Congratulations to the 2024 Recipients
Saurabh Anand
Department of English, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Saurabh Anand is a Ph.D. candidate in rhetoric and composition studies at the Department of English at the University of Georgia. He is an assistant director of the Writing Center with Dr. Rebecca Hallman Martini as his doctoral advisor. His research interests center on multilingualism in the Writing Center Studies, non western rhetoric, and global/transnational literacies through translations.
In 2024, with the help of a DAAD ( also known as German Academic Exchange Service) research fellowship, he tutored and researched at TU Darmstadt Writing Center. During his time in Germany, he explored what findings on writing in multilingual contexts can be transferred from German writing centers to those in the United States through interviews and institutional ethnography as qualitative research methods.
Along with UGA’s Graduate School and International Student Life Office, the English Journal, the Writing Center Journal, the Peitho Journal, The College Composition and Communication, the Community Literacy Journal, the Modern Language Association, and organizations such as Georgia TESOL have supported his work and research. For his research on transnational writing center pedagogy at emerging writing centers in India, the International Writing Center Association awarded him the Future Leader Award 2023. To present his work in India, he received the 2024 Scholars of the Dream Award from the Conference on College Composition and Communication. For his contribution to higher education, the American Consortium for Equity in Education honored him with the 2024 “Champion of Equity Higher Education” award.
Saurabh Anand writes in three languages, speaks five languages, and has a background in applied linguistics. He has taught English and German as foreign languages in India and the United States.
Kayla Hall
Department of Chemistry, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Bio info not available
Emily Neutens
Department of Counseling and Human Development Services, Mary Frances Early College of Education
Emily Neutens is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Counseling and Human Development Services at the University of Georgia. She is pursuing an Ed.D. through the Student Affairs and Leadership Program. Her research will explore the faculty advisor/student relationships within biomedical and biological sciences programs.
Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Neutens attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she studied communications and became highly involved in various student organizations and co-curricular activities. Because of her involvement and the incredible faculty and staff she interacted with during that time, she developed a strong interest in a career that would allow her to work with students.
Following the completion of her undergraduate degree, Neutens continued her education by pursuing a Master of Public Administration. During this time, she worked a two-year Graduate Assistantship in the Dean of Students Office. She continued her journey working in higher education through different positions at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
Neutens is an experienced higher education professional with over ten years of experience as a Student Affairs Practitioner and currently serves as the Associate Director of Student Affairs at the Laney Graduate School at Emory University. In this role, she fosters supportive environments and processes to ensure student success and enhance the entire student experience. Since beginning her career pathway in student affairs almost ten years ago, Neutens’ desire and commitment to enrich and enhance student experiences holistically has grown exponentially and is the driving force behind her decision to pursue her doctoral degree. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, walking her dog Dudley, going to hot yoga, and eating good food.
Rawane Raad
Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Rawane Raad is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Georgia, working under Dr. Faith Critzer. She is a passionate scholar with a deep interest in food safety and microbiology. Her research primarily focuses on the journey of foodborne pathogens from farm to fork and their potential to cause diseases.
Raad is currently working on food safety in pre-harvest settings of fruits and vegetables, more precisely on the irrigation distribution system.
Raad’s academic journey at UGA began with a master’s degree, during which she developed a profound appreciation for the university’s commitment to academic excellence and research innovation.
Throughout her time at UGA, Raad has been recognized with several awards, including the John J. Powers award from the Food Science and Technology department and the Georgia Association for Food Protection (GAFP) Student Travel award.
Raad’s decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Georgia was influenced by the institution’s esteemed reputation in these fields and the opportunity to collaborate with distinguished faculty members. Looking forward, she aspires to become a food safety professional, working with the industry to address food safety issues. Additionally, she plans to inspire the younger generation by teaching, sharing knowledge, and sparking curiosity in students. Through these endeavors, Raad aims to make a lasting impact in the field of food safety and microbiology.
O-Jeremiah Agbaakin
Department of English, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
O-Jeremiah (Oluwatoyosi) Agbaakin is a graduate student in the Department of English at the University of Georgia. He decided to pursue graduate studies at UGA because of the sterling reputation of the Creative Writing Program and the English department as a whole.
As a creative writer and scholar, he is interested in the questions of language and language change, migration, identity, and the ecological crisis.
Agbaakin was born and raised in Nigeria. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Ibadan before moving to the United States for his MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi in 2020.
