering, focuses his dissertation research on computer graphics that employ real-time rendering algorithms and that facilitate spatial modeling of urban environments. In the next year, he hopes to lead the effort to implement a game design curriculum in the upcoming School of Informatics at ASU.
	Nathan Morehouse, doctoral student in biology, seeks to further understand the connection between nutrition and butterfly colors. He also partnered with a fellow graduate student to construct and coordinate a community outreach program that provides mentoring opportunities to underrepresented students in middle school to create enthusiasm for science.
	Richard Hopkins, history doctoral student, explores the social, cultural, political, and environmental effects that the public gardens in Paris had on society; the role that each of these greenspaces played in the creation of the metropolitan area; and how this constructed nature affected the understanding and daily use of city space.
	Francisco Alatorre, a doctoral student in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry, hopes that his dissertation research on Hispanic youth, drug abuse and delinquency will help contribute to the understanding of this issue.
	Viola Fuentes, in the Public Administration doctoral program, researches the policy design process of higher education strategies in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. She also served as co-chair of the Latino/a Graduate Student Alliance and led an initiative to provide graduate students like herself the opportunity to learn to conduct purposeful research.

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