Three named NU Presidential Fellows

UNL's new NU Presidential Graduate Fellows are (from left) Kathryn Haymaker, Jeff Johnson and Nathan Probasco.
UNL's new NU Presidential Graduate Fellows are (from left) Kathryn Haymaker, Jeff Johnson and Nathan Probasco.

Three UNL students received 2012-2013 Presidential Graduate Fellowships from the University of Nebraska. The annual fellowships honor a select group of NU graduate students on the basis of high scholastic performance and personal accomplishment. Fellows receive a stipend that allows them to pursue their studies fulltime.

The Presidential Graduate Fellows from UNL are:

— Kathryn Haymaker, of Hellertown, Penn., a doctoral student in mathematics. Haymaker studies coding theory, which originated with the need to send information reliably and efficiently over a communication or storage channel. Her dissertation research includes the use of mathematical structures to design codes for flash memories and write-once memories. Haymaker is also interested in graph-based codes and their applications. In fall 2011, she spent two months at a thematic program on coding theory at a technical institute in Lausanne, Switzerland. She also has served on the UNL math department’s organizing committee for the Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics. This winter, she received the G.C. Young and W.H. Young Award for scholarship in the UNL math department. She graduated with honors in mathematics from Bryn Mawr College in 2007.

— Jeff Johnson, of Lincoln, a Ph.D. candidate in business. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in business administration with an emphasis in finance in 2001 and Master in Business Administration in 2002, both from UNL, Johnson spent six years working in sales, marketing and management positions at Union Pacific. He joined UNL’s marketing doctoral program in 2009 and has been pursuing his research interests in personal selling, sales management and marketing strategy. Johnson’s dissertation examines the factors leading to the implementation of new marketing strategies by the salesperson. Johnson coauthored a forthcoming article in the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, has presented his research multiple times at national conferences, and has several articles under review at top marketing journals. He has also received awards for his teachings as a doctoral student.

— Nathan Probasco, of Scribner, a doctoral candidate in history. Probasco’s interests center on the history of colonization and technology in the early modern Atlantic world. He is currently writing his dissertation, which examines the cartography, nautical science and promotional literature of English explorer Humphrey Gilbert’s 1583 voyage to North America. A former Othmer fellow, Probasco was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship while completing his master’s degree at UNL, and he recently received fellowships to the Huntington and John Carter Brown Libraries. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed history and literature journals, and he has presented his work at a number of national and international conferences. In addition to holding various research and teaching assistantships, he also has volunteered for National History Day and History Harvest.

For more information, including the names of students who won the awards from other universities within the NU system, go to http://go.unl.edu/5tv.