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Thesis/Dissertation Awards & Convocation Medals
There are several awards to recognize students who are graduating with an outstanding thesis dissertation at the master's and doctoral levels.
Two Governor General Gold Medals and up to twelve Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medals are awarded to students who have achieved the most outstanding academic record during their thesis completion. Students are presented with their medals and certificates at the June Convocation ceremonies.
Nomination Process
These awards are by nomination only — students do not apply directly.
Thesis/Dissertation Awards and Convocation Medals have different nomination processes. Students and academic units should read the eligibility and nomination process for each award carefully. Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies will send an announcement to each academic unit when it is time to prepare nominations.
Nomination-Only Awards
For 'Nomination-Only' awards speak to your academic unit if you would like to be considered. Students cannot apply directly for these awards.
Featured Award Recipient
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Dr. Natalie Kinloch completed her PhD from the Faculty of Health Sciences where her work in understanding HIV genetic diversity led to improvements for a gold-standard test for measuring HIV in infected individuals.
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Dr. Natalie Frandsen completed her PhD from the Faculty of Education where she researched accessible and inclusive education for post-secondary students with mental-health-related disabilities who are undertaking their studies online.
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Dr. Dennis Yu Liu completed his PhD from the Department of Chemistry where he developed an assay to study vulnerabilities unique to drug-resistant bacteria and discovered new bioactive compounds that specifically target these bacteria and can act in combination with major antibiotics to suppress the emergence of drug resistance.
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Dr. Hyomin Choi completed his PhD from the School of Engineering Science in the Faculty of Applied Sciences where his pioneering work is being adopted as international standards in the field of AI-based video compression.
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Tiara Cash completed her master's degree from the Department of Psychology where she researched the relationship between life transitions and everyday acts of kindness as a strategy for boosting well-being in first-year university students.
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Dr. Miranda Louwerse completed her PhD from the Department of Chemistry where her research resulted in her creating a novel theory that provides a quantitative perspective on the concept of the “reaction coordinate” that is central to chemical reaction theory.
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Dr. Hilda Fernandez-Alvarez completed her Geography PhD from the Faculty of Environment where her research looked into the challenges of providing trauma services, demonstrating that community practices supporting mental health are limiting the ability to support people’s psychological and social needs.
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Melennia Point completed her master's degree from the Beedie School of Business in the Indigenous Business Leadership Executive MBA program.
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Dr. Tanya Berisch completed her PhD from the Faculty of Education where she focused on how mastery relates to strangeness—that is, anything we encounter as threatening or uncertain.
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Dr. Lovedeep Gondara completed his PhD from the School of Computing Science in the Faculty of Applied Sciences working on enhancing machine learning performance while using decentralized data and ensuring that data privacy is intact
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Dr. Xiaolin Sun completed her PhD from the Department of Economics where she explored the mechanisms behind social programs, for instance, investigating the effects of electricity grids on employment and healthcare programs on expenditure to demonstrated the power of econometrics in comprehending intricate systems and informing evidence-based decision-making.
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Dr. Suk Kyoung Choi completed her PhD from the School of Interactive Arts and Technology where she used artificial intelligence to examine the displacement of embodiment by technology and the implications of that displacement for the development of human-centered AI.
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Dr. Royle completed his Archaeology PhD from the Faculty of Environment.
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Dr. Alberto Lusoli completed his School of Communication PhD from the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.
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Dr. Dawson completed her PhD from the School of Criminology in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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Dr. Finney completed her PhD from the Department of Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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Dr. Herath Gedara Chinthaka Pathum Dinesh completed his PhD from the School of Engineering Science in the Faculty of Applied Sciences.
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Dr. Cojocaru completed his PhD from the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Kumar completed his PhD from the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Lucci completed her PhD from the Department of of Biomedical Physiology & Kinesiology (BPK) in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Amanda Butler completed her PhD from the Faculty of Health Sciences.
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Dr. Chang completed his PhD from the Faculty of Education.
