Adam Ortego is the University of 麻豆果冻传媒 at Lafayette鈥檚 overall Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate.
Ortego is among seven award finalists who will be recognized Friday and Saturday during Spring 2023 Commencement ceremonies. Individual ceremonies for 麻豆果冻传媒 Lafayette鈥檚 eight academic colleges will be held at the Cajundome and the Cajundome Convention Center.
Graduate programs nominate one student as their Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate. Criteria include leadership, scholarship, service and research. The dean of the University鈥檚 Graduate School leads a panel that selects the top candidates. An Alumni Association committee interviews the finalists and chooses an overall Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate.
In addition to being the spring semester鈥檚 overall honoree, Ortego represents the School of Architecture and Design in the College of the Arts. He is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in architecture.
Ortego earned a Design Excellence Award for his 鈥淭owards a Collective Consciousness鈥 project. It created space with no boundaries or biases and revealed a shared desire for health, safety and opportunity.
He made a virtual presentation based on his master鈥檚 thesis project at Queer Atmosphere in Public Spaces, an online international symposium. Ortego鈥檚 thesis 鈥 鈥淨ueer Built: Reflections on the Act of Making Place鈥 鈥 addresses inclusivity in the public realm.
As a graduate assistant, Ortego has conducted research and taught in the school鈥檚 design studios. He worked as an intern at Remson Haley Herpin Architects, contributing to numerous projects including at University Terrace Elementary School and Prairieville High School. Ortego plans to work in architectural design in a metropolitan area.
Here鈥檚 a look at the remaining Spring 2023 Outstanding Graduates.
L茅a Fougerolle is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the Department of Modern Languages in the College of Liberal Arts. She is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in French.
Fougerolle earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in cultural studies from the Universit茅 de Lorraine in Nancy, France; she also holds a master鈥檚 degree in social sciences from the 脡cole des Hautes 脡tudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Among her research interests are sensory experiences and the arts; French and Belgian poetry from the 20th and 21st centuries; ecocriticism; small presses, publishing and archives; and translation studies.
Fougerolle has served as editorial assistant for 鈥溍塼udes Francophones,鈥 the Department of Modern Languages鈥 scholarly journal devoted to the study of Francophone literatures and cultures. She plans to teach French literature. Fougerolle is also working on a magazine project to translate contemporary French poets into American English, and American poets into French.
Kevin Hilbun is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the School of Music & Performing Arts in the College of the Arts. He is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in music.
Hilbun is a widely published composer and editor of compositions for other musicians. He sings and plays a range of instruments, including trombone, electric bass, bass drum, string bass and guitar. Hilbun performs regularly with a variety of musicians at events such as Festival International and Festivals Acadiens et Cr茅oles.
He held many leadership roles in the School of Music and Performing Arts, including its Low Brass Studio, Symphony Orchestra, Brass Ensemble and Wind Ensemble. Hilbun has also served as a graduate teaching assistant in undergraduate music theory courses.
He plans to teach public school students in the Acadiana region. Hilbun will also continue to write music, edit the work of other composers and perform.
Oakley Montgomery is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts. She is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in English.
Montgomery completed her degree requirements while working as a full-time English teacher at St. Thomas More High School. Her focus is British and American literature. She also teaches those subjects to high school students taking college-level courses as part of dual enrollment programs at 麻豆果冻传媒 Lafayette.
Montgomery has published two books. 鈥淭he Ceiling Winked鈥 is a collection of stories about life鈥檚 quirks and mishaps. 鈥淏lame it on the Moon鈥 is a book of poetry divided into three chapters. She contributed to a collaborative essay about the work of the writer Randall Kenan that will be published by the 鈥淣orth Carolina Literary Review.鈥
Montgomery will continue to teach high school and also plans to earn a Ph.D. in creative writing.
Brianna Sadighian is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts. She is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in psychology.
Sadighian conducted research in the department鈥檚 Data Science Application in Social and Community Psychology lab. She examined social, community and cross-cultural psychology using innovative research methods and computational analytic techniques.
As part of her thesis study, Sadighian examined whether generation status, cultural values and stigma predicted mental health help-seeking behaviors among Asian Americans. She contributed significantly to a chapter that will be included in the book 鈥淪trategic Social Media as Activism: Repression, Resistance, Rebellion, Reform.鈥 It will be published by Routledge, a global publisher of academic texts.
Sadighian has presented research at many national and regional conferences. She assisted with assessments and evaluations in the department鈥檚 Psychological Assessment Clinic. Sadighian plans to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology.
Emily Walker is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the School of Kinesiology in the College of Education & Human Development. She is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in athletic training.
Walker served as president of the school鈥檚 Sports Medicine Association. Her widely published research includes a study that examined impaired anabolic response that led to decreased muscle synthesis in mice with colon cancer. Her capstone project focused on heat illness education.
Walker served as a student athletic trainer for the University鈥檚 baseball and track and field teams. She managed rehabilitative care for lumbar disc herniations and lower back muscular injuries. Walker also learned various forms of instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization treatment.
She will work as an athletic trainer in collegiate track and field and pursue a doctorate. Her eventual goal is to teach at a college or university.
Joshua Wilson is an Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Finalist for the Department of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering. He is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in chemical engineering.
Wilson participated in the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship Program. He spent several months at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, Wyoming, researching chemical looping combustion.
Wilson has conducted extensive research at the University on solid oxide fuel cells, including in in areas such as operation, cell fabrication and test methods. He relied on his expertise to build an initial thermodynamic model that was validated with input and guidance from industry professionals at NASA, Boeing and Nexceris.
Wilson authored a technical paper on model construction and initial output data that was published in 鈥淓nergies,鈥 a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. He will work for a chemical company as an engineer and business development manager.
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Photo caption: The University of 麻豆果冻传媒 at Lafayette鈥檚 Spring 2023 Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduates, shown from left with Dr. Joseph Savoie, 麻豆果冻传媒 Lafayette president, are: Oakley Montgomery, Department of English; Kevin Hilbun, School of Music & Performing Arts; Joshua Wilson, Department of Chemical Engineering; Emily Walker, School of Kinesiology; Overall Outstanding Master鈥檚 Graduate Adam Ortego, School of Architecture and Design; and, Brianna Sadighian, Department of Psychology. Not pictured is L茅a Fougerolle, Department of Modern Languages. Photo credit: Doug Dugas / University of 麻豆果冻传媒 at Lafayette