Scholars of Distinction

2024 Honorees

Not Pictured: Jacob Cook, Physics & Astronomy, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR); Karen Talley, Psychology, National Science Foundation GRFP Honorable Mention

Scholars of Distinction

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

• A prestigious fellowship will provide at least $5,000 for a scholar-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 scholars (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

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

Examples of Prestigious Fellowships that Qualify for Scholars 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 Council for Learned Societies, Advancing the Humanities
• Spencer Foundation

Previous Honorees