Rackham Honors the Winners of the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards

Posted Friday, April 30th, 2010

While all graduating Rackham students produce excellent dissertations, some students write dissertations that are truly exceptional for the high quality of their scholarship and for the significance and interest of their findings. We recognize these exceptional dissertations with the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award.

Dissertations are nominated for the award by University faculty who have served as chairs of dissertation committees of outstanding students. The nominations are then read by a review panel composed of members of the Michigan Society of Fellows, with assistance from other members of the University faculty and research community.

The awards are co-sponsored by ProQuest, which publishes 70,000 dissertations annually, including nearly 800 by University of Michigan authors. We are delighted to have them join us in celebrating the remarkable intellectual achievements of these promising young scholars.

Distinguished Dissertation Awards of 2009 Winners

The Rackham Graduate School takes great pleasure in honoring these outstanding members of the community of scholars:

Eric W. Groenendyk
Political Science
The Motivated Partisan: A Dual Motivations Theory of Partisan Change and Stability
Blair Allen Johnston
Music Theory
Harmony and Climax in the Late Works of Sergei Rachmaninoff
Jasper F. Kok
Applied Physics
Understanding Wind-Blown Sand and the Electrification of Granular Systems
Eranda Nikolla
Chemical Engineering
Combined Experimental/Theoretical Approach Toward the Development of Carbon Tolerant Electrocatalysts for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anodes
Howard L. M. Nye
Philosophy
Ethics, Fitting Attitudes, and Practical Reason: A Theory of Normative Facts
Robert Grant Rowe
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Differential Regulation of Two- and Three-Dimensional Cell Function
Nathalie E. Williams
Sociology
Living With Conflict: The Effect of Community Organizations, Economic Assets, and Mass Media Consumption on Migration During Armed Conflict
Ruth E. Zielinski
Nursing
Private Places – Private Shame: Women’s Genital Body Image and Sexual