Eligibility
The Best Dissertation Award recognizes two graduating doctoral students from the Cullen College of Engineering who has performed outstanding research and submitted the best dissertations to the College in terms of scholarship, presentation and organization. The first place recipient receives an honorarium of $1,000. The second place recipient receives an honorarium of $500.
Deadlines for Application
Fall 2023, Spring 2024, and Summer 2024 Graduate: Wednesday, September 18, 2024 to the department.
Nomination Procedure
- The award will be given once during the academic year. There will be two awards; first place and second place. Associate Dean Khator will decide on deadlines which will allow ample time for the Departments and the College selection committee to evaluate the nomination packages and select the two winners.
- The dissertation must have been defended and be signed off by all members of the examination committee.
- To avoid conflict of interest, a Department representative on the College committee cannot be the advisor or co-advisor of their Department’s nominee.
- During the College selection meeting, all nominations will be presented by the Department representatives, before any vote is taken. After every nomination is presented, the committee will continue with the voting procedure.
- The nomination package is to be comprised of the following items:
- Nomination form
- Nomination Letter from Major Professor
- Link to the dissertation
- Include the PDF of the first page of up to five papers that are directly associated with the dissertation research and a link to the full version of the papers.
- A two-page CV; the CV can include papers other than those directly associated with the dissertation research. However, the list of publications must be divided into separate sub-sections; papers that are associated with the dissertation research; and others that are the result of other research the student conducted during their graduate studies (including collaborative efforts for example).
- A link to a five minutes-long video created by the student, in which the thesis is summarized. The College committee should watch the presentations before the selection meeting.
Selection and Announcement of Awards
The winner will be chosen by a faculty committee appointed by the Dean annually for this purpose in consultation with the Associate Dean for Graduate Students and the Associate Dean for Research. Selection will be based on the originality and importance of the research, and the potential for the student to make a significant contribution to the discipline. The Award will be announced via College communications.