Arts and Sciences honors graduates during summer commencement ceremonies
糖心vlog will celebrate its Summer 2024 graduates Friday, Aug. 2 with three commencement ceremonies at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
College of Arts and Sciences graduates will participate in two ceremonies on Friday. Doctoral students will be hooded at the 9 a.m. ceremony while undergraduate and master鈥檚 students will cross the stage during the 7 p.m. ceremony.
The evening ceremony will feature a commencement address from Tim Cerio, president, CEO, and executive director of Citizens Property Insurance. Cerio also sits on the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System of Florida. Nearly a quarter of the 2,834 degrees FSU will award this summer are undergraduate and graduate students from arts and sciences disciplines.
鈥淪ummer commencement is the final celebratory event of the academic year, just in front of the launch of the new entering class,鈥 said Sam Huckaba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淚t adds a different type of energy than the large spring ceremony, more compact and with a summer flair. With the event, we want to applaud graduates and remind them that they will always have a strong connection to this institution.鈥
Traysea Malama-Auger, Susan Rogowski, and Nora Donoghue are among the college鈥檚 652 Summer 2024 graduates. Malama-Auger will receive a bachelor鈥檚 degree, and Rogowski and Donoghue will be awarded doctorates.
Malama-Auger, who was born in Hawaii and raised in Fernandina Beach, Florida, earned her bachelor鈥檚 degree in biological science though the . She founded FSU鈥檚 , a student-run birdwatching club affiliated with both the National Audubon Society and the local Apalachee Audubon Society. Through the club, Malama-Auger conducted research on avian window strikes on campus with the Spoonbill Society鈥檚 faculty adviser and professor of biological science Emily DuVal.
鈥淕etting motivated undergraduates involved in research and learning about the effect our built environment has on wild animal populations has been a rewarding experience,鈥 Malama-Auger said. 鈥淓arth faces a devastating biodiversity crisis, which is further compounded by climate change. The thought that entire animal cultures, behaviors, or adaptations could be lost simply because we did not study them in time is tragic. This urgency inspires me.鈥
Postgraduation, Malama-Auger has accepted a one-year lab manager position, after which she plans to attend graduate school.
While Malama-Auger and Rogowski share a passion for biological research, Rogowski approaches the discipline from a mathematical perspective.
Rogowski, who hails from Richmond, Virginia, earned her doctorate in biomathematics through the interdisciplinary , and her dissertation focuses on parameter estimation in mathematical modeling. When modeling biological phenomena, such as the effects of chemical cleaners on bacteria dynamics, it's important to have realistic parameters, which can include bacteria growth rates. However, accurate parameters can be difficult to establish, and Rogowski鈥檚 research investigates new methods for finding and estimating relevant biological parameters.
鈥淚 pursued biomathematics specifically because I wanted my research to be meaningful and helpful for the public,鈥 Rogowski said. 鈥淚 also love that I get to learn about biology 鈥 something I hadn鈥檛 studied since high school 鈥 and rediscovering the subject has reinvigorated my love for learning.鈥
As a summer graduate assistant, Rogowski has created and managed web content for FSU鈥檚 and served on the executive boards for the , , and . She will begin a postdoctoral position at North Carolina State University in the fall, working on a project funded by a National Science Foundation grant to develop disease models.
Donoghue, a Shrewsbury, Massachusetts native, is also graduating with a doctorate and has earned hers in classics, through the . Donoghue鈥檚 dissertation examines the development of domestic water management systems of Italian colonies founded between the third and second century B.C. and the impact these systems had for community planning.
鈥淭he domestic spheres of these colonies haven鈥檛 been discussed beyond the shift to urbanism, a gap my dissertation fills,鈥 Donoghue said. 鈥淭he different responses to water management due to regional and local environments illustrate how rainwater management shaped individual colonies鈥 architecture.鈥
Donoghue contributed to excavation of a Roman bath complex at the archaeological site in Italy, which has maintained a close partnership with FSU for more than a decade. She also served as a resident instructor at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome 鈥 a stand-alone institution boasting membership from more than 100 American universities 鈥 where she taught American study abroad students at Italian and French archaeological sites. Donoghue held a yearlong Teaching Associate Assistantship in FSU鈥檚 Program for Instructional Excellence, part of , and, following graduation, she will begin a position as a Teach@T眉bingen Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of T眉bingen in Germany.
For more about FSU鈥檚 Summer 2024 commencement activities, a full schedule of events, and livestream links, visit .