He received a Graduate Research Award from the Willson Center for Humanities & Art and the Brown & Everett Award from the English department. Other honors include fellowships and scholarship from Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Residency, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, Key West Literary Seminar, and Tin House. He was a finalist of the Quarterly West Poetry Contest, Chad Walsh Chapbook Series, Black Warrior Review contest, and Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. He serves as the poetry editor of Yaba Left Review.
Agbaakin is the author of The Sign of the Ram (APBF/Akashic Books, 2023), a chapbook selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for the New Generation African Poets Chapbook series through the University of Nebraska. His individual poems are published/forthcoming in Colorado Review, Guernica, Kenyon Review, POETRY Magazine, Harvard University’s TRANSITION magazine, Poetry Daily, Poetry Society of America, among other reputable literary journals.
Emilie Barnes
Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics, & Genomics, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
Emilie Barnes is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics at the University of Georgia. Her doctoral research, performed under David and Soraya Bertioli in the Wild Peanut Lab, is focused on the genetic improvement of the peanut crop through the introduction of disease resistance genes from closely-related wild species.
Barnes is originally from Tallahassee, Florida, and stayed in her home state while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Cell & Molecular Biology and a master’s degree in Biotechnology. When considering doctoral programs, she was drawn to UGA and the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics & Genomics for its enduring commitment to the mission as a land-grant university to improve agriculture on local and global scales.
Barnes was named as a recipient of an Osborne Graduate Fellowship when beginning her studies at UGA in Fall 2020.
After graduation, Barnes hopes to continue working in plant breeding with a particular interest in improving and developing genomic resources for underutilized and orphan crop species. As a member of the Georgia Figure Skating Club, most of her free time is spent ice skating. She also enjoys dancing, reading, watching or attending Braves and Hawks games, and maintaining a 200+ day streak solving the New York Times crossword puzzle.
Javier Agredo
Department of Linguistics, & Genomics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Javier Agredo is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Georgia, with a planned focus on ancient Indo-European languages under the tutelage of Dr. Jared Klein.
Agredo’s passion lies with languages and the ways in which they change, evolve, and grow, as well as the theoretical frameworks from which to dissect these processes. He is eager to continue exploring Latin, ancient Greek, and Sanskrit linguistics while delving into other languages both related and unrelated to obtain a more holistic view of linguistic diversity.
Agredo received his B.A. from Cornell University with a double major in Classics and Linguistics, graduating with an honors thesis focusing on the unique morpho-phonological adaptations that shaped the borrowing and assimilation of Sanskrit and Pali loanwords into Thai.
He was awarded the Heidelberg Exchange Fellowship to study for a year at Germany’s oldest university, after which he remained in the country to receive his MA from LMU Munich under a scholarship from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). There, he wrote his dissertation on the etymological contexts of the color terminology utilized in the Homeric epics and its relevance for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European color system.
Being a first-generation Colombian American immigrant, Agredo is also interested in humanities education and its accessibility, as well as its complex presence within marginalized spaces. Through outreach and accessibility efforts, he hopes to aid in removing traditional barriers to linguistics, classics, and related fields within underserved communities.
Megan Wright
Department of Cellular Biology, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Megan Wright is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Cellular Biology at the University of Georgia, working in the lab of Dr. Cordula Schulz.
She is currently working on understanding what prompts stem cells to divide within the germline stem cell niche in Drosophila melanogaster. To do this, she is making use of cutting-edge microscopy techniques and will be traveling to Germany within the next year to use state-of-the-art microCT machines. These methods will allow the Schulz lab to understand how nerves and trachea are arranged in the abdomen of the fly, specifically around the reproductive tract. She is also using well-established techniques in the lab to understand the signaling pathways behind stem cell divisions in the testes. She hopes to bring all of this work together to deepen the field’s knowledge into how stem cells can be prompted to divide, which is poorly understood, and could help researchers make and be able to use more stem cells, whether for reproductive or other therapeutical applications.
After completing her Ph.D., Wright hopes to continue doing research with a focus on medical applications and biotechnology. Outside of the lab, she enjoys traveling, archery, Brazilian jiu jitsu, and spending time with her dog, Julius.
Yueqi Lu
Department of Genetics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Yueqi Lu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Genetics at the University of Georgia, working in the lab of Dr. Kaixiong Ye.
