Society of Self Fellows 2024 Fall Newsletter
SSF BOARD OF GOVERNORS
Current Board of Governors for the Society of Self Fellows: (Elections for the Board of Governors takes place every spring.)
Nikki Johnson, Ph.D. Board: 2021-2025
President
Ted Harris, Ph.D. Board: 2022-2026
IN THIS ISSUE
Cassidy Phillips, Ph.D. Board: 2024-2028
Molly McVey, Ph,D., P.Eng Board: 2023-2027
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF SELF GRADUATE PROGRAMS
This fall continues to see growth in the Self Graduate Fellowship. The new cohort of fellows again includes 15 students, bringing the total number of fellows to 47 for the 2024-2025 academic year. This represents the largest fellowship cohort in the program's 35 year history.
Following another across the board raise for all University employees, fellow stipends are now at $36,000 annually. We continue to be honored to utilize Madison and Lila's generous donation to support motivated Ph.D. students at a nationally competitive benefits level.
Despite the academic year just beginning, recruitment for the next cohort of students is already well underway. If you are attending any conferences for which we could provide you recruitment materials, please let us know at SGF@ku.edu.
Stefani Buchwitz, Ed.D.
SOCIETY PERSONAL UPDATES
If at any time you have personal or professional news you would like included in the newsletter, please submit your updates to SGF@ku.edu. News does not have to be about significant changes. The Society would enjoy hearing regular updates, including employment milestones, continuing research on an ongoing project, etc. Please also share email and mailing address updates to ensure our communication reaches you.
Sommer Amundsen-Huffmaster, Ph.D. (2008-2012) got her first R01 from NIH - NINDS! It is on the Neurophysiology of Impaired Transitions in Parkinson's Disease with Freezing of Gait.
Kailn Baca, Ph.D. (2020-2024), received the Frank Bowdish Outstanding Ph.D. Award (Most Outstanding Ph.D. Student) from Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at CPE Awards Banquet, as well as the Most Outstanding Doctoral Researcher in the School of Engineering at the Graduation Ceremony.
Eileen Cadel, Ph,D. (2014-2018), was promoted to Team Lead in the Extracolumnar Spinal Devices Team in the Office of Orthopedic Devices within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the FDA. In this role, she provides expert advice and leads her team in technical and scientific activities to determine safety and effectiveness of spinal device productsOctober 2022.
Grant Downes (2020-2024), married Kat Berner on September 7, 2024 at Unity Village in Kansas City, Missouri.
Amy Hinkelman, Ph.D. (2009-2013), in addition to her role as Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology, has now been named Director of the Academic Center of Excellence for the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine. She manages academic support services for graduate and medical students
Nikki Johnson, Ph.D. (2011-2015) had a patent published. https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2024182601A1/en?in ventor=David+Van+story&assignee=Intuitive+Surgical+O perations+Inc&scholar&sort=new
Charlie Svoboda, Ph.D. (1998-2002), currently works for Boeing, Phantom Works, Rapid Capabilities Cell.
Grace Young, Ph.D. (2018-2022), successfully defended her Ph.D. in August 2023. Shortly after, she started a full-time job as a Data Scientist at Garmin in Olathe, KS. She is excited to continue advocating for STEM education as the Lawrence robotics head coach and through planning outreach events with Garmin.
UPCOMING SOCIETY PROGRAMS
at a glance
Fall 2024
Tuesday, December 3: SGF Holiday Luncheon & Poster Session
Local members: You are invited to attend the SGF Holiday Luncheon & Poster Session. RSVP at SGF@ku.edu by Monday, November 18.
SPRING 2025
January: Call for Board of Governors nominations
Interested in serving as a SSF Board of Governor or know someone who would be a great addition to the alumni leadership team? Watch for information on how to submit a nomination.
Tuesday, March 11: Book Club Conversation with Author Germaine Halegoua
See page 6.
2025 SELF GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP SYMPOSIUM
Thursday, April 24 & Friday, April 25, 2025 Lawrence, KS
More details to come in the spring.
SOCIETY PROGRAMS
Book Club: Smart Cities, by Germaine Halegoua
The Society of Self Fellows book club provides the Society and current Fellows with engaging conversation and learning around the shared experience of a book.
