Honoring Innovation and Excellence

Published on March 25, 2022

Bingxin Zhao

Each year, The Graduate School recognizes four doctoral candidates or recent doctoral graduates for creating exceptional dissertations in various fields in the form of what’s known as the Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award. The 2022 recipients of the award are Rachel E. Bangle ’21 (Ph.D.), Siddhartha Biswas’ ‘21 (Ph.D.), Mark Reeves ’21 (Ph.D.), and Bingxin Zhao ’21 (Ph.D.).

The awards recognize the highest level of graduate student scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill, based on originality, innovation, scholarly excellence, methodological sophistication, and significance to the field of study.

“Congratulations to these graduate students on their achievements, which have culminated in this award,” said Suzanne Barbour, dean of The Graduate School. “From access to higher education to the inner-workings of the human brain, these are standout graduate students in their fields of study. They are well deserving of this notable award.”

Find out what subjects this year’s recipients wrote their dissertations on…

Related Stories


This Royster Studies Oysters

'Realizing Dreams, Beyond Your Dreams'

Electrochemist tracks protons and electrons to improve alternative fuel production