Lu is currently involved in a project on gene-environment interactions in dementia, focusing on how genetic factors influence the relationship between environmental exposures and the onset of dementia. Additionally, she plans to employ integrated omics analyzes to explore the potential relationships between various molecular levels and to interpret the mechanisms behind these diseases. These projects are expected to provide evidence to explain inter-individual differences in aging, laying a solid foundation for her future research on aging and related diseases.
Lu earned her bachelor’s degree in Bioengineering at South China University of Technology. Before starting her graduate studies, she worked as a research assistant at the Beijing Genomics Institute, where she actively contributed to investigations on cardiovascular aging and disease. Throughout her research, she observed disparities in aging and disease status among individuals despite the presence of similar risk factors. This sparked her interest in the underlying causes of these differences.
Stephanie Hanus-Knaap
Department of Sociology, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
Bio info not available
Dillon Snyder
Department of Mathematics, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
Dillon Snyder is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Georgia.
A new student at UGA, Snyder is looking forward to getting more involved in research and working as a TA. Besides a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Ursinus College in the summer of 2023, he has not had much research experience, and is excited at the opportunity to get more.
Snyder received his B.S. in Mathematics and B.S. in Physics at the University of Connecticut in the spring of 2024. During his time as an undergraduate at UConn, he gained an affinity for algebraic number theory, writing his senior thesis on Hilbert reciprocity over number fields. This included a proof of Hilbert reciprocity and connected it to the construction of quadratic reciprocity over specific quadratic extensions of the rational numbers.
Having worked as a private tutor for over six years, Snyder continues to be passionate about educating and helping others, and becoming a teaching assistant is another chance to do so.
After graduating, Snyder intends to become a college professor, specializing in algebraic number theory.
Tori Golden
Department of Language and Literacy Education, Mary Frances Early College of Education
Bio info not available
Kylie Smith
Department of Sociology, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
Kylie Smith is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Georgia, working under Dr. Justine E. Tinkler. Her current research examines how threats to the gamer identity lead to sexist behavior in an online environment. She is also very interested in emotions, status, and emotion work.
A Pennsylvania native, Smith received both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She decided to attend the University of Georgia for her doctoral studies in large part because her research interests aligned well with the sociology department’s strengths in social psychology and gender as well as to work with her major professor, Dr. Justine E. Tinkler. In addition to her sociological studies, she also received a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies through UGA.
Smith has received various awards in her tenure at the University of Georgia including the University of Georgia’s Presidential Fellows Graduate Research Assistantship as well as the American Sociological Association’s Section on Social Psychology’s Graduate Student Investigator Award. She also received a Graduate School Summer Research Grant to support her dissertation research. Lastly, she has published research on the emotional labor of STEM graduate students.
When she graduates, Smith hopes to become a professor where she can continue pursuing her research as well as teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students. She currently lives in the Athens area with her partner, Dash, and two cats, Beedle and Annabel. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games and improv comedy.
Seth Currie
Department of Environmental Health Science, College of Public Health
Seth Currie is a Ph.D. candidate in the Interdisciplinary Toxicology Program of the Environmental Health Science Department at the University of Georgia. Additionally, he is completing a graduate certificate in clinical trials design and management within the UGA pharmacy school.
Currie’s research involves combine new approach methodologies and non-mammalian in vivo model, C. elegans, to develop a quantitative adverse outcome pathway (qAOP) network to assess the developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) of PFAs mixtures at different levels of biological organization. The development of qAOP network will systematically organize all information into an adverse outcome pathway network, which will improve regulatory decision-making through greater integration and more meaningful use of mechanistic data for both individual chemicals along with mixtures.
Currie completed his undergraduate degrees at UGA in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Biology at the University of Georgia.
Future career aspirations include attending medical school to combine his current research and his passion for medical research to improve the lives of future generations. In his free time, Currie enjoys hanging out with his friends & family, volunteering at a local food bank, and watching sports.
Emily Townsend Vinson
Department of Health Promotion and Behavior, College of Public Health
Emily Townsend Vinson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior.
Townsend Vinson plans to do her dissertation research on conducting a pilot test of an internet intervention on mindfulness-based relapse prevention. The overarching goal of the pilot test is to see a reduction of alcohol relapse risk in individuals leaving outpatient substance use treatment. She will be recruiting people leaving the formal treatment setting and are transitioning into a space where they do not regularly see treatment staff, creating a risk for relapse. Little to no interventions target this stage of recovery, so Townsend Vinson saw an opportunity not only to try and alleviate that burden of transitioning from formal care to not receiving any care, but to do it in a way that would be economically feasible to one day scale up.
