The Office of Graduate Studies presented eight awards for outstanding graduate education at its annual Graduate Studies Awards Luncheon on Feb. 5. Award winners were:

• Lowe R. and Mavis M. Folsom Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award — Joan Dreiling completed her doctoral degree in physics and astronomy under professor Timothy Gay. Her dissertation is titled “Asymmetric Interactions between Spin-Polarized Electrons and Chiral Molecules.”

• Lowe R. and Mavis M. Folsom Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award — Philipp Kühne completed his doctoral degree in electrical engineering under professor Mathias Schubert. His dissertation is titled “The Optical Hall Effect in Three- and Two-dimensional Materials.”

• Lowe R. and Mavis M. Folsom Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award — NIma Najafi Kianfar completed his doctoral degree in English under professor Grace Bauer. His dissertation is titled “Motivations for Yesterdays.” Najafi Kianfar is from Tehran, Iran.

• Lowe R. and Mavis M. Folsom Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award — Susan Geliga-Grazales received her master’s in history under professor Margaret Jacobs. Her thesis is titled: “Ella Deloria: A Dakota Woman’s Journey Between an Old World and a New.” Geliga-Grazales is from Rapid City, South Dakota.

• Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award — Yuchuan Shao, of Huangshan, China, is a doctoral student in mechanical engineering working as a research assistant with associate professor Jinsong Huang.

• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award — Robert Lipscomb, of Arlington, Texas is a doctoral student in English and is a teaching assistant under the supervision of professor Roland Végsö.

• Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education

• Lilyan Fulginiti is a professor in agricultural economics and has supervised five of the 30 Master of Sciences theses and 11 of the 18 doctoral dissertations completed in the department. Her research interests include: international agricultural development, agricultural production and policy, and applied microeconomics. Fulginiti has 14 journal publications, currently serves as associate editor for three journals and is on two editorial councils. Her mentoring methods have resulted in co-authoring with students nine of the 14 journal articles she has published while at UNL. She has three book chapters co-authored with graduate students, four manuscripts under review, and 12 manuscripts with students in progress.

• Scott Seavy is assistant professor in the school of accountancy. He has published an article in “Contemporary Accounting Research.” He also presented a variety of his working papers at various national and international meetings. These presentations indicate the quality of Seavey’s work in that other academics around the world are interested in his research. His research interests include: audit quality, voluntary disclosure, and “real effects” of financial reporting.