Burrel Vann Jr., a graduate student in the Department of Sociology, has been awarded the William R. Harburger Memorial Dissertation Fellowship.

Granted to three recipients for the 2017-18 academic year, the Harburger Fellowship recognizes first-generation male grad students at UCI who demonstrate academic excellence.

Vann, whose research interests include political sociology, social movements, and drugs and crime, has been awarded a number of academic- and research-based grants throughout his time at UCI, including a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship in 2016. His dissertation pulls from three studies to examine the causes of support of marijuana legalization in the U.S.

Vann will be awarded $12,000 to help cover educational costs through the remainder of the 2017/18 school year. He expects to be hooded this spring.

Christian Bustillos, chemical engineering and Korosh Vatanparvar, computer engineering were also awarded fellowships.