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GradCon Winners

• Social Sciences & Humanities Poster: Edith Meade for Race, Sexual Danger, and the Moral Logic of Punishment in the Registry Era
• Social Sciences & Humanities Oral: Beth Loudon for Mothering and Mental Health: Exploring Expressive Arts in the Postpartum Period
• STEM Oral: Wenting He for Reversible O-O Bond Activation and Formation on Dinuclear Cobalt Complexes
• STEM Poster: Ndiana-Abasi Sunday for Evaluation of Silk Textile Waste as an Alternative Source of Silk Fibroin for Biotechnological Applications
• Visual and Performing Arts: Chae Clearwood for Finding My Voice: Patsy Cline's Voice Meets Patsy Rodenburg's Method
• 3 Minute Thesis: Ande Peersen for Land Imaginaries and Rural Realities in the Mountain West

Winners pictured below with Paul Lukacs, Associate Vice President for Research & Creative Scholarship and Ke Wu, Dean of Research Administration.

Newly Introduced Royce Engstrom Prize Also Given Out at GradCon!

The Royce Engsrom Prize for Graduate Research and Scholarship is a newly introduced accompaniment to the other GradCon awards! This cash prize goes to a student who has completed or will complete a Ph.D or Ed.D and supports this accomplished individual at their discretion. Nominations for this prize come from UM graduate faculty, and distinguished Regents Professors select the recipient!

Elizabeth Matilda Abena Mantebeah is the first recipient of the Engstrom Prize! Mantebeah is completing a PhD in Anthropology with Dr. Kelly Dixon, who wrote her nomination. Elizabeth Matilda represents the Africa Region as a World Heritage Center Junior Expert on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Her dissertation research focuses on UNESCO’s and other organizations ongoing educational efforts related to illegal trafficking of cultural objects.

Graduate Education at UM

A graduate education lies at the heart of UM’s mission as ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú’s flagship and R1 research university. It fuels discovery, drives innovation and strengthens academic excellence. Graduate students and faculty lead groundbreaking research, secure competitive grants and build partnerships that enrich communities across ÁÔÆæÖØ¿Ú and beyond.

Graduate School Numbers at a Glance

UM offers a diverse range of opportunities for advanced studies and professional growth. Check out some Graduate School facts below!

Graduate Enrollment

Graduate enrollment has grown forty percent in the past decade and now makes up more than a quarter of the student body. Paul Lukacs, Associate Vice President for Research & Creative Scholarship, leads a UM Playbook project to create a more coordinated approach to recruiting and supporting graduate and professional students. Check out the Strategy website to learn more about this playbook project!

What is GradCon?

GradCon is UM's graduate student research and scholarship conference held on March 6. GradCon welcomes presentations from all disciplines and departments. It is organized annually by the UM Graduate Student Research Council and is sponsored by the UM Graduate School and is free and open to the public. 

Check out the GradCon website to learn more about the categories and presentation types that will be represented, as well as the awards that will be given out.

An Interview with the UM Graduate Student Research Council

The UM Graduate Student Research Council includes Abi Fuesler, Deborah Agbakwuru, Ryann Su, Paul Vogontard and Emma Keinath-Lopez. This group works hard to plan and organize GradCon!

What have they been doing to organize GradCon?

• They start planning every October and meet once a week. As fall semester wraps up, they do outreach to different offices on campus, as well as coordinate with the people who are involved with getting the word out to students. In December, they send a save the date email to let people know it’s coming up and to start getting ready. Then, the logistics come in, such as renting rooms and ordering food. Last, they start reviewing abstracts.

How and why did they decide to help with GradCon?

• The outreach email was an incentive for some students to volunteer their time for organizing GradCon. A few students had done so in the past and were excited about helping again, as they find it exciting to bring a variety of ideas and different people together. It gives them a sense of purpose. Some others were eager to spend time with people from other departments.

What are they excited about for this year's event?

• The GradCon organizers are excited about hearing students present their work. They love learning about topics from fields that are completely different from their own, especially because these departments don’t connect regularly. Hearing ideas from other disciplines is inspiring! They are also excited about the Three Minute Thesis Competition this year, as it’s a new addition to GradCon. A few years ago, GradCon was fairly small, and this year, there are over 60 submissions! 

Be sure to make it over to GradCon to support these students!

News Out of the Graduate School

Check out some news stories about graduate students and programs!