In recognition of their hard work, four USC Annenberg graduate students were recently awarded USC Graduate School Fellowships for the upcoming school year.
Fellowship winners are selected annually based on nominations made by USC’s numerous graduate departments for students demonstrating good progress. The winning students receive a full year of funding, which includes tuition, insurance, and an annual stipend. The fellowship also allows students to dedicate more time to their dissertations and other projects because they do not have to teach or serve as a teaching or research assistant.
“The idea behind this fellowship is to give students at advanced stages in their research the time and energy to focus on completing their dissertation,” said Neta Kligler-Vilenchik, who received a Dissertation Completion Fellowship.
The fellowship will allow Kligler-Vilenchik to devote more time to her dissertation, “Alternative citizenship? From online participatory cultures to participatory politics,” which looks at several online communities where young people discuss a pop culture interest while also encouraging civic and political engagement among members. Kligler-Vilenchik also hopes to use the extra time to work on additional peer-reviewed published works that will help her in applying for competitive academic positions down the road.
Jinghui Hou, who received the Oakley Fellowship, will spend the next year working on her dissertation, “Leverage Social Influence Biases to Design Online Crowdsourcing and Network Platforms for Healthy Eating: A Field Experiment.”
“Receiving this award is not only about getting a generous support but also recognition of the value of my research, which is a great encouragement to me,” said Hou.
Yasuhito Abe received the Research Enhancement Fellowship, which is awarded to students whose research requires additional expenses. In Abe’s case, the additional funding will allow him to spend seven months in Japan to do research for his dissertation, “Measuring for What: Networked Citizen Science Movements after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident.” He will be conducting extensive ethnography, looking at how people generate and convey information about nuclear radiation. Abe said he feels “extremely lucky and privileged to receive such a prestigious fellowship.”
The Russell Fellowship was awarded to Jaclyn Selby, which, to her, “translates into a year of freedom to focus on one's own research, particularly completing the dissertation.”
“What this means for me, personally, is that with the help of the Russell Fellowship I can complete a more ambitious dissertation than would otherwise be possible,” said Selby.
Selby’s dissertation, “The Internet Middlemen: Targeting Intermediary Firms as Gatekeepers in the Online Economy,” looks at intermediary platforms and governance on the internet. Additionally, she plans to work on other research projects for publication.
