2025–2026 Executive Team
The Executive Team for the 2024–2025 term is here to support the operations of the GSG assembly, and spearhead efforts to build a graduate community that opens up avenues for advocacy for and by graduate students.
Please feel free to reach out to any E-Board member throughout the year. No concern is too small. We are here for you!
Ph.D. in Journalism Studies
Keegan Clements-Housser is a Ph.D. candidate at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at University of Maryland, College Park. His research focus is on mapping and bridging the rigor-relevance divide or the "knowledge gap" between practicing journalists and journalism scholars. Prior to this, he spent a decade as a journalist, media analyst, and consultant in Portland, Oregon. He was a research assistant at Urbanism Next, a University of Oregon-based research center focused on investigating the impacts of automation and e-commerce on urban planning and design. He was also project manager at Gather, an Agora Journalism Center-based project and platform to support community-minded journalists and other engagement professionals. Prior to his Presidency, Keegan served as the Director of Operations, Keegan was the Journalism Studies (JOST) representative to GSG from 2022-2024, where he served in a variety of capacities, including chairing the 2022-2023 Student Affairs Committee.
Ph.D. in Journalism Studies
Ivy A. Lyons is a PhD candidate in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at UMD. Their research focuses on the intersections of identities, rhetoric, journalism practices and the progress of journalism in the 21st century. Before entering Merrill College, they gained invaluable experience as an Ed Greelegs Scholarship recipient turned Capitol Hill staffer, as well as a young journalist at WTOP News, 7News and NBC News in Washington.
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PhD, Electrical Engineering
Sydney Overton is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her research focuses on micro- to milli- scale devices for measuring specific biomarkers in the gastrointestinal tract. Sydney has previously served as an Electrical and Computer Engineering program representative in GSG and as the president of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Student Association. She is currently a member of
the Engineering Graduate Student Society and Engineering Senator.
Ph.D. in Government and Politics
Lizzie Irlbacher is a Ph.D. student in Government and Politics. Her research explores elections, institutions, and contentious politics in developing democracies with a regional focus in East Africa. Lizzie has conducted fieldwork in Kenya. During the 2023-2024 academic year, she lived in Kenya learning Swahili with the Boren Fellowship. Her previous experience in GSG includes being a department rep for Government and Politics, and serving as Vice-President of Legislative Affairs.
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Ph. D. in Second Language Acqusition
Micheline is a Ph.D. student in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on multilingual language processing. Before starting her Ph.D., she earned an M.A. in Linguistics from Northeastern Illinois University and a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Basel in Switzerland. She is deeply passionate about fostering graduate student wellbeing and building an inclusive, diverse academic community where all voices are valued and supported.