Here are the past winners of the Winifred and Louis Lancaster Dissertation Awards, starting from the award's inaugural year in 1986. 

About the Award
This annual award recognizes two individuals who have completed dissertations deemed by the Awards Committee as with significant impact on the field in terms of methodological and substantive contributions. Two awards are given annually to doctoral degree recipients or candidates from two broad academic areas. The four fields of competition alternate each year, as specified by the National Council of Graduate Schools. For more information about nomination details and the awards cycle, click here.

2023-2017 Awardees

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Thomas S. Lankiewicz

Sergey Salushchev

Ecology, Evolution, & Marine Biology

History

Biochemical Characterization of Neocallimastigomycetes for the Development of Lignocellulose Conversion Technologies using Synthetic Biology

Reluctant Abolitionists: Slavery, Dependency, and Abolition in the Caucasus (1801-1914)

Advisors: Dr. Michelle A. O’Malley and Dr. Holly Moeller

Advisor: Dr. Adrienne Edgar

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Emily Williams

Mark Turiansky

Geography

Physics

Interrogating the science of climate accountability: Allocating responsibility for climate impacts within a frame of climate justice

Quantum Defects from First Principles

Advisor: Dr. David Lopez-Carr

Advisor: Dr. Chris Van de Walle

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Georgia Titcomb

John Thibdeau

Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology

Religious Studies

The role of watering holes as hotspots of disease transmission in changing climates Sufism in Moroccan Public Life: Teaching Ethics and Performing Piety

Advisor: Dr. Hillary Young

Advisor: Dr. Juan Campo

 

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Annie Hikido

Junkai Jiang

Sociology

Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Black Township Hospitality Market: Intimacies, Authenticities and Postcolonial Imaginaries in South Africa

CMOS-Compatible Doped-Multilayer-Graphene for Next generation Interconnects, Passives and Monolithic-3D Integrated Circuits

Advisor: Dr. France Winddance Twine

Advisor: Dr. Kaustav Banerjee

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

Hannah M.L. Goodwin

Nicole Yishi Leung

Film and Media Studies

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Archives of Light Cinematic and Cosmological Time

Functions of Opsinis in Drosophila Taste

Advisor: Dr. Charles Wolfe

Advisor: Dr. Dennis Clegg

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Dajung “DJ” Woo

Jiahao Kang

Communication

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Collaboration Life Cycle: Communicating Knowledge and Expertise for Gerring In, Getting On, and Getting Out

Two-Dimensional Electronic Materials and Devices: Opportunities and Challenges

Advisor: Dr. Karen Myers

Advisor: Dr. Kaustav Banerjee

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Kevin Johnson

Lynnette Arnold

Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology

Linguistics

Investigating the molecular response of the marine calcifying pteropod, Limacina helicina, to ocean acidification and ocean warming

Communicative Care across Borders:
Language, Materiality, and Affect in Transnational Family Life

Advisor: Dr. Gretchen Hofmann

Advisor: Dr. Mary Bucholtz

2016-2007 Awardees

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Social Sciences

Deblina Sarkar

Summer Gray

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sociology

2D Steep Transistor Technology: Overcoming Fundamental Barriers in Low-Power Electronics and Ultra-Sensitive Biosensors

If these walls could talk: A Global Ethnography of Sea Change

Advisor: Dr. Kaustav Banerjee

Advisor: Dr. Kum-Kum Bhavnani

National Honorable Mention, CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

 

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

Kenneth Hough

Patrick Keeley

History

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Rising Sun Over America: Imagining a Japanese Conquest of the United States, 1900-1945

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Retinal Circuitry Development

Advisor: Dr. Paul Spickard

Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Reese

 

 

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Social Sciences

Ahmed Almheiri

Carly Thomsen

Physics

Feminist Studies

The Black Hole Firewall

Unbecoming: Visibility Politics and Queer Rurality

Advisor: Dr. Joseph Polchinski

Advisor: Dr. Leila Rupp

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

Matthew Recla

Misty Riddle

Religious Studies

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Imitatio Christi?: Reading Christian Martyrdom as Self-Formation

In vivo forced reprogramming and remodeling of differentiated somatic cells and organs by brief expression of a single transcription factor.

Advisor: Dr. Christine Thomas

Advisor: Dr. Joel Rothman

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Jody Jahn

Sudipto Das

Communication

Computer Science

Scalable and Elastic Transactional Data Stores for Cloud Computing Platforms

The Communicative Construction of Safety in Wildland Firefighting

Advisor: Dr. Linda Putnam, Karen Myers

Advisor: Dr. Amr El Abbadi

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Alison Pischedda

Elizabeth Shermer

Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology

History

Sexual Selection and Sexual Conflict in a Drosophila melanogaster Model System

Creating the Sunbelt: The Political and Economic Transformation of Phoenix, Arizona

Advisor: Dr. William Rice

Advisor: Dr. Nelson Lichtenstein

 

National Honorable Mention/Immediate Runner Up, CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Social Sciences

Jeffrey Case

Joseph Conti

Mathematics

Sociology

Conformally Warped Manifolds and Quasi-Einstein Metrics

Power through Process: The Dispute Settlement Process of the World Trade Organization, 1995-2005

