Six from public health receive Impact Awards for research benefitting North Carolina

Other graduate student honors and awards also recognized by The Graduate School, public health school departments

In an April 20 ceremony, The Graduate School of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recognized the achievements of more than 300 students, whose scholarship, research and service, in the words of Dr. Steve Matson, dean of The Graduate School, “are making a difference in the everyday lives of North Carolinians across the state and beyond.”

(L-R) Impact Awardees Kiyah Duffey, Leigh-Anne Krometis, Grace Wallenborn, Linda Ko, Jennifer Horney and Kun Lu. Not pictured: Sunil Agarwal

Particularly highlighted was the work of 20 graduate researchers selected for the Graduate Education Advancement Board (GEAB) Impact Awards. Impact Award recipients were available to discuss their research posters as part of the event.

Of the 20 awardees, six are students at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. A seventh awardee, Kun Lu, in Materials Science, is advised by James Swenberg, DVM, PhD, Kenan Distinguished Professor of environmental sciences and engineering.

The School was represented in each of the three award categories – Economic Development/Environmental, Social Services/Policy and Health.

GEAB Impact Awards

Sunil Agarwal

Sponsored by The Graduate School’s Graduate Education Advancement Board, the Impact Awards recognize graduate students whose research provides special benefits to the citizens of North Carolina.

Winners of the 2009 Impact Awards included:

• Sunil Agarwal, Epidemiology, for “Ventricular Premature Complexes: A Possible Harbinger of Stroke and Sudden Cardiac Death”
• Kiyah Duffey, Nutrition, for “Examining the Causes and Consequences of Dietary Intake and Obesity”
• Jennifer Horney, Epidemiology, for “Hurricane Evacuation Failure: The Role of Social Cohesion, Social Capital and Social Control”
• Linda Ko, PhD, Health Behavior and Health Education, for “Health Communication and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption”
• Leigh-Anne Krometis, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, for “Microbial Partitioning in Urban Stormwaters”
• Jacqueline Grace Wallenborn, Environmental Sciences and Engineering, for “Cardiovascular Effects of Zinc”
• Kun Lu, Materials Science, for “Assessing the Health Risk of External Exposure to Formaldehyde”

Other public health students recognized at the event include:

For the Boka W. Hadzija Award for Distinguished University Service by a Graduate or Professional Student

• Elizabeth Ann Torrone – Epidemiology

For prestigious external fellowships

Biostatistics

• Naomi Chana Brownstein – NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
• Daniela Sotres-Alvarez – Scholarship for Graduate Students, National Council on Science and Technology of Mexico

Environmental Science and Engineering

• Sheila L. Flack – American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF) 2008 Graduate/Undergraduate Scholarship
• Daniel Mario Gatti – EPA-STAR Fellowship
• Hee Suk Lee – National Water Research Institute Fellowship
• Lanakila McMahan – EPA-STAR Fellowship
• Seth Cybill Rylander – National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellowship
• Shannon Rennenberg Starck – EPA-STAR Fellowship
• Jennifer M. Thomasen – American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF) 2008 Graduate/Undergraduate Scholarship

Epidemiology

• Lauren Abbate – Arthritis Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Award
• Adam Goode – Foundation for Physical Therapy Scholarship
• 

  Bonnie Joubert, Susan Mason

  Bonnie Joubert – CDC Public Health Research Dissertation Award (R36)

• Susan Marshall Mason – CDC Public Health Research Dissertation Award (R36)
• Sunni Mumford – Eunice Kennedy Shriver NIH/National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Intramural Research Training Award
• Sharon Myers – NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Intramural Research Training Award
• Ashley Naimi – Fonds de Recherche en Sante du Quebec Doctoral Training Award
• Sirin Yaemsiri – American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship

Health Behavior and Health Education

• Jessica Duncan Cance – NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH- National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Elizabeth Jane King – Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
• 

  Jerrie Kumalah

  Jerrie Tatiana Kumalah – Population Reference Bureau/Compton International Fellowship

• India J. Ornelas – NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH- National Cancer Institute
• Liana Janine Richardson – NRSA Fellowship for Minority Students (F31) NIH- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Health Policy and Management

• Young Kyung Do – Graduate Student Paper Grant Award – Korea Labor Institute
• Danielle Doughman – David A. Winston Health Policy Scholarship
• Bradley Richard Heaton – Foster G. McGaw Graduate Student Scholarship

