Congratulations to SBS NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awardees, Alison Elder (Geography) and Annalise Gardella (LAS)! Alison will use the fellowship to pursue a PhD in Geography at the UA. Her proposed research examines the effects of environmental change and development processes on livelihoods in the developing world. Annalise is graduating from the Latin American Studies MA program this spring. She will use the fellowship to pursue a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Oregon, continuing her research on gender social movements in El Salvador.

Jessica Ray (Anthropology and Linguistics) received an SBSRI pre-doctoral research grant for her project, “Production and Consumption of Hip Hop language and culture.” The project includes sociophonetic analysis of the performance speech of rappers in Detroit, Michigan, to study which linguistic features of rap music are considered commercially ‘desirable’ within the sociopolitical contexts of Hip Hop. (Photo Credits: Evan Gonzalez and Detroitstockcity.com)

David Pietz (History) is an awardee of an SBSRI Faculty Small grant for his project entitled “An Extinction Story: The Yangtze River Baiji Dolphin."  The project explores the history of the extinction of the Baiji Dolphin, the first instance of an extinction of a large mammal species in over 50 years, and the first extinction of an entire family of mammals. (Photo Credit: Pietz (Left) & Chinese Academy of Sciences (Right))

Sally Benson (English) received an SBSRI dissertation research grant to support archival research for her project “Uncovering New Mexico’s Hidden History: Archived Prisoner Voices as Rhetorical Spaces of Possibility, 1956 – 1971,” which examines an award-winning prisoner newspaper and highlights the development of prison education programs. This research hopes to expand understanding around sustainable higher education in prison. (Photo Credit: New Mexico State Records Center & Archives)

Özlem Ayse Özgür (Geography) is an awardee of an SBSRI Pre-Doctoral Grant for her project "Socio-economic & Spatial practices and wellbeing of refugee women in Tucson, AZ."  Her research focuses on the relationship between the socio-economic and spatial practices of refugee women and their wellbeing as they participate in community gardening in Tucson, AZ. (Photo Credit: Anna Agustowska (left) & Özgür (right))

Ismael Sánchez-Morales (Anthropology) received an SBSRI Dissertation Grant to support his research project “Assessing Variability in Aterian Lithic Technology: Implications for Late Middle Stone Age Land-Use Patterns in Morocco.” His project investigates variability in the ways the Aterian hunter-gatherers of North Africa utilized their landscape 100,000 years ago, through the study of stone tools recovered from several archaeological cave sites in Morocco. (Photo credit: Sánchez-Morales)

Sara Kim (Communication) received an SBSRI Dissertation Research Grant to support her mixed methods study on international students’ use of social network sites (SNS). In her project, she will examine specific SNS affordances and functions that are most useful in international students’ communication with domestic students, identity management, and psychological and sociocultural adjustment in the US. (Photo Credit: Kim)

Isabel Williams (Government and Public Policy) is an awardee of an SBSRI Pre-Doctoral Grant for her project on “Refugee Policy Rhetoric and Attitudes."  Her project explores trade-offs associated with political leaders' speech surrounding refugee policies on shaping public attitudes. (Photo Credit: Williams and Pixabay)

Mai Truong (Government and Public Policy) is an awardee of an SBSRI Pre-Doctoral Grant for her project “Sending Signals: How Does Demeaning Protesters Undermine Popular Support for Protests in Authoritarian Regimes?” Her project explores how negative labels of protesters by authoritarian governments affect public support for social protests in autocratic contexts. (Photo Credit: Dreamstime.com)