Advisor: Dr. Xianzhe Dai

Advisor: Dr. Richard Appelbaum, John Sutton

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

April Haynes

Stephanie Aoki

History

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Riotous Flesh: Gender, Physiology, and the Solitary Vice, 1830-1860

Contact-Dependent Growth Inhibition in Escherichia

Advisor: Dr. Patricia Cohen

Advisor: Dr. David Low

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Social Sciences

Munkyo Seo

Timothy Mechlinski

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Sociology

Signal Processing/Hardware Co-Design for High Speed A/D Conversion and Millimeterwave Sensor Nets

Negotiation and Supplication: The Social, Cultural, and Political Interactions of West African Mobility Control

Advisor: Dr. Mark Rodwell

Advisor: Dr. Kum-Kum Bhavnani, John Foran

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

No selection

Carmen Jany

 

Linguistics

 

Chimariko in Areal and Typological Perspective

 

Advisor: Dr. Marianne Mithun

2006-1997 Awardees

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Joshua James New

Tomás A. Palacios Gutiérrez

Psychology

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Category-Specificity in Spatial and Temporal Attention

Optimization of the High Frequency Performance of Nitride-Based Transistors

Advisor: Dr. Leda Cosmides

Advisor: Dr. Umesh Mishra

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Aaron Hernday

Thomas Sizgorich

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

History

The Mechanisms by which DNA Adenine Methylase, PapI and CpxAR Regulate the Pap Epigenetic Switch in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Martyrs, Monks and Mujahidin

Advisor: Dr. David Low

Advisor: Dr. Harold Drake

 

National Winner, CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Debra Lieberman

Ilan Ben-Yaacov

Psychology

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mapping the Cognitive Architecture of Systems for Kin Detection and Inbreeding Avoidance: The Westermarck Hypothesis and the Development of Sexual Aversions Between Siblings

AlGaN/GaN Current Aperture Vertical Electron Transistors

Advisor: Dr. Leda Cosmides

Advisor: Dr. Umesh Mishra

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Elizabeth Borer

Sarah Case

Ecology, Evolution, & Marine Biology

History

How Do Resource Specialists Co-exist? Evidence from a Biological Control Community

Renegotiating Race and Respectability in the Classroom: Women, Education, and the New South

Advisor: Dr. William Murdoch, Allan Stewart-Oaten

Advisor: Dr. Jane De Hart, Carl Harris

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Christiana Stoddard

James Bryant Thompson

Economics

Physics

Three Essays on Teachers, Markets, and Educational Policies

New Tools for Studying Biomaterials

Advisor: Dr. Jon Stonstelie

Advisor: Dr. Paul Hansma

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

Beverly Schwartzberg

Robin Snyder

History

Physics

Grass Widows, Barbarians, and Bigamists: Marital Fluidity in Late Nineteenth-Century America

Effects of Spatial Correlations and Fluctuations on Population Dynamics

Advisor: Dr. Patricia Cohen

Advisor: Dr. Roger Nisbet

National Winner, CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

 

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Brian John Duncan

Priya Narasimhan

Economics

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Financing Charitable Organizations and Non-Profit Firms

Transparent Fault Tolerance for CORBA

Humanities and Fine Arts

Biological and Life Science

Hubert Dubrulle

Douglas Heithoff

History

Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology

'A War of Wonders': The Battle in Britain over Americanization and the American Civil War

Host-Specific Induction of Bacterial Virulence Genes

Social Sciences

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Arturo Gonzalez

Michael Mantle Lipp

Economics

Chemical Engineering

Immigrant Enclaves, Language Skills, and the Effect of Age at Arrival on Education

A Microscopy Study of Model Lung Surfactant Monolayers

Biological and Life Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Jennifer Elaine Caselle

Fernando Augusto Rocchi

Biology

History

Recruitment and Early Post-settlement Processes in Coral Reef Fishes

Building a Nation, Building a Market: Industrial Growth and the Domestic Economy in Turn-of-the-century Argentina

1996-1986 Awardees

 

Humanities and Fine Arts

Elizabeth De Palma Digeser

History

Lactantius, Constantine and the Roman Res Publica

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Miroslav Krstic
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Adaptive Nonlinear Control

 

Social Sciences

Peggy La Cerra

Psychology

Evolved Mate Preferences in Women: Psychological Adaptations for Assessing a Man's Willingness to Invest in Offspring

Biological and Life Science

Cheryl Jean Briggs

Biology

The Effect of Multiple Parasitoid Species on the Gall-Forming Midge, Rhopalomyia californica

 

Humanities and Fine Arts

Jeno Michael Burger

History

Intimacy and Lordshop: The Creation of a Bureaucracy in the Diocese of Lincoln, ca. 1186-1299

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Scott Allen Smith

Chemistry

Social Sciences

Marilyn Regina Whalen

Sociology

Biological and Life Science

Daniel C. Reed

Biological Sciences

Humanities and Fine Arts

Robyn Margaret Bell

English

Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering

Nicholas Joseph Kirchner

Chemistry

Social Sciences

J. Timothy O'Meara

Anthropology