Maternal and Child Health

• Stacey Williams Lloyd – American Public Health Association Student Leadership Fellowship, Maternal and Child Health Section
• Annie-Laurie McRee – Society for Adolescent Medicine Career Development Award
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  Dara Mendez

  Dara Daneen Mendez – NRSA Fellowship (F31) NIH- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

• Hannah Elizabeth Pollet – American Dietetic Association Scholarship; North Carolina Dietetic Association Graduate Scholarship

Nutrition

• Janne E. Boone – CDC Public Health Research Dissertation Award (R36); Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Active Living Research Dissertation Award
• Kiyah J. Duffey – CDC Public Health Research Dissertation Award (R36)
• Bridget Anne Hollingsworth – American Dietetic Association Scholarship
• 

  Lucia Leone

  Lucia Andrea Leone – Society of Behavioral Medicine – 2008 Student Excellence in Research Award

• Lisa Lowenstein – Leadership and Education in Adolescent Health Program
• Jill Elizabeth McClain – CDC Public Health Research Dissertation Award (R36)
• Natalie Bowen Peterson – American Dietetic Association Foundation – Mead Johnson Nutritionals Scholarship; American Dietetic Association Foundation – 2008 Nancy Williams Award
• Cassandra Leigh Rico – Central DuPage Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship
• Carolyn Eileen Wait – American Dietetic Association Foundation – 2008 Geraldine M. Piper Memorial Scholarship
• Jessica Wilcox – American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship; American Society for Nutrition – Cargill Predoctoral Fellowship
• Christina Dawn Williams – Travel Scholarship from the American Institution for Cancer Research
• Daisy Zamora – NRSA Fellowships for Minority Students (F31) NIH – National Institute of General Medical Sciences
• Katherine Zavodni – American Dietetic Association Foundation – 2008 Lydia J. Roberts Award

Public Health Leadership

• Rachael S. Wong – Wong Kong Har Tong Society Education Grant; Hawaiian Lodge – Free and Accepted Masons Scholarship Award; Society for the Scientific Study of Religion – Student Research Award

2009 University Day Research Award Winners

Best Graduate Student Poster in the Social Sciences and Humanities

• 1st Place: Sarah Birken – Health Policy and Management; Co-author: Michelle L. Mayer, “An Investment in Health: Anticipating the Cost of a Usual Source of Care for Children”
• 3rd Place: Lucia Leone – Nutrition; Co-authors: Marci K. Campbell, Jessie A. Satia, J. Michael Bowling, Michael Pignone, “Race Moderates the Relationship between Obesity and Colorectal Cancer Screening in Women”

Honorary Societies

Frank Porter Graham Honor Society

• Adriane Casalotti, Social Work/Maternal and Child Health
• Hallam Melville Gugelmann, Medicine/Public Health Leadership
• Ryan Kingsbury, Environmental Sciences and Engineering
• Shayla Lester, Medicine/Public Health Leadership
• Trista Day Snyder, Medicine/Public Health Leadership

Order of the Grail Valkyries

• Leigh Anne Krometis, Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Graduate student awards reported by departments in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health include:

Biostatistics

The following awards were presented at the 2009 Biostatistics Awards Day, held on April 15.

• John and Diane Fryer Fellowship – Siddhartha Mandal and Thomas Stewart
• GlaxoSmithKline Scholarship – Steven Hoberman
• Bernard Greenberg Scholarship – Eugene Urrutia
• Noel Mohberg Scholarship – Wan Suk Choi
• David and Lucy Hardison Scholarship – Suprateek Kundu
• Regina C. Elandt-Johnson Master’s Paper Award – Giovanni Veronesi, for “Comparing Methods for Measurement Error Correction in Survival Analysis When the Variable of Interest is Change Over Time.” Adviser: Lloyd Chambless, PhD.
• Barry H. Margolin Dissertation Award – Xioyan (Amy) Shi, for “Diagnostic Measures for Missing Covariate Data and Semiparametric Models for Neuroimaging.” Advisers: Joseph Ibrahim, PhD, and Hongtu Zhu, PhD.Delta Omega

   

• Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship – Daniela Sotres-Alvarez
• Service Award – Dustin Long and Leann Long
• Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for Graduating Students – Ju-Hyun Park (PhD) and Yonghong Nie (MS)

Environmental Sciences and Engineering

• MSEE Bunker Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Professional Promise – Kari Leech
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  Lauren Thie