UCSB graduate student fellowships range from quarterly to 1-year awards, for which the Graduate Division provides a stipend and payment of fees and health insurance (nonresident tuition is not included in the award package). Students may receive the fellowship twice during their academic careers but must be re-nominated; central fellowship awards for continuing graduate students are based on nomination by department and review by a central faculty fellowship committee. Two of our grads have been granted continuations of these prestigious awards.
Amy Lerner has received a continuation of her Graduate Opportunity Fellowship from the UCSB Graduate Division; only 15 of these awards were available for all departments on campus. Amy is finishing her fourth year of her PhD program, focusing on rural-urban transitions, Mexico maize production, household food security, and peri-urbanization. She came back spring quarter from being in Mexico for a year, conducting interviews and household surveys in the Toluca Valley, outside of Mexico City.
Ed Pultar received a continuation of his President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship; only 6 of these awards were available for all departments on campus. His dissertation title is “The Role of Space in Social Networks,” and his research examines travel behavior using Internet-based websites that provide free lodging with local inhabitants. Users of such systems utilize an amalgamation of transportation networks, social networks, and communication networks. This research focuses on how the geographical spread of people in a modern Internet-based social network influences the travel choices of each individual in the network. This new subfield of travel will lead to transformative research on modern travel methodologies.
