Awards Presented To Outstanding Graduate Students

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) at Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students have honored 27 graduate students for exemplary scholarship and service.

During Graduate Student Awards and Recognition Banquet ceremonies, three graduate students in mathematics – Dimitrije Kostic, Stefan Tohaneanu and Bentuo Zheng – were presented the Guseman Prize. This prize, established in 1991 by students, faculty, family and friends in honor of Lawrence F. Guseman, is presented to a graduate student who has excelled in math scholarship and service to Texas A&M and the community. Funds from this endowment provide an annual scholarship for a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics.

The Guseman Award, presented to Tracey Wellington in physics, also recognizes a graduate student for outstanding contributions to the prosperity of the Graduate Student Council, which serves as the graduate student government at the university.

The Kunze Prize, named for George Kunze, a long-time dean of graduate studies, is presented to a doctoral student for superior academic achievement and publication in a national refereed journal. It was presented to Balabhaskar Balasundaram in industrial and systems engineering and to Uma Shankar Sagaram in plant pathology and microbiology.

The Kunze Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the Office of Graduate Studies or the Graduate Student Council, was presented to Brenda Thomas in the Office of Graduate Studies.

For excellence in scholarship and service to Texas A&M and in special recognition of her service as president of the Graduate Student Council, Shari Hilding-Kornforst was presented the Montgomery Prize, established by the estate of the late Jeff Montgomery who, upon his death, gave funds to establish a graduate endowed scholarship.

Also formally presented during the banquet were the winners, previously announced earlier in the spring, of The Association of Former Students Distinguished Graduate Student Research Awards and the U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Fellowships.

Doctoral students receiving the student research award are Candice Brinkmeyer-Langford in veterinary integrative biosciences, Hsin Chin Chen in psychology, Bjoern Kiefer in aerospace engineering, Robert McCleery in wildlife and fisheries sciences, Lavanya Reddivari in horticultural sciences and Thomas Taylor in chemistry.

Masters students receiving the student research award are Carrie Anstrand in communication, Christine Limbers in psychology, Mark Musumba in agricultural economics and Greg Paul in communication.

Those students receiving Distinguished Graduate Student Teaching Awards are Bahadir Aral in industrial and systems engineering, Balabhaskar Balasundaram in industrial and systems engineering, Jennifer Hirschi in chemistry, Ana Maria Munoz in wildlife and fisheries sciences and Kristi Lynn Reddick in entomology.