Graduate student receives scholarship from national organization

A doctoral student in the College of Education's Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education recently was awarded a $5,000 scholarship from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation.

Bijoyaa Mohapatra, who plans to graduate from the University of Georgia in May with a PhD in communication sciences and disorders, received the Scholarship for International Students, which supports an international student enrolled in graduate study in the field of speech-language pathology or audiology who demonstrates outstanding academic achievement. Mohapatra completed her bachelor's degree from the University of Calcutta, and her master's from the University of Mysore, in India.

The honor marks the second year of honors for Mohapatra; in 2014, she was one of 10 graduate students named an Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences conference fellow. UGA has also named her an OVPI Outstanding Research Assistant for 2013-2014 and she was one of the UGA Graduate School's Emerging Leaders for 2014.

In her doctoral work at the University of Georgia College of Education, she is exploring ways to measure cognitive behaviors, such as attention and memory, and how they influence communication in people with neurogenic disorders, such as stroke and aphasia.

"I am delighted and honored to have received this significant award from the ASHFoundation," said Mohapatra. "It is very humbling to be recognized by the national association, and it gives me immense motivation to concentrate on my academic goals and realize my dream of becoming a researcher."

The ASHFoundation is affiliated with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and works to promote a better quality of life for children and adults with communication disorders. ASHA is a national professional, scientific and credentialing association for more than 182,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists and speech, language and hearing scientists.