Townsend Vinson got her B.S. in Health Promotion and MPH in Health Promotion from UGA, so she has been at the university for eight years. She started her public health journey by focusing on food security through her work with a local nonprofit that grew and provided fresh produce to those below a certain income in Walton County.
Since 2019, she has been studying social and built environmental influences on substance use relapse under Dr. Jessica Muilenburg.
Wezddy Del Toro Orozco
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources & Integrative Conservation
Wezddy Del Toro Orozco is a Ph.D. candidate in the Integrative Conservation (ICON) Program through Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. She is focusing on an interdisciplinary approach to human-jaguar conflicts and promoting coexistence in the Central Amazon. Her research integrates livestock predation by jaguars, local perceptions from rural communities, and jaguar movement ecology.
Throughout her career, Del Toro Orozco has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects across over eight countries, including topics such as human dimensions of conflict and coexistence with wildlife, modeling, ecology, conservation, spatial patterns, and GIS. She has been involved in extensive research in the Brazilian Amazon since 2012, living there for seven years.
Del Toro Orozco has been an invited speaker at international events in academic contexts and engaging with local communities, NGOs, and schools. Her commitment to interdisciplinary work is exemplified by her collaboration on the publication, “‘People lie’: overcoming obstacles to incorporate social science research to biodiversity conservation.” Among her accolades at UGA, she has received the 2024 Archie Patterson Scholarship, 2023 and 2022 Martha Love May Memorial Scholarship, and 2022 ICON Agile Scientist Award, recognizing her collaborative work.
Del Toro Orozco chose UGA for its commitment to interdisciplinary studies and its supportive environment for innovative research. She aspires to address global conservation issues and promote multicultural and interdisciplinary work. Fluent in four languages, she bridges gaps between countries and cultures. Del Toro Orozco aims to foster synergistic relationships between institutions and local communities, enhancing conservation and human-wildlife coexistence.
Colleen Sedney
Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine
Colleen Sedney is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Infectious Diseases through the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Her research explores why the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which causes “whooping cough,” appears to primarily cause serious disease in babies and young children.
In the lab of Dr. Eric Harvill, Sedney helps investigate how species of the Bordetella genus interact with the host immune system to cause infection. Using various mouse models, she identifies bacterial factors that cause diseases such as “whooping cough” and “kennel cough.” She utilizes young mice and genetic mutants of B. pertussis to assess host and pathogen factors which affect neonatal responses. With this system, she has identified that a bacterial-derived toxin (pertussis toxin) significantly delays the ability of neutrophils to arrive at the site of infection. This work demonstrates that infant mice have the capability to control B. pertussis infections, but pertussis toxin specifically affects their ability to get to the lungs to fight the infection.
Sedney’s work highlights a major gap in the understanding of the neonatal immune system and its ability to respond to pathogens, as well as presents an opportunity to assess how to strengthen natural neonatal immunity.
Jasmine Gaillard
Department of Health Promotion & Behavior, College of Public Health
Jasmine Gaillard is a doctoral student within the College of Public Health’s Department of Health Promotion and Behavior at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include racial and ethnic health disparities, race-based stress and trauma, and community-based participatory research.
As a researcher, Gaillard desires to examine the impact of race-based stress and trauma on Black Americans physical, mental, and overall well-being. Specifically, how factors such as food access and the built environment may further exacerbate stressors. She yearns to lead the development and implementation of programs aimed at mitigating and eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities affecting the Black community.
Gaillard was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences from Spelman College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, GA. She also has a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Health Promotion and Behavior from UGA.
Upon graduating with her MPH, Gaillard began working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an Evaluation Fellow/Health Scientist within two competitive fellowship programs: CDC’s Evaluation Fellows Program (EFP) and CDC ORISE. As an EFP fellow, she led the evaluation of CDC’s Epidemiology Elective Program, a 6-8 week rotational program that introduces medical and veterinary students to applied epidemiology and public health. During her time as an ORISE fellow, she worked on CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response and produced process evaluation toolkits to be used by schools to return to safe, in-person learning.
Ultimately, Gaillard strives for a service-oriented career uplifting her community and educating the next generation of public health professionals via academia.