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Dr. Hajian completed her PhD from the Faculty of Education.
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Dr. Bao completed his PhD from the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Sciences.
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Dr. Andrew Park completed his PhD from the Beedie School of Business.
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Dr. Michael Ouellette completed his MBA from the Beedie School of Buisness.
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Dr. Spake completed her Archaeology PhD from the Faculty of Environment.
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Dr. Large completed his Department of Physics PhD from the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Meanwell completed his Department of Chemistry PhD from the Faculty of Science. (NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship & Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship)
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Dr. Wong completed his Molecular Biology and Biochemistry PhD from the Faculty of Science.
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Marco Zenone completed his master’s from the Faculty of Health Sciences.
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Dr. Patzak completed her Educational Psychology PhD from the Faculty of Education.
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Dr. Louise St. Pierre completed her PhD from the Faculty of Education.
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Dr. Kitson completed her School of Interactive arts & Technology PhD from the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology.
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Dr. Hopkins completed his Political Science PhD from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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Dr. Golubović completed her Sociology and Anthology PhD from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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Dr. Wang completed his degree from the School of Computing Science PhD in the Faculty of Applied Sciences.
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Dr. Anderson developed a suite of geosimulation models to represent the dynamics and behaviour of emerald ash borer infestation.
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Dr. Collins' research examined gendered poverty relations, poverty, and the built environment when it comes to overdose risk impact among women.
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Dr. Thrift has completed her Educational Psychology PhD from the Faculty of Education.
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Dr. Chen is a PhD graduate from the School of Communication in the Faculty of Communication, Art + Technology.
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Dr. Kyle Willmott's doctoral research broadly focused on questions of political and economic sociology, and Indigenous policy.
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Dr. Deng pushed the frontiers of computer vision and deep learning for his doctoral research in the School of Computing Science.
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Dr. Greenberg's research focused on the winning and losing evolutionary species in today's rapid, human-driven environmental change.
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Dr. Zucca published numerous papers in scholarly journals during his time at the Department of Physics in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Adamski's dissertation focuses on implementation of a hydrogen-powered, clean energy economy through new functional material designs.
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Dr. Kris Frederickson has a Master's of Business in Indigenous Business & Leadership from the Beedie School of Business.
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Anne St. Clair is from the School of Resource and Environmental Management in the Faculty of Environment.
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Dr. Olivia Kanna has earned her third Master's degree in Education, in Teaching English as an Additional Language.
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Dr. Wiwad is a doctoral graduate from the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Art + Social Sciences.
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Ms. Teegee has completed her Executive MBA Indigenous Business and Leadership program.
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Dr. Kanji in the Faculty of Education examined how a large Canadian university could increase dental science student retention.
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Dr. Trevisan's research examines how people with autism perceive, understand, and communication emotions.
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Dr. Talab pursued research in Molecular and Cell Biology in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Godwin from the Department of Biological Sciences researched the impacts of parasitic sea live on wild juvenile salmon.
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Dr. Carter in Health Sciences studied sexual health, happiness, and pleasure among more than 1,400 women living with HIV in Canada.
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Victoria’s Master’s of Science research in the Faculty of Environment focused on measuring carbon storage in seagrass ecosystems in BC.
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Dr. Blake's research examines the development of ‘diversity’ as a policy objective in national and international policy debates.
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Dr. Knight focused on Indigenous writers who authoritatively proclaim enduring national, linguistic, and land-based connections for her research.
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Dr. Kim from the Department of Linguistics investigated syntatic and interpretive properties of Korean anaphoric devices.
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Dr. Ibrahim from the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering focused on identifying practical uses for microfluidic battery technology.
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Dr. Burt's research illuminates the drivers of ecosystem transformations occurring as sea otters recover and expand their range on BC's coasts.
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Dr. Yang from the School of Computing Science invented a number of key algorithms for deploying viral marketing campaigns in social networks.
