Drs. Birkenbach and Oremus are thrilled to share the exciting news that their first PhD student, Seleni Cruz, has successfully defended her dissertation! In August, Seleni will begin her next life chapter as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Environmental Science at Texas A&M University at Galveston. These feats are especially impressive given the headwinds Seleni faced in starting her program during the COVID-19 pandemic and ending it in a challenging job market year. Besides being the inaugural student of the Birkenbach-Oremus lab, Seleni was also one of the first students to transfer into and graduate from the new Environmental Economics PhD program at UD, navigating its administrative growing pains with humor and grace.
No goodbyes just yet–graduation ceremonies and more celebrations are still to come–but a big congratulations to Seleni!!!