ATTW Amplification Awards | ATTW Graduate Research Awards | CCCC Awards | Nell Ann Pickett Awards
Upcoming award deadlines and application details:
- 2023 ATTW Graduate Research Award application deadline was: April 21, 2023
- 2023 ATTW Amplification Award application deadline was: April 22, 2023
Amplification Awards
As part of ATTW’s commitment to social justice practices and increasing organizational participation and supporting research from underrepresented scholars and teachers of technical communication, ATTW offers three awards to recognize and amplify the important contributions of underrepresented students and/or non-tenure track faculty presenting at the ATTW annual conference.
2023
Nicole O’Connell, University of MA, Amherst: Nicole O’Connell is a PhD student in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research explores intersections between technical and professional communication (TPC) and public history. She is currently interested in viewing archives as communication design and applying TPC frameworks to feminist archival methodologies. She has taught technical communication and first-year composition.
Jagadish Paudel, University of Texas, El Paso: Jagadish Paudel is a doctoral candidate in Rhetoric and Composition Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. His areas of interest include social justice in rhetoric and composition studies, decolonizing rhetoric and composition studies, policies in rhetoric and writing programs, multilingualism, translanguaging, non-Western rhetoric, public rhetoric, and enacting justice in public spaces and offices. His scholarship has been published in the Rhetoric Society Quarterly, CCC, Rhetoric and Communications-E Journal (co-authored), Community Literacy Journal, Journal of NELTA, etc. In addition to serving as associate editor of Open Words, he is an associate editor for the Practices and Possibilities book series for the WAC Clearinghouse. He is also associated with the Writing Program Administrators-Graduate Organization (WPA-GO) Leadership Council. Currently, he serves as its Vice-Chair and usually leads speaker series events in the organization.
Heather Ann Johnson, Park University: Heather Ann Johnson is an experienced Adjunct Instructor at Park University, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Bellevue University. With an M.A. in English from Central Washington University, she brings a strong foundation of knowledge to her teaching. She actively contributes to the academic community as a member of the First Year Writing Program and the Community of Practice committees, facilitating cooperation and professional growth. Heather Ann’s enthusiasm for curriculum development led her to collaboratively author the Composition II lessons and assessment for Lumen Learning. Beyond academia, Heather Ann cherishes her family life with her husband and their four children, and they enjoy playing games and traveling throughout the country.
2022
Meghalee Das, Texas Tech: Meghalee Das is a PhD candidate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University (TTU), where she also teaches first-year composition and technical writing courses. Her research interests include user experience (UX), cultural inclusivity, online pedagogy, and digital rhetoric. She has authored chapters on intercultural communication and UX in the custom textbook used by the TTU English Department’s technical writing courses, and her articles have appeared in Technical Communication, Programmatic Perspectives, and Intercom.
Elena Kalodner-Martin, University of Massachusetts Amherst: Elena Kalodner-Martin is a PhD candidate in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her research is at the intersection of the rhetoric of health and medicine, technical communication, and feminist studies. Her dissertation theorizes patient narratives on social media as a form of technical and technological expertise. She currently teaches courses on social issues in computing in the College of Information and Computer Sciences.
Ruben “Ruby” Mendoza, Michigan State University: Ruben “Ruby” Mendoza (they/them) is a PhD Candidate at Michigan State University’s Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures Department. They work through a scholarly throughline between technical and professional communication, social justice, and queer and transgender rhetorics. Their dissertation project Surviving and Thriving in Higher Education: A Queer and Trans*/formative BIPOC Coalitional Approach to Queer and Transgender Rhetorics, seeks to collect data from existing and emergent BIPOC scholars to illuminate how resistance represents an important component to prevent perpetuating harm in academic practices, including pedagogy, research, and community work. Currently, Ruby has several forthcoming research manuscripts in various journals, including in IEEE ProComm Conference (2022), Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, and Technical Communication and Social Justice.
