Gropp, Signorelli honored for outstanding theses

Matthew Gropp and Julia Signorelli recently received the Graduate School’s Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award.

The Master’s Thesis Award goes annually to a student nominated by faculty for the quality of their thesis work. This year’s award applies to students who completed their master’s degree requirements and thesis between fall 2016 and summer 2018. Recipients receive a plaque and cash prize.

Gropp, who completed a Master of Science in Earth Sciences, authored “Assessing the Impact of the Nocturnal Transition on the Lifetime and Evolution of Supercell Thunderstorms in the Great Plains.” It seeks to better predict how supercells, a weather system producing severe storms and possibly hail and tornadoes, will evolve by focusing on trends in environmental parameters.

Signorelli, who earned a Master of Arts in English, wrote “Of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Hamplanets and Fatspeak: The Venting Genre as Support and Subversion on Reddit’s r/FatPeopleStories,” which analyzed content of this popular online venue to examine how these discussions can both support and challenge cultural norms.