October 30, 2017 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
The Presidential Fellowship program, currently in its eighth year, is the most prestigious graduate-level award at the University of South Carolina. This merit-based program provides a four-year, $32,000 stipend for doctoral students and $20,000 (over five semesters) for Master of Fine Arts students. To date, 173 students from 38 academic programs in nine colleges have participated.
The Graduate School announced 70 Presidential Fellows from 25 states, eight countries and 33 graduate programs for the 2017-2018 academic year. Thirteen of these promising students call the Arnold School of Public Health home. Learn more about the Arnold School's Presidential Fellows (who represent all six departments) below and learn more about Presidential Fellows university-wide with the Graduate School's directory.
"My research interests are in rehabilitation and recovery after stroke. I have a specific interest in utilizing neuroimaging tools to examine and further define the roles of brain structure, function, and connectivity during rehabilitation, recovery and learning of motor behaviors. I have additional interest in investigating motivational and attentional influences on learning."
"My dissertation focuses on identifying points for primary prevention of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. I am developing a tool to characterize a woman’s diet based on its association with estrogen metabolism and subsequently am using this tool to investigate dietary associations with breast cancer."
"The Environmental Health Sciences program brought me to UofSC. The course offerings and research done within the department are well in line with my own interests, and after speaking with some of the faculty, I knew it would be a good fit for me."
"My primary research investigates the use of patient-reported outcomes as a quality metric of healthcare providers, something of increasing importance as healthcare delivery systems shift from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement."
"My research interests are opioid addiction during pregnancy and adverse effects on mom and baby, as well as quality of care."
"I was drawn to USC by the incredible public health work done here, specifically in global noncommunicable disease. People at the Arnold School emphasized the importance of doing meaningful work that moves public health forward, and their integrity and optimism were contagious. I was struck by the Arnold School’s focus on translating research into practice."
"I chose UofSC because they are effective in my research interests, and they have high impact publications on public health issues. Also, the chair of my department has worked on so many projects around the world, especially on health economics, healthcare financing, and health insurance coverage."
"My research and dissertation now are focused on examining the ability to detect errors in speech production and change that feedback into corrective motor commands in individuals who have aphasia, an acquired language disorder. I’m interested in what neurophysiological markers may exist that indicate a deficit in this ability, as well as how it may correlate with deficits in higher level language abilities, such as repetition and naming."
"My research interests are in physical activity for those with permanent mobility impairments and the role physical therapists play in helping this population achieve physical activity goals. My planned dissertation project will evaluate an existing cardiac rehabilitation program for stroke survivors to increase physical activity and exercise capacity."
"After working as a speech pathologist in a school for three years, I decided to go back to school to pursue a doctoral degree. I was drawn to UofSC because of the faculty, specifically the reading-focused faculty in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department."
" I will be examining the relationship between sedentary time (and physical activity) during pregnancy and how they affect birth outcomes for both mother and child."
"My research interests focus on how health and well-being are impacted by the built environment and community design, particularly in regard to inequalities in access to healthy living environments and which characteristics of these environments – such as walkability and access to resources – may reduce or promote health equity."
"I research how a type of receptor involved in fear learning, muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, regulates synaptic transmission and plasticity (the strengthening of synapses) in the brain. Specifically, I am studying how these receptors inhibit or facilitate neural transmission to the basolateral amygdala, a brain region involved in associating emotions with stimuli in our environment."
Related:
The Graduate School announces 2016-2017 Presidential Fellows, including 10 from the Arnold School