2021
Spatial Technologies, (Geo)Epistemology, & the Global South: Addressing the Discursive Materiality of GhanaPostGPS through Technical Communication – G. Edzordzi Agbozo
“There’s a Black meme for that!”: Digital Blackface in the Appropriation of Black Memes and GIFs by Non-Black Users – Anshare Antoine, University of Central Florida
Inclusive Citation Practices: How to Ethically Engage with Scholarship in Literature Reviews
– Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq, Utah State University
2020
Black Feminist Theory in TPC: Inclusive Practices as Administrator, Teacher, Practitioner, and Scholar – Jamal-Jared Alexander, Utah State University
Representations of Black Protest: A Google Search – Alicia Hatcher, East Carolina University
Rethinking South Asia via UX and Participatory Design: A Methodology for Building Dialogic Rooms in Digital Archives – Bibhushana Poudyal, University of Texas at El Paso
2019
Exploring Documentation and Rhetorical Practices of Addressing Public Health Crises During Nepal Earthquake 2015 – Sweta Baniya, Purdue University
“My Blood Cells When I Take My Truvada”: Examining Twitter Users’ Engagement with PrEP, Truvada, and Sexual Health – Ryan Murphy, Purdue University
2018
Localization Usability for Social Justice: Exploring Usability Implementation in Global North Technology in the Context of a Global South Country – Keshab Acharya, University at Buffalo-SUNY
Headwraps & Hoops in TPC: Decolonizing Professionalism through Dress & Work Practices – Constance Haywood, East Carolina University
You’ve Recruited Black Graduate Students, Now What?: Eliminating Privileged Socialization Practices for Minority Students in Graduate TPC Programs – Temptaous Mckoy, East Carolina University
ATTW Graduate Research Awards
ATTW is committed to advancing the research of graduate students in technical and professional communication. The graduate research award supports advanced Ph.D. students with clearly defined research projects that contribute to the field of technical and professional communication. Preference will be given to doctoral students working on their dissertations.
Up to three scholars receive a monetary award to be used for research expenses and/or to help defray the costs of attending the annual ATTW conference. In addition, award recipients are featured in a work-in-progress panel presentation at the annual conference. The conference registration fee will be waived.
Graduate Research Award Winners
2023
Nicole O’Connell, University of MA, Amherst: Nicole O’Connell is a PhD student in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research explores intersections between technical and professional communication (TPC) and public history. She is currently interested in viewing archives as communication design and applying TPC frameworks to feminist archival methodologies. She has taught technical communication and first-year composition.
Victoria Braegger, Purdue University: Victoria L. Braegger is a Ph.D. candidate in Rhetoric and Composition at Purdue University. Her primary research interests are at the intersection of technical communication and game studies, focusing on peripheral design and usability, constructions and maintenance of gamer identity, and accessibility in digital spaces. She has presented her work at regional and national conferences, including the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Computers and Writing, Console-ing Passions, and the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association. Her current research project investigates video game controller design and depictions in media, arguing that exclusionary design practices are perpetuated through iterative processes, impacting conceptions of who is—and who isn’t—acceptable as a “gamer.”
Hannah Stevens, Utah State University: Hannah L. Stevens is a PhD candidate in the Technical Communication & Rhetoric program at Utah State University (USU). As far as research interests, she brings to her PhD work a background in feminist analysis that is layered onto her work with public policy along with considerations of race, class, disability, and other factors. Her most recent research investigates and identifies specific publishing policy that allows for (or perhaps veils) oppressive and discriminatory systems that specifically work against the career and overall advancement of multiply marginalized and underrepresented (MMU) authors and scholars.
2022
Rachel Bryson, Utah State University: Rachel Welton Bryson is a PhD Candidate in Technical Communication & Rhetoric at Utah State University, where she teaches technical communication and first-year composition. Her research interests combine disability studies frameworks with the theory and practice of technical communication, particularly in how those theories coalesce around learning design in higher education. Specifically, she studies faculty responsiveness to student disclosures of less-apparent disabilities, such as mental health disability, and how policies, practices, and documentation surrounding disability accommodation both afford and constrain opportunities for student persistence and retention. Rachel lives in northern Utah with her geographer husband, three children, and a small but noisy flock of chickens.
