Outstanding Graduates 2023

Master of Arts, English Studies

Rhetorical Vulnerability

Sophia illustrated exemplary leadership and enhanced the English community, most obviously through her significant work as English Grad Rep and President of the English Graduate Association. She's a notably loving and powerful citizen in our department—someone her fellow TAs go to when struggling with difficult classroom dynamics or lesson plans. We celebrate her exemplary teaching and ambitious, lights-out scholarship. Sophia clearly brings deep awareness, curiosity, and heart to everything she does.

Master of Science, Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Throughout her time in the program, Christina has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to becoming a culturally responsive, trauma-informed counselor who works toward reducing behavioral health disparities associated with systemic oppression and societal inequities.

Master of Science, Geology

A Mastcam Multispectral Investigation of Rock Variability in Gale Crater, Mars: Implications for Alteration in the Clay-Sulfate Transition of Mount Sharp

Alivia completed her MS degree in geology in spring 2023. Her thesis research focused on analyzing spectra from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover’s Mastcam instrument, building upon work she started as a WWU undergraduate in 2020. She also collected spectra of Mars analog materials in WWU’s Reflectance Lab and at the University of Winnipeg to supplement her analyses. She has presented her work at two Lunar and Planetary Science Conferences and multiple Curiosity Science Team Meetings. Additionally, Alivia works for NASA Mars rover operations in key roles for both the Curiosity and Perseverance mission science teams. She's preparing her thesis work as a manuscript to be submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets; she will be the lead author and is managing contributions from a dozen other mission scientists. All these accomplishments have earned her much respect among the Mars rover teams, and she was recruited by a colleague at Georgia Tech to apply for a PhD position and continue her NASA mission work, where she will start in fall 2023.

Master of Education, School Counseling

We selected Kosal (Junior) Gonzales as Outstanding School Counseling Graduate Student based on his excellent equity-driven leadership abilities, contributions to the public school internship sites, and his promise in the field of school counseling. Junior worked at Birchwood Elementary School and Options High School, where he participated in all aspects of school counseling and brought innovations to group counseling and anti-bias social emotional curriculum. Notably, during the winter months, the Bellingham School District hired him to serve as a school counselor at Sunnyland Elementary, where he worked energetically and independently to serve K-5 children when their counselor was on leave. The Auburn School District was fortunate to hire Junior for the 2023-24 school year as a middle school counselor. There is no doubt that Junior is going to make a tremendous difference in the lives of the youth he serves in the future. Congratulations on all you have achieved at WWU!

Master of Arts, Rehabilitation Counseling

The RC faculty have unanimously nominated Michele to be our 2023 Outstanding Graduate Student. She has shown a lot of growth in both the academic world and in her professional role over the two years that she was in the program. Michele was a strong cohort member who has a strong passion for working with and advocating for individuals with disabilities. Over the two years she was in the RC program, faculty observed the effort and excellence Michele put into each of her courses. She was a compassionate and patient member of her cohort. 

Master of Science, Environmental Science

Impact of Carbonaceous and Inorganic Nanomaterial Chemistry on Polymer Additive Release from Weathered Epoxy Composites

I am writing to give my enthusiastic endorsement of Haley Sefi-Cyr for the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. I have worked with Haley in multiple capacities throughout her academic career, starting as a student in my classes and then moving into the lab as an undergraduate researcher and a graduate student. At every turn Haley has impressed with her scientific acumen, work ethic, and continued desire to improve her community through science. Though this letter will speak mostly to her time as a graduate student, I did want to mention that Haley had been a tremendous student in my lab since her undergraduate education. During this time, she helped a fellow professor (Prof. Lina Dahlberg) analyze data and collect survey results for an education project, earning her a co-authorship on the published manuscript "Repetition is important to students and their  understanding during  laboratory courses that include  research" in the Journal  of Microbiology & Biology Education, 22(2). Her own undergraduate research in my lab also resulted in a co-presentation of her results, a second-place award for best poster presentation at the 2020 PNW-SETAC meeting, and a co-authorship in "Development and Application of Nanoparticle-Nanopolymer Composite Spheres for the Study of Environmental Processes" in Frontiers in Toxicology.

Having witnessed Haley’s strong lab skills and research abilities firsthand, I recruited her to continue the work I had started during my own post-doctoral studies, examining the release of polymer additives from nano-enabled polymer composites (PNCs). The recent acquisition of a high-resolution HPLC-quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometer enabled our research group to carry out this work. However, there was a limited pool of expertise on campus to assist with the method development, requiring Haley to spend much of her first year of graduate studies performing experiments to develop a robust and high-throughput method for quantifying these additives in aqueous solutions. During the course of these experiments, Haley demonstrated careful lab technique and developed a knack for identifying areas of her experiments in need of refinement. Over the course of her graduate studies she learned how to utilize the HPLC-qTOF-MS, confocal Raman microscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy to assess the impact of weathering and temperature variation on the leaching behavior of the PNCs. She performed a tremendous amount of work and successfully defended her master’s thesis in February 2023. Our current work time is spent writing up her thesis for publication into an appropriate academic journal. Beyond all her academic success and research enterprise, it is important to note Haley’s work ethic. I came to rely on Haley’s help in several areas during our time working together. As a teaching assistant in my water quality class, she was able to run the lab independently for the entire quarter as we had split the lab into two rooms to accommodate Covid-19 safety protocols. In helping me run my Environmental Sampling and Analysis class, she diligently took notes of her own volition on how to improve the lab experiments and assisted me in generating ideas for the class.

Clinical Doctorate in Audiology

Hunter is among the hardest-working graduate students at Western Washington University. He is graduating with his AuD and an impressive cumulative GPA of 3.98. Among his notable achievements, he was awarded an NIH T-35 Research Trainee position at the National Center for Auditory Rehabilitative Research. He was also appointed by the governor for a 1-year term as a student trustee, and he worked alongside the Whatcom Department of Health in a campaign to promote the vaccine during the recent pandemic. Hunter also worked as the AS Communications Director and as a Resident Advisor. 

Master of Arts, History

Questioned Identity: Morisca Women and the Spanish Inquisition

Nathan Van Aken has been an outstanding graduate student in the History Department. He has enormous curiosity and initiative in his efforts to learn the historiography in his field of early modern Spain. He crafted an impressive thesis “Heresies in the Home: Morisca Women and the Spanish Inquisition,” which demonstrates his readiness to continue at the doctoral level (with full funding!). He has been a critical contributor to graduate seminars in which he raised the overall level of discussion, including outside his area of interest, to the benefit of all students. He was an effective TA as well as this year's lead TA. For everyone in the department, he's been a delight to work with in all ways.

Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing

Synonyms for Bloodline

Tanya is a talented poet and lyric essayist—a committed and active writer with many new and forthcoming publications. She's an extremely supportive community member who has participated in this program with so much integrity and compassion – going above and beyond in supporting her peers and excelling in the classroom, where she’s been thrown some significant challenges. In addition, she has been a wonderful poetry editor at Bellingham Review.