Constance Owl
Department of History, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Constance Owl is a doctoral student in the Department of History at the University of Georgia, working under Dr. Claudio Saunt. A member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians from Marble, North Carolina, Owl is passionate about the study of Cherokee history, as well as the preservation and revitalization of the Cherokee language. Her research interests include Native American history, Cherokee language and history, Indigenous linguistic archival research, and digital history.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Native American Studies with a minor in History from Stanford University, and a Master of Arts in History with a concentration in Cherokee Studies from Western Carolina University.
While at Western Carolina, Owl published a thesis titled Tsalahi Tsulehisanvhi: Uncovering Cherokee Language Articles from the Cherokee Phoenix Newspaper, 1828 – 1836 where she partnered with first-language Cherokee speakers to translate portions of the bilingual publication which was published during the height of the Cherokee Nation’s struggle against forced removal. At UGA, Owl plans to build on the work of her master’s thesis, which sought to provide scholars an introduction to the Phoenix’s Cherokee language content, in hopes of engaging in a more full-scale reexamination of the newspaper.
For the past four years, Owl has worked in higher education, most recently as the Interim Director of Stanford University’s Native American Cultural Center and previously as Assistant Director of Admission for Diversity Outreach and External Relations in Stanford’s Office of Undergraduate Admission. She is thrilled to return to academic life this fall and honored to have been named as a UGA Presidential Fellow.
Isaac Dunmoye
Engineering Education Transformations Institute, College of Engineering
Isaac Dunmoye is an Engineering Education Ph.D. student, in the College of Engineering, University of Georgia. His area of research focuses on students’ learning, cognition, and engagement in virtual and online learning environments. He is interested in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodology research that is needed for the proper design of instructional material, necessary for harnessing and experimenting with the multidisciplinary nature of engineering context to make engineering education suitable for the 21st century.
Isaac obtained his first-degree certificate from the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, where he graduated with first-class honors and best-graduating student from his department. He was also the state president of his church fellowship for the final two years of his program. These experiences helped him to grow as a leader and taught him valuable lessons about community service, and the importance of diversity and inclusion.
During his MSc. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, he received the University of Cape Town, International and Refugee Scholarships Award for two consecutive years. He also connected with students from different backgrounds while tutoring mathematics courses and laboratory courses on electric circuits.
He is pursuing his doctorate at the University of Georgia because of its liberal art culture with world-class research faculty which has been providing him strong support for his interdisciplinary research interest. Isaac is committed to continuing to make a positive impact in his community by being a researcher, world-class professor, and industrialist.
Chanara Andrews-Bickers
Department of English, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Chanara Andrews-Bickers is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the University of Georgia. Her broad research interests include twentieth- and twenty-first century African American literature and culture.
Andrews-Bickers is specifically concerned with how Black women writers engage in these processes to develop individual or collective ethics while creating, maintaining, and nurturing their communities. Her dissertation, What We Must Know: Cultures of Care in Contemporary Black Women’s Literature and Literary Communities, explores these concepts.
Andrews-Bickers received her B.A. in English from Spelman College in 2019. She is the recipient of the Appleby Fellowship, the Mary Lynn Oliver Hunt & Matthew Alan Hunt Graduate Studies Fellowship in English, the Humanities Without Walls Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, the R. Baxter Miller Award in African American and Multicultural Literature, and the Lee Roy B. Giles Encouragement Award.
Raised in Lake Wales, FL and studying for her undergraduate education in Atlanta, Georgia, Andrews-Bickers maintains personal and intellectual ties to the South that heavily influence her work. These connections paired with UGA’s rich history of both shaping and critically engaging Southern culture made Georgia’s flagship institution the ideal location for her graduate education.
As Assistant Director of the Jill and Marvin Willis Center for Writing and instructor of Multicultural Literature and First-Year Writing courses, Andrews-Bickers honors the lives and experiences of diverse groups of students, supporting them as they combine the conventions of writing with their own unique perspectives and approaches. She hopes to carry these practices into a student-focused and/or community-based career after graduating.
Ruth Myers
Department of English, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Ruth Myers is a third-year Ph.D. candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Georgia. Her research interests include contemporary women’s writing, African American literature, Afrofuturism, and speculative fiction.
Ruth obtained her master’s degree in English literature at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where she graduated with honors. She has presented her research at several national and regional conferences.
Ruth chose to further her education at UGA because of its prestigious reputation, extensive resources, and outstanding faculty. She accepts the honor of the Hunt scholarship with gratitude and many thanks to the friends and mentors in UGA’s English department who have fostered her success. Ruth is committed to promoting an inclusive classroom community as she teaches English literature and first-year writing, as well as furthering her research to promote the exciting future-shaping work of speculative fiction.
