Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Tim Anderson, Brandon Barlow, Maia Behrendt, John Bender, Charlotte Brockman, Rachel Clarkson, Aziza Cyamani, Kwame Dawes, Sam Gibson, Kennadi Griffis, Jack Krebs, Mason Rutgers, Mason Schumacher, Becky Wachs, Matt Waite and Yiqi Yang.

Honors

• Brandon Barlow, a master’s student in the School of Natural Resources, has been awarded a National Sea Grant John A. Knauss Policy Fellowship. The fellowship is a national program that places exceptional, early-career graduate students with host offices of the federal government for a one-year fellowship in Washington, D.C. Barlow is a graduate research assistant for the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, completing a fisheries-related thesis and helping survey recreational anglers. Learn more here.

• Maia Behrendt, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology, is one of five recipients of the University of Nebraska’s 2022-23 Presidential Graduate Fellowships. The annual award recognizes high academic performance and personal accomplishment and includes a stipend for the recipient to pursue their studies full-time. Behrendt’s dissertation project is “Creating Community and Dismantling Settler Colonialism: Indigenous Women’s Art,” with adviser Kelsy Burke. She is a research assistant and has served as an instructor for SOCI 309 and teaching assistant for SOCI 101. She previously served as the vice president of representation for the Graduate Student Assembly. Learn more here.

• John Bender, professor emeritus, and Tim Anderson, emeritus associate professor of practice, were inducted into the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame on Oct. 22. The hall of fame is cosponsored by the Nebraska Press Association and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

• Aziza Cyamani, assistant professor of interior design, received the 2022 IDSA Young Educator Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America. Cyamani was nominated by her peers for her demonstrated passion for student learning and notable command of design education as she champions a product design minor that provides students an opportunity to customize and expand their potential as designers. Candidates for the IDSA awards are evaluated by an awards committee and approved by IDSA’s Board of Directors.

• Kwame Dawes, Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner, won Narrative Magazine’s 14th annual poetry contest for his work “The Forgettable Life and Other Poems.”

• Sam Gibson, a senior majoring in mechanical and materials engineering, earned the American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Standards and Certification Scholar Award. The ISCS Award provides $10,000 to its recipients, and Gibson said his award will enable him to finish work on his engineering degree, which includes a minor in engineering leadership.

• Becky Wachs, assistant professor of biological systems engineering, won the Young Innovator of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Award at the 2022 Biomedical Engineering Society Conference.

• Matt Waite, professor of practice in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, was inducted into the Daily Nebraskan Hall of Fame on Oct. 22. Waite teaches reporting and digital product development.

• Yiqi Yang, Charles Bessey professor in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design, is the recipient of the 2021 Olney Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Textile Science from the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. The Olney Medal is AATCC’s highest scientific award, established in 1944 in honor of Louis Atwell Olney, the founder and first president of AATCC. The award consists of a gold medal, a scroll and an honorarium. Yang received the award at the AATCC Textile Discovery Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 6, where he also delivered the traditional Olney Medal Address. His talk was titled “A Step Toward a More Sustainable, Responsible and Profitable Textile Industry.”

• The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Soil Judging Team won first-place overall at the Region 5 Soil Judging Contest Oct. 2-7. The contest, which included 60 students, was hosted by Iowa State University and held near Lake Okoboji. Six Huskers placed in the top 10 in the individual contests. First place went to Kennadi Griffis, a junior environmental science major. Mason Rutgers, a junior plant and landscape systems major, earned fourth place. Fifth place went to Mason Schumacher, a junior environmental science major. Plant and landscape systems majors Rachel Clarkson, junior, and Charlotte Brockman, sophomore, earned sixth place and ninth place respectively. Jack Krebs, a junior environmental science major, earned 10th place. Learn more about the event.