Advice for anyone considering graduate school

To the graduate students who are interested in applying for external fellowships and awards, I have three important pieces of advice. First, there are many such opportunities available; however, you need to look for them. Second, these awards and fellowships provide a lot of networking and learning opportunities that are extremely useful, so take advantage of them. Finally, the application process becomes easier if you receive help from your adviser and/or the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards.  

Accomplishments during academic career

I was fortunate enough and honored to receive the Marvalene Hughes Graduate Research Incentive in 2015. This award has played an important role in my graduate education, as it provided me with the funds that I needed to complete my doctoral research focusing on early father-child verbal interaction in low-SES and predominantly African American families. These funds helped me accelerate the pace of my doctoral research project.