Benjamin Carr
Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
Ben Carr is starting his second year as a M.S. Graduate Research Assistant at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Ben is a Warnell alum who graduated in 2021 with a B.S.F.R. specializing in Wildlife Sciences. In his time as an undergraduate at Warnell, Ben was heavily involved in the community and served as an ambassador for the school and the student speaker for the graduation. A semester before graduating, he took time off from class to work for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources as the assistant to the state bear biologist. Upon the completion of his degree, Ben returned to work with black bears for the GA DNR.
Now, Ben is back at Warnell combining his passion for black bear conservation with his love for Warnell. His research involves looking into the demographics and genetic diversity of the central Georgia black bear population (CGP). His work is focused on generating an updated population abundance and density estimate. In addition, he is investigating bear movements across the landscape and denning behavior during the winter. Through his time with the GA DNR, Ben received the Nathan Deal Conserve GA’s Natural Resources Scholarship. In his free time, Ben enjoys giving educational talks on bears at various conferences and meetings. At the 2023 Georgia Wildlife Society Conference, Ben won an award as the top graduate presenter. This upcoming semester, Ben will be serving as the Vice President for the Warnell Graduate Student Association. Upon the completion of his master’s, Ben hopes to continue in this line of work as a large carnivore biologist.
Sarah Intidam
Department of History, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Sarah Intidam is a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Georgia, working under Dr. James F. Brooks. Her research examines gendered and racialized labor during the New Deal through the context of Work Relief Archeology.
In May 2024, Intidam graduated from UGA magna cum laude with a B.A. in History. While an undergrad at UGA, she fell in love with early American history and was inspired to pursue a career in college-level teaching and research. Encouraged by professors in the history department, Intidam began pursuing her master’s degree in U.S. History through the Double Dawg program. Although she still has a passion for Early American history, her research interests have shifted to a focus on 1930s women’s labor histories.
As an undergrad, Intidam worked in the Brown Media Archives at the Special Collections Library, describing WSBTV footage from the 1950s to the 1980s. She also volunteered as a Transfer Ambassador for the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
This academic year, Intidam will continue her work with the Brown Media Archives as a graduate student assistant. After graduation, she plans to continue her research on gendered labor and pursue a Ph.D. in Public History. In her free time, Intidam enjoys cooking, watching horror and comedy movies, and spending time with her friends and family.
Holly Farris
School of Social Work
Holly Farris is a graduate student in the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia.
Farris has spent the past year working in the CARE (Couple and Relationship Education) Lab as a Generalist M.S.W. intern and served as a summer Graduate Research Assistant. Here, she completed a Directed Study on the efficacy of relationship education workshop strategies for practice with LGBTQ+ identifying participants in workshops across the state of Georgia.
This academic year, Farris will be completing a clinical internship with Getting Real Counseling Center, a nonprofit mental health counseling center that provides individual and relational counseling services to the LGBTQ+ community of Athens, Georgia. During this time, she will gain hands-on experience providing direct counseling services to clients at the individual and group level. She is looking forward to leading a monthly group session centering on eating disorders and body image. Graduating in the spring of 2025 with her Master’s in Social Work, Farris will also acquire a Graduate Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Farris chose the University of Georgia because of the school’s commitment to PrOSEAD and to the empowerment of marginalized communities in the southern United States. After graduation, she plans to pursue licensure as a Clinical Social Worker in the state of Georgia and hopes to specialize in work with
the LGBTQ+ community of the south.
Elisa Guzman-Pantoja
Department of Social Work
Bio info not available
Kasandra Dodd
Department of Social Work, School of Social Work
Kasandra Dodd is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Social Work. Born and raised in southeast Georgia, she obtained her Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of Georgia and her Master of Social Work degree from Howard University in Washington DC. She is a licensed clinical social worker and worked for several years in the child welfare system. After several years as a practitioner, she is now dedicated to obtaining a Ph.D. to align her practice experience with research.
Dodd’s primary research interest for her dissertation is exploring the intersection of sex trafficking within the child welfare system in the U.S. with a specific focus on African American women and girls. African American women and girls are among the most sex-trafficked group in the U.S. Additionally, African American women and girls are disproportionately represented within the child welfare/foster care system in the U.S. Utilizing a theoretical framework of Black feminist theory, her project will examine the intersecting realities of these two social issues for this specific group of women. Her study will promote the exploration of gender, racial, and social justice research while utilizing decolonizing theories.
