Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships Blog

Four alumni from Oberlin College have received this year’s 2009 National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship. Associate Professor of Chemisty at Oberlin, Manish Mehta, exclaims, “This year’s outcome of four winners is a healthy one, and it is yet another national recognition of the strength of the sciences at Oberlin, including student collaborations with faculty members.

The following Oberlin alumni were awarded the 2009 NSF GRF:

Peter Collopy, who graduated from Oberlin in 2007, is currently pursuing his graduate studies in the history and sociology of sciences at the University of Pennsylvannia.

Tera Levin, also a 2007 graduate, attends the University of California, Berkeley for evolutionary biology.

Alexander Nichols began his graduate studies in Fall 2008. He is enrolled in a joint Harvard-MIT program for biophysics.

David Smith is pursuing his PhD in molecular biology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

For the next three years during their graduate research, Collopy, Levin, Nichols, and Smith will each be receiving a $30,000 annual stipend and $10,500 for annual cost-of-education allowance as part of the fellowship.

For more information on the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, please visit www.nsfgrfp.org

Mary Leech, a member of the Cherokee nation, began her college career at San Jose State University, where she graduated with a BS in Geology in 1994. She then attended graduate school at Stanford University. In 1999, she finished her studies for her PhD in Geological and Environmental Studies. During her time at Stanford, she held a National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Fellowship. Since her time as an NSF fellow, she has received multiple grants for funding from the foundation.

Dr. Mary Leech has traveled to and studied a variety of geologic features in numerous countries. Her field research has brought her to Tibet, the Indian Himalayas, China, Norway, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Great Britain. Her current research interests include studying structural geology and tectonics, geochemistry, geochronology, and igneous and metamorphic petrology. Dr. Leech’s work in progress is being funded by an NSF grant. Dr. Leech and her colleagues will use the funding to purchase a field emission scanning electron microscope, which will be beneficial to students and faculty in their studies of chemistry, the geosciences, biology, physics, and engineering.

For more information on Dr. Mary Leech and other GRFP Fellows, please visit the Profiles of NSF Graduate Research Fellows site.

Cornell University researchers, Hod Lipson and Michael Schmidt, have discovered that their algorithm can be used to clarify fundamental natural laws. This is done with the use of a swinging double pendulum and other simple systems.

The algorithm was able to determine through the use of the pendulum, specific fundamental laws, without being provided any prior knowledge of physics. What had originally taken Sir Isaac Newton years to decipher, took the algorithm only a matter of hours.

The algorithm is based on Lipson’s previous research which he conducted with the NSF CAREER Award. The project was a Starfish, a robot with a ‘self-image’, that could repair itself when damaged.

Lipson’s colleague, Michael Schmidt, also worked on the algorithm research project while being funded by the NSF GRFP. In the future, both Schmidt and Lipson hope to use the algorithm to apply to biological systems as well.

For more information on Lipson and Schmidt’s work, please visit the following NSF Press Release.

Earlier today, a majority of applicants were notified of their results for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program. However, due to budget circumstances, the final number of awards and honorable mentions has yet to be determined. The following statement was published on the NSF GRFP FastLane site:

“Due to the complexity of the current budget situation, the 2009 GRFP awards will be announced in installments based on fields of study and other factors. The first installment is now available on FastLane. Awardees, as well as Applicants not recommended for funding, have been notified by email. Recipients of Honorable Mention and any additional Fellowship award offers will be forthcoming. Applicant ratings sheets will be available after all award announcements have been made. We thank you for your patience.”