Meghalee Das, Texas Tech: Meghalee Das is a PhD candidate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University (TTU), where she also teaches first-year composition and technical writing courses. Her research interests include user experience (UX), cultural inclusivity, online pedagogy, and digital rhetoric. She has authored chapters on intercultural communication and UX in the custom textbook used by the TTU English Department’s technical writing courses, and her articles have appeared in Technical Communication, Programmatic Perspectives, and Intercom.
Elena Kalodner-Martin, University of Massachusetts Amherst: Elena Kalodner-Martin is a PhD candidate in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her research is at the intersection of the rhetoric of health and medicine, technical communication, and feminist studies. Her dissertation theorizes patient narratives on social media as a form of technical and technological expertise. She currently teaches courses on social issues in computing in the College of Information and Computer Sciences.
Dina Lopez, Texas Tech: Dina Lopez is a PhD candidate in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Her research is on intercultural communication, organizational studies, storytelling, and rhetorical engagement with archives. She has over thirty years combined experience teaching in English, Spanish, French, and Taekwondo. She stays active physically in CrossFit, running, and playing frisbee golf. She and her husband of thirty-eight years have three adult children and one grandbaby on the way.
Graduate Research Awards 2020/2021
“Inclusive Citation Practices: How to Ethically Engage with Scholarship in Literature Reviews” – Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq, Utah State University
“Rethinking South Asia via UX and Participatory Design: A Methodology for Building Dialogic Rooms in Digital Archives” – Bibhushana Poudyal, University of Texas at El Paso
“Early Warning Systems, Student Surveillance, and Threat Assessment” – Katie Lynn Walkup, University of South Florida
Graduate Research Awards 2019
Postcolonial Technologies & Magic Language: Critical Discourse of GhanaPostGPS – Edzordzi Agbozo, Michigan Tech
Ways to Move, Ways to Map: Making Space for Neurodiversity in Design – Leah Heilig, Texas Tech University
A Techne of Marginality: Theorizing from Black Minds to Hold White Bodies Accountable – Cecilia D. Shelton, East Carolina University
#MeToo, Multi-Layered Platforms, and Platforms of Power – Sarah Warren-Riley, Illinois State University
Graduate Research Awards 2018
“[Taking] Responsibility for the Community”: Claiming Power and Legitimacy in Technical and Professional Communication in India” – Breeanne Matheson, Utah State University
“Negotiating Collaboration: Preparing Students for Workplace Co-Writing Amidst Linguistic Proficiency Differences” – Maria Poznahovska, Carnegie Mellon University
“From Pussyhats to Gynepunk: DIY Feminism in Post-Industrial Spaces” – John T. Sherrill, Purdue University
Graduate Research Awards 2017
“Advocating for Users, Engaging Citizens: Analyzing User Experience Research and the Rhetoric of Civic Engagement in Public Sector Digital Service Design” – Jeffrey Gerding, Purdue University
“Correctional Inclinations: Using Big Data to Trace Correctional Officer Handbooks” – Eric Stephens, Clemson University
“Developing Digital Literacies: Engaging Technical Communication at an Urban Community Technology Center”- Rachel Tofteland-Trampe, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Graduate Research Awards 2016
“Shaping Climate Citizenship: The Ethics of Inclusion in Climate Communication and Policy” – Lauren E. Cagle, University of South Florida
“The Reasonably Bright Girls:’ Theorizing Women’s Agency in Technological Systems of Power”- Emily January Petersen, Utah State University
“Coding the Narrative: The Rhetoric and Attention Economics of EHR Systems Management, Usability, and Clinical Documentation Practices” – Susan Rauch, Texas Tech University
Graduate Research Awards 2015
“Mentoring as Relationship Building: Identity, Performance, and Value in Technical Communication” – Beth Keller, Michigan State University
“Constructing Knowledge through the Mundane: The Role of Technical Communication in the Apollo Project”- Charlotte Hyde, Purdue University
“A Rhetorical Model of Translation: A Methodological Proposal for Approaching Uncertainties in Climate and Environmental Risk”- Kenneth Walker, University of Arizona
Nell Ann Pickett Awards
The Nell Ann Pickett Award is given each year to the best article published in the ATTW journal. Judges for the award are previous award winners. The award carries a cash prize of $250. It is named for a founding member of the association who initiated the award and originally funded it.