Champaign, IL, October 6, 2015: During a ceremony at the Survey Research Laboratory on the Urbana campus, four doctoral students were honored for the quality of their work utilizing survey research methodology. The two winners of the 2015 Robert Ferber and Seymour Sudman Dissertation Awards were presented with $2000 awards and plaques commemorating their achievement. Two other students each received an honorable mention certificate and a check for $200. Drs. Ferber and Sudman, in whose memory the awards were established, were eminent scholars at the University of Illinois in the field of survey research.
Dongying Li, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Landscape Architecture, is the winner of the Robert Ferber Dissertation Award. Her dissertation, Space-Time Access to Green Space and Adolescent Stress: Questions of Constraints and Equity, examines access to green space and adolescent stress using space-time accessibility framework. The knowledge provided by the results of this study could provide rationale for developing restorative environments that help adolescents recover from and build resilience to stress.
Katherine Ann Magerko, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Human and Community Development, is the winner of the Seymour Sudman Dissertation Award. Her dissertation, Healthy Hearts in Family Child Care: What is the Current State of Provider Health? will study the health of family child care providers using a combination of survey, direct observations, and biological measures. Recognizing that child care providers can positively or negatively impact children’s health, studying the health of the care givers provides a target for intervention to improve child health.
Kaye Usry, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science received the Robert Ferber Honorable Mention for her dissertation, The Consequences of Traumatic Life Experiences for Civic Engagement.
Stephanie Timm, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning received the Seymour Sudman Honorable Mention for her dissertation, Learning from Singapore: The Role of Cultural and Behavioral Factors in Sustainable Water Planning.
Past winners of the Dissertation Awards can be viewed online.
Press release provided by the Survey Research Laboratory.