Request a FREE copy of the book: If you would like to request a copy of Smart Cities, use this linked form.
Request book: https://bit.ly/3Oi3wEH
Save the Date: On Tuesday, March 11 at 12:00p.m. CST, join us for a virtual conversation with author Germaine Halegoua, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication and Media, University of Michigan.
About Smart Cities: Over the past ten years, urban planners, technology companies, and governments have promoted smart cities with a somewhat utopian vision of urban life made knowable and manageable through data collection and analysis. Emerging smart cities have become both crucibles and showrooms for the practical application of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and the integration of big data into everyday life. Are smart cities optimized, sustainable, digitally networked solutions to urban problems? Or are they neoliberal, corporate-controlled, undemocratic non-places?
After reviewing current terminology and justifications employed by technology designers, journalists, and researchers, the book describes three models for smart city development—smart-from-the-start cities, retrofitted cities, and social cities—and offers examples of each. It covers technologies and methods, including sensors, public wi-fi, big data, and smartphone apps, and discusses how developers conceive of interactions among the built environment, technological and urban infrastructures, citizens, and citizen engagement. Throughout, the author—who has studied smart cities around the world—argues that smart city developers should work more closely with local communities, recognizing their preexisting relationship to urban place and realizing the limits of technological fixes. Smartness is a means to an end: improving the quality of urban life.
About Germaine Halegoua, Ph.D.: Germaine Halegoua’s research interests focus on the relationships between people, place, and digital media. In particular, she’s interested in how visions of digital media by public officials and urban planners often conflict with popular imaginations and everyday experiences of digital technologies and infrastructures. Her more recent projects investigate digital placemaking; smart cities; cultural geographies and inequities of digital infrastructure and access; social media in neighborhood contexts; and social productions of place and identity online. Dr. Halegoua is the John D. Evans Development Professor & Associate Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan and previously was an assistant professor at KU.
Attend the SGF Holiday Luncheon & Poster Session
The Society of Self Fellows is invited to attend the SGF Holiday Luncheon & Poster Session on Tuesday, December 3, 2024 in the Kansas Union Ballroom from 12:15-2:00p.m.
The purpose of the poster session is to provide an opportunity for Self Graduate Fellows to share current research projects and discuss their work with attendees. Fellows have been invited to provide posters prepared for professional meetings and informal posters about projects in progress. Please email SGF@ku.edu with any questions. RSVP: https://bit.ly/3Z2wEok
Join us on LinkedIn Groups
The SSF Board of Governors has launched a LinkedIn Group to facilitate networking for the Society. Through this group you can stay up-to-date with the Self Graduate Fellowship, share your research and personal updates, explore the public policy topic, and network with other Society members.
Join now: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14090154/
2024-2028 FELLOWS
Meet the newest cohort of Self Graduate Fellows
Sivani Badrivenkata, pharmaceutical chemistry; Michael Hageman and Hao Lou, mentors
Kelly Beym, geography; David Rahn, mentor
Kiera Eckhardt, anthropology; Bartholomew Dean, mentor
Brody Gatza, aerospace engineering; Cheng Huang, mentor
Fernando Gonzalez, chemistry; Manar Shoshani, mentor
Kaitlyn Hinz, pharmacology, toxicology and therapeutics, KUMC; Wen-Xing Ding, mentor
Ashley Howard, cell biology and physiology, KUMC; Kaela Varberg, mentor
Danielle Land, ecology and evolutionary biology; Jocelyn Colella, mentor
Jeb Marshall, aerospace engineering; Shawn Keshmiri, mentor
Kevin Mulcahy, ecology and evolutionary biology; K. Christopher Beard, mentor
Macie Proctor-Roser, molecular biosciences; Robin Orozco, mentor
Alexis Redwine, chemistry; Aaron Teator, mentor
Marina Stoilova, ecology and evolutionary biology; Paulyn Cartwright, mentor
Kayla Whatley, bioengineering; Ken Fischer, mentor
Sheena Zeng, mathematics; Jeremy Martin, mentor
CURRENT FELLOWS
This year 47 fellows are pursuing 23 Ph.D.'s in five schools at the University of Kansas. The current fellows are among 250 students who have benefited from the fellowship since it was established in 1989.
Anthropology (1) Chemistry (6)
Computational Biology (1)
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (3)
Economics (1)
Geography and Atmospheric Science (3) Geology (2) Mathematics (1) Molecular Biosciences (2)
(2)
Microbiology, Molecular
Molecular and Integrative Physiology (2)
Neuroscience (3)
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics (1) 4
The 47 current Self Graduate Fellows hold undergraduate and graduate degrees from 33 colleges and universities in 18 U.S. states and one U.S. Territory.
Butler University
Drury University
Central Washington University
Colorado College
College of Saint Benedict
Florida Golf Coast University
Florida Institute of Technology
Fort Lewis College
Illinois State University
Kansas State University
Milwaukee School of Engineering
MidAmerica Nazarene University
Missouri State University
New Mexico State University
Northern Arizona University
Southern Nazarene University
University of Arkansas
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Central Arkansas
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of Missouri
University of Missouri-Kansas City
University of New Mexico
University of Pittsburgh
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wheaton College
William Jewell College
INAUGURAL INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
The inaugural Self Graduate Fellowship International Seminar was hosted May 14-23, 2024. The program, including a semester-long outbound training series, provided a cross-cultural context for the fellows, providing skills in traveling, presenting, and networking abroad. The seminar was attended by 23 Self Graduate Fellows (2022-2026, 2021-2025, and 2020-2024 cohorts) and four KU staff members (Jennifer Roberts, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies; Charlie Bankart, Chief Internationalization Officer; Stefani Buchwitz, Self Graduate Programs Director; and Michelle Compton-Munoz, Self Graduate Programs Assistant Director). The 2024 International Seminar traveled to Frankfurt, Germany; Darmstadt, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; and Paris, France.
Similar to the government and science policy seminar held in Washington, D.C., the international seminar will be held every other year for second and third-year fellows. The next SGF International Seminar will be in May 2026, attended by the 2024-2028 and 2023-2027 Fellows.
International Seminar (May 14-23, 2024)
• Frankfurt city tour
• Tours of ETA Fabrik, CiP, and FlowFactory learning factories at TU Darmstadt
• European Commission customized presentation
• Presentation by the Fullbright Commission for Educational Exchange between the United States, Belgium, and Luxembourg
• European Union Parlamentarium tour
• Paris City tour
• Small group tours to the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Basilica of Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre
• Visit to Mondor Institute for Biomedical Research including lab visits
• Presentation by French National Centre for Scientific Research
• UNESCO tour
• In partnership with the KU Alumni Association, the Self Graduate Fellowship hosted a KU networking reception and poster presentation at Sorbonne University on May 21 The fellows had the opportunity to practice communicating their research to an international audience and network with alumni abroad.
The Self Graduate Programs public annual report for 2023-2024 is now available online. This report highlights the two programs within the Self Graduate Programs department -- the Self Graduate Fellowship and the Self Memorial Scholarship.
Read here:
https://issuu.com/selfgraduatefellowship/docs/2024_public_annual_report
SUPPORT JAYHAWK ROCKET
PROPULSION DESIGN
You Can Support the Work of a Current Fellow
Jayhawk Rocket Propulsion Design (JRPD) is a student organization at the University of Kansas that was founded in August by first-year Self Graduate Fellow Brody Gatza.
The mission of JRPD is to enable students to make meaningful advancements in rocket propulsion technology and to make KU a destination for rocket engine development. As part of this mission, JRPD’s goal is to become the first university team to launch a liquid-fuel into space. The JRPD team consists of fifty members and is currently designing its first engine, Baby Jay. The team plans to begin work on its first rocket after a successful hot-fire
test of their engine that is planned for next fall. The organization primarily consists of engineering students, but the group has a team that focuses on aspects of the project that are unrelated to engineering and is actively recruiting members.
To help fund their first engine, JRPD is running a LaunchKU crowdfunding campaign from Monday, October 28th through Friday, December 13th. LaunchKU is a crowdfunding platform run by KU Endowment that allows students and faculty to fundraise for projects without any fees.
University Daily Kansan: “Baby Jay goes to space: KU enters space race with other universities”
KU News: KU Aerospace Engineering launches first CubeSat into orbit
Support the Jayhawk Rocket Propulsion Design https://www.launchku.org/project/44674