GSO’s Maryjo Brounce has won the University of Rhode Island Graduate School 2015 Excellence in Doctoral Research Award.  This award recognizes excellence in dissertation research and is based on a letter, or letters of nomination for doctoral students who graduated in the previous year from the University of Rhode Island.  Along with the nomination(s), the dissertation abstract is submitted to the Graduate School as part of the competitive review process. In some years, two awards are made — one in the STEM fields, and one in the non-STEM fields. This year, Brounce was the sole winner of this prestigious distinction.

Keith Killingbeck, Associate Dean of the URI Graduate School noted “you have had an impressive career at the University of Rhode Island and we are pleased to be able to recognize your accomplishments.”

Brounce’s PhD dissertation was titled “A Geochemical Investigation of Oxygen Fugacity in the Marianas Subduction Factory.” Dr. Katherine Kelley served as her major professor. Brounce is now involved in post-doctorate research at the California Institute of Technology.