Dodd’s other research interests include child welfare reform, social work leadership and management, minority and gender issues, and improving outcomes of youth transitioning from the foster care system.
Dodd is a recipient of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Award Program and the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Giving Voice to the Voiceless grant through the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Department.
Jing Gao
Department of Animal and Dairy Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Jing Gao is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science at the University of Georgia, working under Dr. Sha Tao. Gao’s research aims to develop innovative strategies for managing the transition from lactation to the dry period in dairy cows. The primary goal is to improve animal and mammary health during this critical phase, enhancing animal welfare and overall production, thereby contributing to the sustainability of dairy operations.
Originally from China, Gao earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Animal Science from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China. The story between Gao and the University of Georgia began six years ago during an internship at the UGA Tifton campus. This transformative experience involved working on dairy cow and calf feeding trials, which ignited her passion for dairy science and provided invaluable hands-on experience.
Over the past two and a half years, Gao has successfully led and conducted various research projects, focusing on the challenges and management of drying-off dairy cows through collaboration with different commercial farms across Georgia.
Outside of academic pursuits, Gao is committed to sharing knowledge and findings with the broader community, participating in conferences, and publishing research in esteemed journals. This commitment to both science and community engagement highlights her holistic approach to research and its applications.
Rachel Okamoto
Department of Human Development and Family Science, College of Family and Consumer Sciences
Rachel Okamoto is a second year Ph.D. student in the Human Development and Family Science department at the University of Georgia (UGA).
Originally from Portland, Oregon, she is here in Georgia to finish up her program of study. She chose UGA based on the excellent faculty for mentorship as well as opportunities to become involved in research which has direct extension to the community. Her research interest focuses on families and finances, specifically concerning couple processes and parent financial socialization. She is primarily concerned with how couples navigate entering a new romantic relationship, especially concerning finances, as well as the way that parents teach their children about financial principles. Future career aspirations include becoming a professor where she can continue research expanding research surrounding family finance, as well as teach and mentor future students. In addition, she hopes to promote education interventions that will help parents learn how to teach their children about finances and financial principles in developmentally appropriate stages, as well as implement programs into schools.
Justin Daniel
Department of Food Science & Technology, College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
Justin Daniel is a graduate student specializing in Food Microbiology under the guidance of Dr. Faith Critzer. His research interests have a focus on developing innovative methods to enhance food safety for consumers.
Daniel is from Ellabell, Ga and completed his B.S.A. in Food Science and Technology from UGA in the spring of 2024. Motivated by the exceptional educational community at UGA, he decided to continue his academic journey there.
Daniel has been honored as an American Chemical Society Scholar and an LSAMP (Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) Scholar. Furthermore, he serves as an ambassador for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, representing and promoting the college’s programs and initiatives.
Daniel aspires to build a career in food safety, aiming to ensure that food products are safe, wholesome, and of high quality for consumers. In addition to his professional goals, he is committed to addressing food insecurity and plans to contribute to efforts that support individuals and families facing food scarcity challenges.
Zach Cooper
Department of Social Work, School of Social Work
Zach Cooper is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia.
Cooper has over 9 years of experience as a mental health clinician and researcher. He has used his extensive clinical experience to craft research questions that are connected to clinical practice. He is a Research Associate at Emory University working on a Randomized Clinical Trial adapting an Integrated Care Model for patients with Type 1 Diabetes and Depression.
Prior to enrolling in the doctoral program at UGA, Cooper received a B.S. in Psychology from Augusta University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of South Carolina.
Cooper has published several articles on integrated care models and behavioral interventions to address co-occurring chronic diseases. His work has been featured in Social Science and Medicine, BMC Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology, and the Journal of Religion and Health. He has also received external funding from the Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) Association to analyze the effects of SFBT for addressing depression and comorbid chronic health conditions.
Ultimately, Cooper aims to create behavioral interventions to improve the health and well-being of patients. He is motivated to bridge the research-practice divide by using his experience as a clinician to create research questions that impact the lives of patients. His experiences at UGA have equipped him to engage in multidisciplinary, team science. He plans to continue to perform interdisciplinary research as a future faculty member.
Amber Richards
Department of Lifelong Education, Administration & Policy, Mary Frances Early College of Education
Bio info not available
