In a ceremony on February, 2, SPP Doctoral alum Srisombat Chokprajakchat received an award from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) for her dissertation about the creation of the Thai FBI.

“The deputy Prime Minister gave certificates to me and other student winners, and the event was televised on Thai TV Channel 11,” said Chokprajakchat, who graduated from Mason in January 2004.

In addition to the award, given annually to Ph.D. students who have “contributed significant ideas or knowledge to the research community,” Chokprajakchat received a cash prize of $500, and her dissertation, “Thailand’s Agenda-Setting Process: The Foundation of the Special Investigation Department Using the FBI,” was published in an annual NRCT publication.
“I am so proud of this award because I never expected to receive this honor. I have to thank all my advisers, Professors Susan Tolchin, James P. Pfiffner, Stephen Fuller and Wallace Warfield,” Chokprajakchat said.

Chokprajakchat, who is a Doctoral Program Director in Criminal Justice Administration at Thailand’s Mahidol University, says she continues to draw upon her SPP education, especially as she embarks on new research projects. “Now, I am linking the idea of criminal justice to government policy and I focus on criminal policy. My interest is in evaluating criminal policies,” she said.

She added, “Although my time at GMU was too short, I learned many things from SPP. I saw SPP professors working hard in their academic careers…I also learned that we have to contribute our knowledge to our communities.”

Chokprajakchat hopes to continue contributing her knowledge to students and others through academia. “I love having an academic career and I would like to contribute my knowledge to developing my communities. Currently, the Thai government pays attention to policy discipline and uses policy as a main tool to push government projects. But Thai books and articles on public policy seldom appear in the academic arena. I hope to educate this community about policy.”