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Dr. MacAulay examined how new technologies affect gay men's communities and their HIV prevention needs.
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Dr. Rodgers from the Faculty of Education uses philosophy of mind to question long-held pedagogical questions.
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Dr. Long from the Faculty of Education investigated young children's prosocial development in a Montessori classroom in a longitudinal study.
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Dr. Closson explored the intersect between sexual decision making, gender, and HIV-risk among young people in Soweto, South Africa.
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Dr. Warren designed an innovative method to estimate age of immature insects which can be applied to death investigations.
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Dr. Teeple explored the feasibility of creating a nuclear arms control regime in the Arctic within the context of the U.S.-Russia arms competition.
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Dr. Pek studied how companies can integrate environmental & social sustainability into their cultures and operations.
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Christine's accelerated master's thesis looked into the development of a multi-modal imaging system.
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Dr. Hall studied the genetic interaction and regulation of essential cellular mechanisms during development for his PhD thesis.
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Dr. Peters' doctoral dissertation unravels the role blood activity plays in eliciting cardiac arrhythmia.
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David from the Faculty of Environment uncovered ways that new biometric technologies could intensify and extend surveillance.
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Dr. Adams from the Faculty of Health Sciences spent three months in Mexico to learn how medical tourism practices shape health-care delivery.
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Bamdad is from the Department of Mathematics in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Brown used machine learning to improve understanding of infant brain structure and development to predict neurodevelopment outcomes.
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Dr. Wilson's work shows how qualitative research contributes to the efforts of community-based organizations towards social justice.
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Dr. Patterson worked with women living with HIV to examine how the law may impact their healthcare engagement.
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Dr. De'Ath provides new insights into the relationships between culture and capital in a moment of protracted economic crisis.
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Dr. Thompson of the Department of Chemistry's thesis was on the design of highly birefringent materials.
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Dr. Niu of the Faculty of Education developed an online argumentation visualization tool called the dialectical map for her dissertation.
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Tiffany's research used energy-economy modelling to analyze policy options for Canada to achieve greenhouse gas emission targets.
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Dr. Rezansoff from Health Sciences is the first SFU student to be awarded two Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medals.
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Dr. McCuish is from the School of Criminology in the Faculty of Arts + Social Sciences.
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Dr. Ayaka's dissertation looks at the "memoryscapes" of the sex trade in Japan's Koganecho district in the 2000s.
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Grace has completed her MBA in the Beedie School of Business where she learned how to create sustainable change in healthcare systems.
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Danielle Jeong is from the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology in the Faculty of Science.
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Dr. Churchley's dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of graph immersions and the problems of structural graph theory.
Thesis/Dissertation Awards + Convocation Medals
Legend for Icons
Open for Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents 
Open for International Students About this Award
The Canadian Association for Graduate Studies provides the CAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, which have been recognizing outstanding Canadian doctoral dissertations for more than 20 years. They seek work that makes significant, original contributions to both the academic community and to Canadian society. Each award includes a $1,500 prize, a Citation Certificate, and an awards ceremony at the CAGS Annual Conference.
There are two awards at the Doctoral level:
- Engineering, Medical Sciences and Natural Sciences
- Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Eligibility
Students must have completed their degree requirements between January and December, in the year previous to the competition, to be nominated.
How to Apply / Be Nominated
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies sends all academic units a memo, inviting nominations (usually in January)
- Academic units submit nomination packages to their Faculty Graduate Program Chair in February
- Faculties submit their nominations to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies in early March
- The Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee will choose the two candidates to be nominated forward to national competition
About this Award
- Students must have completed their degree requirements within the period of April 1 of the previous year through March 31 of the nomination year
- Quality of the thesis, project or extended essay, CGPA, Timeliness of completion of the degree and other contributions to research (measured by such indicators as publications, performances or conference presentations) will be taken into account when selecting the awardee.
