The Graduate Dean’s Award recognizes up to 8 graduate students annually for their overall academic record and the outstanding quality of their research or creative activity at the University. Doctoral and master’s students in good academic standing from all disciplines are encouraged to apply.
Two primary criteria are used to judge applicants: (1) the overall strength and impact of the applicant’s achievements in research or creative work as a graduate student at Syracuse University, and (2) the strength and impact of the applicant’s proposed presentation of research or a creative work.
The 2026 Graduate Dean’s Award recipients are:
- Yanbei Chen (instructional design, development and evaluation, School of Education), “Preparing Future Teachers for Responsible AI Use: AI-Related Teaching Anxiety, Protective Resources and Implications for Teacher Education”
- Jessica Hogbin (history, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), “Innumerable Melancholies: Medicine, Mental Health and Human Nature in Renaissance Italy, 1450-1650”
- Dian Ling (multimedia, photography and design, Newhouse School of Public Communications), “Documentary Film, ‘The Cycle Breaker’”
- David Ojomakpene Moses (chemical engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science [ECS]), “Designing ‘Smart’ Catalysts for Cleaner and More Efficient Chemical Manufacturing”
- Christine Eunseol Park (public relations, Newhouse School), “Narrative Structure and Explanatory Link Strength in Low-Fit Corporate Social Advocacy: An Experimental Study of Perceived Authenticity”
- Michael Seitz (bioengineering, ECS), “Engineering Poly(ethylene) Glycol Hydrogels as Synthetic ECM”
- Aditya Srinivasa (social science, Maxwell School), “Imagining Infrastructure: The Rise and Fall of Interstate 81”
- Elina Ruiqi Su (social psychology, College of Arts and Sciences [A&S]), “Perceiving to Provide: How Partner Attachment Perceptions Inform Buffering Behaviors”
- Jiayue Yu (art photography, College of Visual and Performing Arts [VPA] ), “After the Photograph”
Awardees receive $500 and make a 5-minute presentation on their work as part of an award symposium.
Honorable mention:
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- Kaia Kirk (political science, Maxwell School), “The Black Cabinet: The Role of Movement-State Actors in Institutional Development and Policy Change”
- Katie Mulligan (illustration, VPA), “Tales of Rattlesnake Gulch: An Illustrated History of Cicero Swamp”
- Bixuan Ren (mass communications, Newhouse School), “Who Deserves to Belong? The Influence of Partisan News and Anti-Immigrant Misinformation on Immigrant Deservingness and Policy Preferences”
- Aliza M. Willsey (mechanical and aerospace engineering, ECS), “Development of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Emission Control Technology for Combustion Systems”
- Wusirige (human development and family science, A&S), “Family Processes and Children’s Development across Social and Cultural Contexts”