Outstanding Master's Thesis Award presented to former online student from California

The University of Illinois Springfield Research Board has awarded Amelia Owre with the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for the 2015-2016 academic year. The award was presented during a ceremony on February 6, 2017, on campus.

Owre, a former online student from California, graduated from UIS in May 2015 with a master’s degree in environmental sciences. Her thesis was entitled “The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Carbon Storage and Sequestration in the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.” Her thesis chair was Shipeng Sun, UIS assistant professor of environmental studies.

Originally from Dallas, Texas, Owre attended the U.S. Naval Academy and majored in Oceanography with an emphasis on meteorology and climate science. Following graduation, she became a Naval helicopter pilot and flew three different variants of the H-60 Seahawk.

“After my first overseas deployment, I began searching for graduate programs that both related to my bachelor’s degree and would be flexible enough to fit with my military schedule,” she said. “When I found the online ENS program at UIS I knew it would be a great fit.”

Owre is now out of the military and is the director of training for a drone training company, after spending her last years of active duty as a military drone flight instructor.

“Though not working directly in the environmental field, I have been able to leverage many of the things I learned here in my current job,” she said. “We are presently building classes that cover topics like aerial mapping, multispectral imaging and LiDAR, all things I was introduced to at UIS.”

The following students received their departments’ Outstanding Thesis or Project Award for 2015-16 and were nominated for the UIS Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Project competition:

English & Modern Languages 
Keith Huddleston of Springfield, Illinois
“Beautiful Bastards: Linguistic Power and Socio-Political Advancement in The Tempest, King John, and King Lear.”
Thesis Chair: Ethan Lewis

History 
Michael Taylor of Rochester, Illinois
“Pornography, Violence, and Weirdos: American Comic Book Censorship in the 20th Century.” Thesis Chair: Kenneth Owen

Political Science 
Nathan Tarr of Springfield, Illinois
“Deradicalization of Egypt and Turkey’s Islamist Parties in Foreign Policy towards the United States and Israel during their Rise to Power.”
Thesis Chair: Sibel Oktay