Skip to main content

Two UNO Students Receive Graduate Fellowships

Jenny Kent and Kristine Langley

Jenny Kent (left) and Kristine Langley Mahler (right) recently received fellowships from NU President Hank Bounds

University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds announced today the six recipients of 2017-18 Presidential Graduate Fellowships.

Two of this year's recipients are from UNO, highlighting the strength of research and creative activity on campus.

The prestigious fellowships are awarded to a select group of NU graduate students each year on the basis of high scholastic performance and personal accomplishment. Fellows receive a stipend provided through the University of Nebraska Foundation that allows them to pursue their studies full-time.

“Students who receive Presidential Graduate Fellowships are among our best and brightest. They are outstanding ambassadors of the University of Nebraska and I’m certain we’ll see great things from them in the future,” Bounds said. “We’re fortunate to enjoy a level of private support that permits these talented students to fully devote themselves to their studies and research.”

The two students from UNO to earn 2017-18 fellowships are:

Jenny Kent, of Enfield, England, a Ph.D. student in exercise science/biomechanics

Kent earned her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nottingham and M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Surrey, both in England. She developed an interest in researching lower limb prosthetics while working at a U.K. military rehabilitation center with individuals who had undergone traumatic amputation. Drawing on concepts from her coursework in mathematical chaos and motor control, she is specifically interested in better understanding how prosthesis users adapt and control their movement, in order to inform prosthetic prescription, design and rehabilitation techniques. Since arriving at UNO she has worked on a number of projects investigating locomotion and fall risk, and coordinated a team of undergraduate and graduate students working on NIH-funded research exploring balance interventions for people with amputation.

Kristine Langley Mahler, of Ralston, a master’s student in English

Mahler is currently conducting research, funded by a Graduate Research and Creative Activity grant, on immigration and inhabitation on native land through the lens of her French-Canadian ancestors. As an associate nonfiction editor for both Pithead Chapel and Profane, two online journals, she reviews dozens of submissions each month to write feedback and select pieces for publication. At the University of Iowa, where Mahler earned her bachelor’s degree, she was editor in chief of earthwords, the university’s undergraduate literary journal. Mahler has published a number of nonfiction pieces and has won awards for her writing, including Crab Orchard Review's Rafael Torch Award in Literary Nonfiction. Mahler carries a 4.0 GPA.

Other recipients came from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.