How to Apply/Be Nominated
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies sends all academic units a memo, inviting nominations (usually in March)
- Academic units submit nomination packages to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies by April
- The Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee will choose the top candidates to be awarded the medals
About this Award
Lord Dufferin, Canada’s third Governor General after Confederation, created the Academic Medals in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation. Over the years, they have become the most prestigious award that students in Canadian schools can receive. Medals are awarded at four distinct levels: Bronze at the secondary school level; Collegiate Bronze at the post-secondary, diploma level; Silver at the undergraduate level; and Gold at the graduate level.
Two graduate level Governor General Gold Medals are awarded to students from SFU who have achieved the most outstanding academic record during their thesis completion. Students are presented with their medals and certificates at the June Convocation ceremonies.
Eligibility/Criteria
- Students must have completed their degree requirements within the period of April 1 of the previous year through March 31 of the nomination year
- CGPA, Timeliness completion of degree, quality of the thesis/dissertation will be taken into account when selecting the awardee.
How to Apply/Be Nominated
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies sends all academic units a memo, inviting nominations (usually in March)
- Academic units submit nomination packages to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies by April
- The Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee will choose the top candidates to be awarded the medals
Terms of Reference
- The Quirks & Quarks Graduate Award for Best PhD Thesis will be awarded annually from a portion of the income earned from the endowment fund. The purpose of this award is to recognize the best PhD Thesis by a convocating doctoral student.
- The criteria for this award are:
- successfully defended the thesis and completed all degree requirements within the twelve month period ending March 31st in a doctoral program in the Faculty of Science at SFU
- demonstrated academic and research excellence
- The student must be nominated for this award by the Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee (FSGSC) from a nomination package received from each department within the Faculty, consisting of the following:
- nomination letter from the Department Chair explaining the significance, impact and originality of the doctoral research and identifying the contribution made by the student as distinct from that by the supervisor of the research
- a one-page summary of the research written in plain language and signed by the student
- an up-to-date curriculum vitae that clearly indicates the student’s contributions to publications and collaborative research activities
- a copy of the external examiner’s pre-defense report on the thesis
- a current, unofficial SFU transcript
- The Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee will select one candidate from the nominations received.
- The award will be made by the Dean of Graduate Studies, on the nomination of the Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee, on behalf of the Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee.
How to Apply / Be Nominated
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies sends all academic units a memo, inviting nominations (usually in April)
- Academic units submit nomination packages to the Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee in March
- The Faculty of Science Graduate Studies Committee will forward their top nominee to the Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies office by March 31
Terms of Reference
- The criteria for this award are;
- a minimum CGPA of 3.50
- be registered as a full time, regular (not on leave) in a PhD program.
- To be eligible for consideration student must be between their 16th and 24th term; students who transferred from a master’s to a PhD are eligible to hold the award between the 16th and 24th term, with the count starting at their master’s program start date;
- To be eligible for consideration, a student must not have held this Award Previously.
The following checklist items are required as attachments:
- Complete and attach the TCF worklist with your application
- A timeline, written by the student, outlining how this award will assist them in completing their degree
- A letter from the applicant's senior supervisor outlining how this award will assist the student in completing their degree
For more information contact your department or GPS office at gpsaward@sfu.ca
Revised: January 19, 2021
About this Award
Each year, the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) seek nominees in these award categories:
- Innovation in Technology Award
- WAGS Distinguished Master's Thesis and/or Final Master's Capstone Project Award in the Creative, Visual and Performing Arts
- WAGS/UMI Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award for the Humanities, Social Sciences, Education and Business (non-STEM award)
- WAGS/UMI Distinguished Master's Thesis Award for the Biological Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Engineering (STEM award)
Eligibility
Students must have completed their degree requirements within the period of July 1 of the previous year through June 30 of the nomination year.
How to Apply/Be Nominated
- Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies sends all academic units a memo, inviting nominations (usually in June)
- Academic units submit nomination packages to Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies in mid July
- The Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee will choose the candidates to be nominated forward to national competition