Ohio State Optometry Graduate Student Receives Arene T. Wray Award

The Ohio State University College of Optometry Research and Graduate Studies Committee annually presents the Arene T. Wray Award to a top PhD student who exhibits dedication to advancing vision research. The 2016 recipient of this honor is Dr. Tamara Oechslin.

The award was established in 1972 to incentivize promising graduate students to conduct meaningful research that ultimately will affect how optometrists treat patients and improve their quality of life.

“Tamara’s research focuses on very important questions for optometrists and their young patients. She is examining brain activity during eye movements , and she tracks the eyes of four- and five-year-old, hyperopic children while they read. All of this work is extremely important to aid the early education and literacy of young children,” says Dr. Jeffrey Walline, associate professor for research.

Dr. Oechslin earned undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry with a secondary teaching certificate from Iowa State University in 1996 and OD/MS degrees from The Ohio State University in 2011. After more than a decade in the classroom, she is now using her PhD studies to examine relationships between visual skills and reading readiness.