Three Jayhawks win American Association of University Women fellowships


LAWRENCE – A University of Kansas postdoctoral researcher, an assistant professor and a graduate student have each been awarded a fellowship by the American Association of University Women.

Katie Becklin, a postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology, and Misty Schieberle, an assistant professor of English, have each received an American Fellowship, which supports women scholars completing doctoral dissertations, conducting postdoctoral research or finishing research for publication.

Nayma Khan, a citizen of Bangladesh and graduate student in the KU School of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning, has been awarded an International Fellowship, which supports research for women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Becklin and Schieberle’s fellowships are for $30,000 for the 2012-13 academic year.

Khan’s fellowship is for $20,000 for the academic year.

The AAUW is a foundation that strives to advance educational and professional opportunities for women in the United States and around the world. AAUW is among the world's largest sources of funding for graduate women and this year is providing more than $4.3 million for more than 278 fellowships and grants to outstanding women and nonprofits.

Additional information about the three recipients is below.

Katie Becklin – Postdoctoral researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology
American Fellowship ($30,000)
Becklin has been award a fellowship for her research project, “Dynamics of Mycorrhizal Associations in Response to Glacial through Future Changes in Atmospheric CO2.” The project will examine how changes in atmospheric CO2 levels affect plant-fungal symbioses. Given the link between plant-fungal symbioses and carbon and nutrient cycles, understanding how changes in CO2 affect these interactions is critical for predicting the long-term effects of global change.

Becklin has been a postdoctoral researcher at KU since 2010. Her research interests include interactions between plants and other organisms, the effects of plant-fungus interactions on plant physiology and evolution, and the impact of global change on plant-fungus interactions.

Read more about Becklin here.

Misty Schieberle – Assistant professor of English
American Fellowship ($30,000)
Schieberle has been awarded a fellowship to finish her book, “Feminized Counsel: Women Counselors in Late Medieval English Advice Literature, 1380-1500.” The project explores Middle English political literature that represents women as wise, beneficial counselors to kings and thus challenges the dominant misogynist tradition that depicted women as inferior and powerless. The book analyzes works by Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower and Christine de Pizan, including unique manuscript witnesses.

Schieberle has been at KU since 2008. Her research interests include gender, advice literature and manuscript studies. Her teaching areas include Chaucer, medieval women writers, Arthurian literature, history of the English language, and Old and Middle English literature.

Read more about Schieberle here.

Nayma Khan – Graduate student in architecture
International Fellowship ($20,000)
Khan has been awarded a fellowship for her research project, “Making Women-Friendly Hospitals in Bangladesh: An Investigation into the Effects of Hospital Layouts on Wayfinding Problems and Patient Satisfaction among pregnant Bangladeshi Women.”

Khan is an assistant professor in the department of architecture at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and has been on the BUET faculty since 2003. She has worked as an architect for two years with the Architects of Bangladesh. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in architecture at KU and working as a graduate teaching assistant in the architecture department. Her expected graduation date is May 2015.


Thu, 04/26/2012

author

Joe Monaco

Media Contacts

Joe Monaco

KU Office of Public Affairs

785-864-7100