Two recent doctoral graduates at the U of A — Kristen Figgins, who graduated with a doctorate in English, and Simon Tye, who graduated with a doctorate in biological sciences — earned this year's Distinguished Dissertation Award from the Graduate School and International Education.

GSIE annually recognizes excellence in dissertation research and publication with the Distinguished Dissertation Awards, recognizing individuals who have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to their disciplines. By winning the award, Figgins and Tye are also nominated to represent the U of A in competition for the Council of Graduate Schools/Proquest Distinguished Dissertation Award at the national level.

Kristen Figgins

Figgins' dissertation, titled "Adapting Animals: Nineteenth-Century Literature, Science, and Media," explores the evolution of different literary narratives over time, particularly how individual stories illustrate an evolving understanding of science and nature. Drawing on a variety of media, from 19th century literature to comic books and video games, Figgins' work discovers that narratives show evolving and complex attitudes toward animals, science and women.

"The kinds of patterns that immediately emerged when looking at stories that featured animals — like H.G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau or Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — were associations between animals and science and women, associations that change over time as our cultural feelings about those topics change," she said. "As I continued my research, I realized that this made a lot of sense, because in the 19th century, there were a lot of developments in evolutionary science that affected the way people felt about women and other marginalized groups and continue to influence many people today."

Figgins found a passion for interdisciplinary transhistorical literature early in her academic career when she took a class on Gothic literature before enrolling in the doctoral program at the U of A and narrowing her research interests.

"At the University of Arkansas, we are lucky to have some excellent professors in 19th-century literature," she said. "After attending Lissette Lopez Szwydky's course titled 'Nineteenth-Century Women Adapted,' it just made great sense to pair up with her for my dissertation project. I combined my interest in adaptation studies with my personal interest in science and the environment, and that's how my dissertation topic was born."

"It's so gratifying to receive recognition for my dissertation and to be nominated to compete at the national level and represent the University of Arkansas," she added. "As a graduate student, you always hope that the work you do honors the people and institution who are supporting you."

Simon Tye

Tye's dissertation, titled "Ecological, Evolutionary, and Temporal Dynamics of Animal Mortality Events," explores the immediate effects of large-scale die-offs within wild animal populations. Tye's research centers around three projects, highlighted by the creation of the largest existing database of North American lake fish mortality events, to predict the future frequency of such events given climate projections.

Tye harbored a love of nature growing up as a child and discovered his research interest as he became enthralled "with the growing instability of our world and disheartened that nature was increasingly disappearing."

"Serendipitously, Dr. Siepielski and colleagues published a synthesis of animal mortality events, or large-scale die-offs within wild populations," Tye said. "This work indicated that these events were likely increasing in frequency and intensity for many animal groups. I then decided to focus on studying these catastrophic events, both to further basic research and refine approaches that can be used to predict, and thus proactively mitigate, their occurrence under future climate regimes."

"I am humbled to receive this award, which would not have been possible without the support of my family, friends, Dr. Siepielski, my committee members and the University of Arkansas," Tye added. "The prospect of competing at the national level is also humbling, but this work was not completed for personal recognition. Rather, I just hope to raise awareness about how fast the natural world is being degraded and encourage people to save what remains for future generations to appreciate."

The Distinguished Dissertation Award is an annual award started in 2021 that recognizes two dissertations from different disciplines, with qualifying disciplines alternating each year. Nominations are solicited each spring by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School. Each doctoral program can nominate one student in the appropriate award cycle. Students must have completed their degree over the past two fiscal years.

More information on the award can be found on the GSIE website.