Spring 2025 was a great success for our graduate students here at Ball State! Check out some highlights in this post below and celebrate the amazing work our students and faculty have completed during the spring semester of 2025.

 

Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony

Graduate students gathered with faculty members for our annual Graduate Student Recognition Ceremony. At this event, students and staff are celebrated for the hard work they put in through the academic year and are awarded certificates of excellent teaching and research! Afterwards, students and faculty alike engaged in a reception where many congratulations and future plans were shared. Listed below are our award winners for this academic year.

 

Excellence in Teaching Award – Master’s

Awardee: Madi Marshall

Excellence in Teaching Award – Doctoral

Awardee: Ismael Zerbo

Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award

Awardee: Blessing Adjornor

Title: Transport and Deposition of Microplastics at the Water-sediment Interface of the White River, Muncie, Indiana

Advisor: Dr. Bangshuai Han

Outstanding Creative Project Award

Awardee: Katelyn Mathew

Title: Road Work Ahead

Advisor: Dr. Jill Christman

Distinguished Dissertation Award

Awardee: Matthew Simpson

Title: Microplastics Chemical Characterization, Regional Distribution, and Effects on Biota

Advisor: Dr. John Pichtel

 

3-Minute Thesis

Our annual 3-minute thesis competition brought forth some of the brightest students the graduate school has to offer! Doctoral student David McFarland took first place with his presentation on the possibility of creating a system of farming on the planet Mars. Our students never fail to innovate and push the boundaries of what is possible here at BSU. McFarland presented his work at the Midwest Association of Graduate School’s annual conference 3MT competition.

Second place was taken by Aidan Harmer in the School of Kinesiology and third place was awarded to Jennifer Stefanovski in our Department of Counseling Psychology. Of course, no 3MT would be complete without our peoples choice award, which was attained by Juliet Oluyale who is part of the Ball State School of Architecture. Congratulations again to all finalists and award winners! We look forward to seeing returning and new faces this next academic year.

 

 

One Ball State Day

Of course, no spring semester would be complete without One Ball State Day! As a Cardinal community, we raised over one-million (you read that correctly) dollars that help fund many of the graduate programs here at BSU. When Cardinals come together, we all fly. Thank you to all who donated and to our amazing faculty as well as student body for making this spring semester amazing!