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Joshua Fu and Graduate Students Honored by Graduate Student Senate

Elina Geut, Jenny Retherford, and Tim Truster

Elina Geut, center, with Jennifer Retherford and Timothy Truster.


The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) hosted the Third Annual GSS Awards Ceremony and Breakfast on April 5, 2019, during Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week.

John D. Tickle Professor Joshua Fu was honored with Graduate Research Mentor of the Year for his outstanding commitment to mentoring graduate research students.

“Dr. Fu takes the time to shepherd each of the students he mentors at the University of Tennessee,” said Cara Sulyok, Graduate Student Senate President. “It was his outreach that first drew us to his program, and it is his continued reaching out to us, even via Skype from half way around the world, that encourages us to keep working, cooperating, and producing useful and beneficial knowledge and services for the good of the environment, the University, and society at large. Under Dr. Fu’s guidance, we have contributed to more than 10 scientific publications, and accomplished five presentations in international conferences during 2018, and we have received great feedback from the science community.”

Jiani Tan, a doctoral student who is advised by professor Fu, also received the Excellence in Graduate Research Award, which is given to graduate students for promise in their area of research.

“Jiani’s research pertains to global total atmospheric deposition and has gained international attention,” Fu said. “I am fortunate to be her advisor and enjoy working with her and see her growing to be an excellent researcher. She will become an authority in the area in the future because of her painstaking attention to quality research as well as her commitment and passion for advancing the research in the area of air quality.”

Master’s student Elina Geut, who is advised by Professor Tim Truster and serves as a graduate teaching assistant to Senior Lecturer Jenny Retherford, received recognition for her excellence in graduate student teaching.

Elina is energetic and relates well to students. I saw her passion for engineering when she visited last spring and was pleased when she joined my research group. While diving into her studies already, she also takes the time for valuable feedback and interactions with students in class.”

—Tim Truster

Retherford echoed the fact that Geut has exceptional energy and passion. “Elina has energy that is unmatched by others in our graduate program,” she said. “She has a sincere joy for structural engineering and the civil engineering profession. Her passion in her educational path has been so heart-warming and is contagious with the undergraduates she mentors.”