Graduate Students of Distinction

2023 Honorees

Not Pictured: Huda Ansaf – Biological Sciences, Alexandra Diller Costello – Biological Sciences, Kourtney Dowler – Biomedical Sciences, Jonathan Ferm – Veterinary Pathobiology, Gavin Power – Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, Dusti Shay – Nutrition & Exercise Physiology and Chantelle Wimms – School of Natural Resources.

Graduate Students of Distinction

Each year the Graduate School honors MU’s Graduate Students of Distinction. Campus leaders celebrate and officially recognize these students who have received prestigious national fellowships to support their graduate education. To qualify for the designation, a student should have a competitive fellowship characterized as prestigious based on the criteria below:

• A prestigious fellowship will provide at least $5,000 for a student-developed research or creative project
• Additional Prestigious Fellowship Sponsor Characteristics:
  • The sponsor is federal (e.g., NIH, NSF, DoE)
  • If the sponsor is non-federal, then it has one (or more) of the below characteristics of being prestigious:
    • Funds very few students (i.e., success rates under 40%, highly competitive)
    • Name recognition beyond field or discipline (e.g., Ford Fellowship)
    • Elite institution (e.g., Ivy Plus) domination in awardees
    • Sponsor is on the list of AAU’s prestigious faculty awards

Examples of Prestigious Fellowships that Qualify for Graduate Students of Distinction Designation

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
• National Academies Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Associateship Programs
• Department of Defense National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowships
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fellowships
• National Institutes of Health Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
• Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
• American Association of University Women
• American Council for Learned Societies, Advancing the Humanities
• Ford Foundation Fellowship Program
• Spencer Foundation

*If a student has a fellowship that meets the criteria above but has not been noted as a graduate student of distinction, please email Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Bent at benteo@missouri.edu.

2022 Honorees

Not Pictured: William Conlin – Psychological Sciences and Kellyn Spychala – Psychological Sciences