Points of Pride

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS):

In 2006-2007, GSAS awarded 39 doctoral degrees (28% more than ten years ago) and 332 masters degrees (an increase of 17%).
The Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Engineering (MSTE) education program, which was approved in 2003, created the Fulcrum Institute which recently received a 5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development faculty were awarded grants in 2006-2007 totaling $4.4 million dollars, and Marina Bers, assistant professor, was one of 20 educators in the United States to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
The NSF is funding the creation of a Scientific Visualization Facility at Tufts for doctoral research in mathematics and computer science and in fields of engineering.
GSAS Travel Awards allow graduate students to present their research at national and international conferences. During the 2006-2007 academic year, 185 students traveled throughout the United States and to 10 countries abroad.
The Graduate Student Council (GSC) was established in the late 1980s and provides a forum for graduate students across all the disciplines. Each year, the GSC hosts a graduate student research symposium, a Giving Tree program (which donates toys to anonymous local children in the Medford/Somerville area) and a 5k Run/Walk, which has raised over $35,000 for a variety of charitable causes.
The Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT) offers specialized workshops on pedagogy for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students. Institute participants also co-teach a course with a faculty mentor. Twelve arts and sciences graduate students received fellowships to participate in the institute during the 2007-2008 academic year.
The doctoral program in Occupational Therapy was approved in 2004 and last year graduated three doctoral students.

Notable Graduate Student Achievements:

Jocelyn Muller, a biology Ph.D. candidate, and Katherine Handwerger, a psychology Ph.D. candidate, were awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships in 2006.
Negin Toosi, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, organized a conference at Tufts in April 2006 on Psychology and Social Justice. Negin received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2005.
Carolyn Gaydos, a biology Ph.D. candidate, received the Best Poster Award at the Regional Society for Developmental Biologists Meeting in 2006.
David DesRochers, a biology Ph.D. candidate, received the Kathleen Anderson Award from the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in 2006.
In 2006, Dan Killelea, a chemistry Ph.D. candidate, won 3rd prize at the 8th annual Furehjars symposium in Konstanz, Germany as well as the best oral presentation at the Northeast Student Chemistry Research conference.
Joe Ramsey, an English Ph.D. candidate, won the Michael Sprinker Graduate Essay Award in 2006.
Emily King, an English Ph.D. candidate, was a graduate fellow of the Holocaust Education Foundation's Summer Institute at Northwestern University in 2006.
In 2006, the play bShalom by Meron Langsner, a drama Ph.D. candidate, was performed at the prestigious Last Frontier Theater Conference in Valdez, Alaska and was voted an audience favorite.
Iris Ponte, a child development Ph.D. candidate, received a Fulbright Scholarship for dissertation research in China in 2006.
Brian Wright, a child development Ph.D. student, was one of three graduate students in the country named to the AERA Division G Research Group on the Social Context of Education in 2006.
Kristen Fay, a Ph.D. candidate in child development, was awarded a 2006 Junior Investigator/Travel Fellowship from the Academy for Eating Disorders and National Institute of Mental Health for her research with Dr. Anne Becker of Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 2006, Neilesh Bose, a Ph.D. candidate in history, won a Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Award to do research in England, India, and Bangladesh.

Tufts chemistry professor and department chair Krishna Kumar was named one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators by <em>Technology Review</em> for his cutting-edge research on proteins that may have many medical uses.

</div>

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and the School of Engineering research grants-in-aid program was launched in 2002 and has provided support to over 100 graduate student researchers since its inception. During the spring 2007 semester, 20 graduate students received grants-in-aid. The award winners came from 10 different departments and are researching everything from how children are affected emotionally by their favorite movies to the biophysical regulation of stem cells.

</div>

<p>The Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT) offers specialized workshops on pedagogy for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students interested in pursuing careers in college or university teaching.</p>

<p>
<a title="" href="http://gradstudy.tufts.edu/1176904808828/GradStudy-Page-gradstudy2ws_1176904810103.html">Learn more</a></p>

</div>

The Graduate Student Council (GSC) was established in the late 1980s and provides a forum for graduate students across all the disciplines. Each year, the GSC hosts a graduate student research symposium, a Giving Tree program (which donates toys to anonymous local children in the Medford/Somerville area) and a 5k Run/Walk, an event which has raised over $35,000 for a variety of charitable causes.

</div>

The ratio of students to faculty rarely exceeds 12-1 in any Arts and Sciences graduate program, supporting the growth of significant mentoring and collegial relationships between faculty and students.

</div>

School of Arts and Sciences faculty wrote, edited, or contributed to more than 50 books published in 2006. Some of these works include: <em>Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice</em> (Julian Agyeman, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning), <em>Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon</em> (Daniel C. Dennett, Philosophy), <em>Handbook of Dynamical Systems 1B</em> (Boris Hasselblatt, Mathematics, co-editor with Anatole Katok), and <em>Chemistry for Engineers: An Applied Approach</em> (Mary Jane Shultz, Chemistry).

</div>

In 2007, 16 occupational therapy graduate students traveled down to New Orleans to assist in the continuous recovery effort following Hurricane Katrina. The students, dubbed OT Gulf Support, traveled to New Orleans in 2006 as well.

</div>

The Department of Education is helping meet the need for good urban teachers through its Urban Teaching Training Collaborative (UTTC). The program places education graduate students in Boston-area schools were they work closely with a mentor teacher.

</div>