Two Carleton PhD students were awarded with the prestigious Vanier Scholarship, which will supply them each with $50,000 per year, for up to three years.
Rawan Alkurd and Joanne Farrall are both in the second year of their PhD, but their areas of research are different.
The Vanier Scholarship judges applicants based on leadership, research potential, and academic excellence, according to the scholarship website. The applicants are given a score in each area and the score is then totalled to determine a winner.
Alkurd is currently pursuing her PhD in computer engineering. According to her research supervisor, Halim Yanikomeroglu, her field of research is on wireless technologies, specifically the fifth generation, which he believes will be available to the public as of 2020.
Alkurd said her initial research proposal focused on millimetre wave communication, but she has since narrowed it down to focus on the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence, and its potential in the fifth generation cellular network. She added it has been an extremely difficult field of study because it’s so recent, resulting in lack of technical research.
“It’s very complicated . . . if you’re not really into the field you cannot imagine how complicated the problems are,” Alkurd said.
But the challenges she faces only strengthens her resolve, she said.
“It’s going to be very rewarding if I’m able to produce something in this industry,” she said. Alkurd said she believes there is a big future for her research, as it has a very practical application.
Yanikomeroglu said he encouraged her to apply for the Vanier Scholarship, believing her to be the perfect candidate.
Alkurd said she plans to use the money to support herself and to pay for tuition, conferences, and online courses to help in her research.
While Alkurd said she imagines herself becoming a professor one day and helping other students pursue their dreams, she also has ambition to start her own company with the technology she has developed.
Farrall had a slightly different experience with the scholarship. She was nominated by the Carleton communications department and was astonished to learn she had won.
“When I found out I had won, I screamed out loud,” she said.
Currently, she is researching how social media posts of victims of violence are used by different actors, such as the government, the media, or activist groups.
Farrall said she is passionate about justice, and finds the narratives of these cases fascinating.
She did her masters at Queen’s University on Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old girl from British Columbia, who committed suicide in 2012 after being cyber-bullied. Farrall’s research focused specifically on a video Todd posted before her death, and its results on anti-bullying campaigns and legislation.
She said she began her PhD at Carleton researching Sandra Bland, an American woman of colour who died while in police custody in July 2015.
Farrall said cases that garner attention are interesting.
“I think it’s important to ask why we look the places we look. Why are we looking at this case and not another case . . . from there, we can sort of illuminate all the other things that are happening,” she said.
In the future, Farell said she hopes to work in academia, or otherwise, a non-profit organization for anti-violence. She plans to use the scholarship to fund her research and support her family.
Since 2009-10, nine Carleton PhD students have been awarded the Vanier scholarship.
