Three IUP Students Part of Three Minute Thesis Competition Held During Annual Research Appreciation Week

Dawood presented "The Culture of Resettling Lives," Jones presented "Brown's Farm: A 19th and 20th Century African American Farmstead," and Mmoud presented "College Students' Expectations from Their Instructors in Today's Classroom." Mmoud won the judge's award, and Jones won the people's choice award.

Dawood's faculty mentor for her Three Minute Thesis research is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology Daniel Heckert.

Dawood works as a tutor for IUP's Office of International Education and is a proctor for IUP's Department for Disability Access and Advising. She won Outstanding Poster Awards during the 2023 and 2025 Scholars Forum and was selected for the 2025 IUP Graduate School Scholarship for best research. In addition, she won the AAUW Indiana Patti Holmes Memorial Scholarship in 2025, which honors women's research that advances gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.

In addition to her presentation during the Three Minute Thesis competition, she presented "Settled, Unsettled, Resettled" during the scholars forum poster session and was a co-presenter for a podium presentation during the scholars forum: "Graduate Writers in the Digital Age: Navigating Reddit for Academic Writing." Her faculty mentor for the "Graduate Writers in the Digital Age: Navigating Reddit for Academic Writing" is Dana Driscoll, Department of Language, Literature, and Writing.

Jones, a 2014 graduate of Mathematics Civics and Science Charter School, won first place in the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology student paper competition and won the Mike Klein Memorial Poster Competition at the Middle Atlantic Archeological Conference.

Jones also presented his research during the Scholars Forum poster session. His faculty mentor is Distinguished University Professor Ben Ford.

Mmoud is a teaching associate at IUP and participated in the 2024 Scholars Forum. His faculty mentor for his project is Jacqueline McGinty from the Department of Professional Studies in Education.

In 2022, IUP was designated as a Doctoral University-High Research Activity (R2) by the National Center for Postsecondary Research's Carnegie Classification in recognition of its commitment to research and student success; this ranking was reaffirmed in February 2025.

IUP is one of only two public universities in Pennsylvania and one of only 97 public universities with this ranking in the United States. More than 3,900 colleges and universities are included in the ranking system.

Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary during the 2025-26 academic year and through the Impact 150 comprehensive campaign, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking to its next 150 years of student success, innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.