Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships Blog

Senior awarded National Science Foundation fellowship

Virginia Tech senior and honors student Brian Skinner, of St. Anthony, Idaho, has been awarded a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Skinner, who is double majoring in physics and mechanical engineering, will use the $90,000 award to research complex systems and emergent behavior in theoretical physics at the University of Minnesota this fall.

Skinner is one of only 1,000 students nationwide to receive NSF graduate research funding this year, and one of only 46 physics majors nationally to receive the award. Skinner plans to pursue a doctoral degree in hopes of obtaining an academic position as a professor at a research university where he can pursue research and teach physics.