• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Logo for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan
  • Strategic Directions
  • News and Events
  • Contact

  • About
    • History
    • Strategic Directions
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
      • CEE DEI Committee
      • DEI Resources
      • Have a concern?
    • Alumni
      • CEE Friends Association
        • CEEFA Board
      • Award Winners
    • Giving
      • Giving Legacy
    • Leadership and Governance
    • Faculty Search
      • Faculty Position in Environmental Engineering
      • Faculty Position in Intelligent Systems
    • Contact
      • Student Services Contacts
      • Master’s Advising Contacts
      • Undergraduate Advising Contacts
  • Undergraduate Studies
    • BSE Degree in Civil Engineering
    • BSE Degree in Environmental Engineering
    • Minor in Civil Engineering
    • Minor in Environmental Engineering
    • FocusCEE
      • Community Policy and Planning
      • Smart Cities
      • Sustainability
    • Undergraduate Opportunities
      • Undergraduate Externship
      • Student Research and Employment
        • CEE SURE/SROP Projects 2023
    • Schedule an Advising Appointment
    • Declare Your Major
    • Careers in CEE
      • What is a Civil or Environmental Engineer?
      • Career Pathways
      • Employers of CEE Graduates
      • How to Recruit CEE Graduates
    • Undergraduate Student Advisory Council
    • Student Life
  • Graduate Studies
    • Master’s Programs
    • PhD Programs
      • PhD Mentoring Framework
      • PhD Candidate Roster
    • Pelham Scholars Program
    • Online Learning
      • Construction Engineering and Management MasterTrack™
    • Admissions Information
      • International Applicants
      • Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies (SUGS) Applicants
    • Graduate Handbook
    • Graduate Student Advisory Council
    • Student Life
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Affiliated Faculty
      • Core Faculty
      • Emeritus Faculty
    • Postdocs
    • Researchers
    • Staff
      • Administrative
      • Finance
      • Human Resources
      • IT & Web
      • Laboratory Technicians
      • Purchasing
      • Student Services
  • Research
    • New Grants
    • Civil Infrastructure Systems
      • Construction Engineering and Management
      • Geotechnical Engineering
      • Intelligent Systems
      • Next Generation Transportation Systems
      • Structural and Materials Engineering
    • Environment and Water Resources
      • Ecohydrology and Hydraulic Engineering
      • Energy and Clean Technology
      • Environmental Chemistry and Soil Physics
      • Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology
    • Smart Infrastructure Finance
    • Urban Collaboratory
    • Facilities
      • Advanced Materials Research
      • Cementitious Composites
      • Center of Excellence in Bridges and Structures
      • Computational Community Resilience
      • Computational Structural Simulation
      • Construction Engineering Lab
      • Geotechnical Engineering Labs
      • Intelligent Structural Technology
      • Next Generation Infrastructure
      • Next Generation Transportation Systems Research Facilities
      • Pavement Research Center of Excellence
      • Structural Engineering Lab
  • Resources
    • Shipping
    • Purchasing
      • Purchasing Frequently Asked Questions
    • Reimbursement
    • IT Resources
    • Lab Safety
      • Lab Safety Basics
      • Minimum Training Requirements
    • Lab Requests and Procedures
    • Room Requests
    • Faculty Intranet
    • Strategic Directions
    • News and Events
    • Contact

Dianna Kitt awarded Ford Predoctoral Fellowship

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine fellowship provides promising PhD students three years of graduate funding.

Written by: Riley Wilson

August 11, 2021

Environmental Engineering PhD student Dianna Kitt has received a Ford Foundation 2021 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. The fellowship provides three years of financial support for graduate students working towards a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Doctor of Science (ScD) degree.

The award honors students who “have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level in the U.S., show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students,” according to the National Academies website.

Kitt holds a BSE in Environmental Engineering from the University of Delaware and a MSE in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her PhD research focuses on the recovery of valuable products from waste streams using anaerobic bioprocesses and utilizing interdisciplinary biotechnology, microbial community analysis and mathematical modeling approaches to better understand and manipulate the microbial communities responsible for product recovery. 

Kitt’s dissertation explores how platform chemicals can be recovered through anaerobic treatment of organic waste streams. She is particularly interested in identifying waste streams that so far have not been used for product recovery. She plans to develop novel bioreactor systems for resource recovery, and to integrate microbial community network modeling with process engineering to optimize bioreactor performance. 

“I was very pleased to learn Dianna was selected to receive a Ford Foundation Fellowship,” wrote Kitt’s advisor, Vernon L. Snoeyink Distinguished University Professor Lut Raskin. “This award recognizes her impressive academic performance so far, her leadership potential and her outstanding promise as a future faculty member.” 

Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation recognizes students who have demonstrated sustained personal investment in underrepresented communities and who use this experience to enhance their teaching and scholarship. 

Kitt is one of approximately 70 graduate students to receive a 2021 predoctoral fellowship. In addition to an annual stipend, awardees are invited to the annual Conference of Ford Fellows and are connected with a network of former Ford Fellow mentors.


MEDIA CONTACT

Portrait of Michele Santillan

Michele Santillan

Marketing Communications Specialist
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

(734) 748-1283

mssantil@umich.edu

Explore: Awards Civil and Environmental Engineering Students Shaping Resource Flows

Footer

Logo for Michigan Engineering at the University of Michigan

  • Giving
  • News and Events
  • Contact
  • Sign up for our newsletter
  • U-M Engineering Home
  • Strategic Vision
  • Graduate and Professional
  • Undergraduate
  • U-M Engineering Research News
  • U-M Home

  • Giving
  • News and Events
  • Contact
  • Sign up for our newsletter

© 2023 The Regents of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Policy | Campus Safety

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube