Graduation 2025

2025 Anthropology Student Awards

The Anthropology Department is pleased to announce our 2025 student award winners!  Undergraduate awards were presented at our annual Honors and Awards Ceremony on Friday, April 25. We are so proud of our many impressive students. Please join us in congratulating them!

Outstanding Senior Award: Peter Attarian, Grace Cayless, and Marian Moss

Outstanding Junior Award: Yijia "Jackie" Zhou

Trevor E. Stokol Scholarship(awarded for 2025-26): Theodore Lin, Demissie Mahliet, Jaanaki Radhakrishnan, Daniel Sorungbe, Sasha Trukhnova, Anna Yego

Marjorie Shostak Award, Undergraduate: Peter Attarian and Marian Moss

Marjorie Shostak Award, Graduate: Peter Habib and Sana Noon

George Armelagos Award: Peter Habib, Sarah Kovalaskas, and Will Boose

Read more about this year’s honors students and their projects on our 2025 Honors Students page.

Honors Students 

Helen Andrade
Thesis Title: Cultural perceptions of Autism Among Hispanic Youth
Advisor: Dr. John Lindo

Maya Ashe
Thesis Title: I Am Smart, I am Kind...and I Am Black: Examining Black Motherhood in the 21stCentury
Advisor: Dr. Bayo Holsey

Peter Attarian
Thesis Title: Outside the Grid: Self-Reliant Communities in the Ouachita Mountains
Advisor: Dr. Kristin Phillips

Neha Bajaj
Thesis Title:Distinct Resting-State Functional Brain Connectivity Profiles in Healthy Aging and Parkinson’s Disease-Driven Neurodegeneration
Advisor: Dr. Madeleine Hackney and Dr. John Lindo

Jada Brown
Thesis Title:Sunshine and Exclusion: The Legacy of Sundown Towns in a Tourist Paradise
Advisor: Dr. Bayo Holsey

Grace Cayless
Thesis Title: Early Life Adversity in Chimpanzees: The Role of Disease Exposure
Advisor: Dr. Bayo Holsey

Ava Coates
Thesis Title: Ancient Greek Legacy in Sicily: Traversing fromt he Ancient to theModern
Advisor: Dr. Sandra Blakely

Julianna Cruz
Thesis Title: Behind the Statistics: Deconstructing the Sociocultural Contexts of Hispanic and Latinx Patient Outcomes, Undocumented Narratives, and Underrepresentation in Kidney Disease Research
Advisor: Dr. John Lindo

Maura Dianno
Thesis Title: Effectiveness of the Implementation of Routing Screening of Relative Energy Dificiency Syndrome in Female Atheletes
Advisor: Dr. John Lindo

Kaela Goldstein
Thesis Title: Weaving Two Worlds: The Next Generations of Ethiopian Jewelry in Israel
Advisor: Dr. Don Seeman

Shriya Iyer
Thesis Title: At the Interface of the Human Host and Bacteria: Stress Signaling Via Cyclic AMP and Calcium
Advisor: Dr. Rabindra Tirouvanziam

Sarah Jung
Thesis Title:Exploring Motives for Participation in Genomic Research
Advisor: Dr. Rohan Palmer

Isabella Kaufman
Thesis Title: Identification of long-acting HIV-1 antiviral pairings and analysis of societal implications of shifting patient-care models
Advisor: Dr. Craig Hadley and Dr. Stefan Sarafianos

Lydia King
Thesis Title:Promoting Effective Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Communication Materials, Through a Multidisciplinary Analysis of Community Health Practices in Gombe-Masito-Ugalla Ecosystem
Advisor: Dr. Craig Hadley and Dr. Gillespie

Anusha Kothari
Thesis Title: Qualitative Analysis of Influences Behind Lifestyle Behaviors Regarding Cardiometobolic Health in South Asian Immigrants
Advisor: Dr. Harshita Kamath and Dr. Bobby Paul

Anna Little
Thesis Title:Ethnographic Theater for Memory Care Residents
Advisor: Dr. Debra Vidali

Fiona Meyer
Thesis Title:The Intertwined and Independent Predictive Roles of Maternal Age, Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH), and Oocyte Quantity during In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Advisor: Dr. Alicia Smith and Dr. Anna Knight

Shreya Ramanathan
Thesis Title:Assessing Barriers to Preventative Cancer Screening & Care for Refugee and Immigrant Women in Georgia
Advisor: Dr. Saria Hassan

Rashimi Raveendran
Thesis Title:What's Good for the Goose May Not Be Good for the Gander: An Analysis of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Comprehension Amonst South Asians and Providers 
Advisor: Dr. Craig Hadley

Zinnia Robinson
Thesis Title: The Ballroom Masquerade: Gen-Z's Dance with AAE and Intersectional Language
Advisor: Dr. Erica Britt

Kylie Taylor
Thesis Title:Exploring Endothelial Cell Sources for Brain Vasculature Modeling in 2D and 3D Cultures
Advisor: Dr. Steven Sloan

Donna Torres
Thesis Title: Language and Care: Access to Healthcare Among Hispanic Communities
Advisor: Dr. Don Seeman

Lambda Alpha is the national honors society for anthropology.  Members must be juniors or seniors, have completed at least 14 credits of Anthropology coursework, and meet GPA requirements.

Sriram Ambadi                             Lydia King

Helen Andrade                             Anusha Kothari

Maya Ashe                                    Anna Little

Peter Attarian                              Fiona Meyer

Neha Bajaj                                    Shreya Ramanathan

Anjali Borschel                             Natasha Rasnick

Jiayun Cai                                      Rashimi Raveendran

Sofia Cordover                             Krishna Sanaka

Julianna Cruz                                Jacob Sherber

Maura Dianno                              Maya Silberstein

Shriya Iyer                                     Sanchi Subiah

Shaya Jannati                                Tracy Truong

Yasha Joseph                                 Dennis Yi

Deepak Katta