Ph.D. student national honors
Our doctoral scholars compete for – and win – prestigious awards and fellowships.
Here are eight student recipients across multiple cohorts, dating to 2022.
Ya-Li Yang, LSW
Ph.D. candidate
I am really excited to have the chance to amplify family voices in recovery research. ... This project seeks to highlight the struggles and strengths within families’ recovery journeys to guide professionals and policymakers in making meaningful systemic changes.”
Rayelle Ross, M.S.W.
Ph.D. student
Sometimes I think people can be so out of touch with the realities of other people, they don’t necessarily see the direct impact that it has on people. And so if I can do anything to be able to inform legislators about how these policies are impacting people, that would be great.”
Sam Ochinang, M.S.W., LCSW, BCD
Ph.D. student
I see my research as a tribute or an ode to the individual struggling with suicide, and the families, friends, the community in general. I just want to do my part.”
Aaron Kemmerer, Ph.D.
2024 graduate
- LGBTQ Caucus of Faculty & Students in Social Work SSWR Scholarship, 2024
- Grand Challenges for Social Work Fellow-End Homelessness category, 2023. » Details
There is generally not enough affordable housing for people that need it. Additionally, emergency shelters are often segregated by gender. It’s not as safe for trans people to be there.”
Dr. Kemmerer is an assistant professor of social work at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.
Katie Kim, LMSW
Ph.D. candidate
I know what it’s like to be a new person, to be different, to rebuild from square one. It’s this firsthand experience that fuels my deep-seated empathy for others on the margins, and my drive to stand beside them, working to lift them up, just as I was lifted.”
Paola Roldán, Ph.D.
2025 graduate
My ultimate goal is to contribute to society by developing, implementing and evaluating interventions to eliminate employment injustices that sexual and gender minority people face.”
Muna Saleh, Ph.D.
2025 graduate
- Council on Social Work Education Doctoral Policy Fellow, 2023
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar, 2023. » Details
I wanted to research more about community-based participatory research, how communities see their own capacity to become resilient in their resettlement process and how they can inform policy later on down the road, since a lot of their voices are currently left out.”
Dr. Saleh is an assistant professor of social work at Ohio State University.
Matthew Morgan, M.S.W.
Ph.D. candidate
Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work Pre-Dissertation Fellow, 2022. » Details
(My) interests (are) in health equity and advocating for underserved and under-resourced populations.”
Morgan, ABD, is a clinical assistant professor of social work at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.