Diné College student
completes two degrees in two years
Submitted | Diné College
Diné College student Sheldon N. Chee, left, stands with Oleksandr Makeyev. Chee defended his master’s thesis in biology May 4, becoming the sixth graduate in the college’s biology master’s program and the second Honors Scholar to complete his graduate and undergraduate degrees at the same time.
TSAILE, Ariz.
Diné College student Sheldon N. Chee defended his master’s thesis in biology May 4, becoming the sixth graduate in the biology master’s program and the second Honors Scholar to complete his graduate and undergraduate degrees at the same time.
Chee finished both degrees in two years and wrote three first-author research papers, according to Diné College.
His thesis examined tripolar concentric ring electrodes, which are used to record electrical activity from the brain. Chee studied whether salt bridge shorting caused the electrode’s nearby recording surfaces to produce the same signals instead of separate ones.
His research showed the signals remained separate in resting human brain signal data, according to the college.
Chee presented his results at the 2026 NSF TCUP Research Symposium in Alexandria, Virginia, from May 19-21. He attended with Diné College students Dominique D. Clichee and Meagan H. Damon, who also presented research from Oleksandr Makeyev’s Mathematics for Engineering Applications lab.
Chee plans to earn a doctorate while holding a faculty position at a tribal college or university, according to Diné College.
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