UA Students Earn NSF Fellowships
José Manuel Álvarez (in photo) and Joshua Holst, both anthropology students, along with linguistics student, Kara Hawthorne, have received the prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship…
With his grant, Álvarez wil examine multicrafting within households by analyzing the variability in flaked stone tools from floor and trash mound contexts at the Marana Mound site in the Tortolita Mountains. The project will contribute to the understanding of the Marana Mound site and Hohokam prehistory and shed light on the relationship between domestic and external trade activities.
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The NSF fellowship will enable Holst to conduct an ethnography on the “resource curse,” a phenomenon where countries that are exporting primary commodities face an increased risk of armed conflict. He will collaborate with the Jungle Quichua communities inhabiting the Ecuadorian-Colombian border to do a dual ethnology. During his research, he will work with decision-makers within the petroleum industry impacting the region.
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Hawthorne, a doctoral degree candidate, will conduct three research projects to study language acquisition in children between the ages of 2 and 7.
“It’s quite an honor, and it has motivated me to get an early start to my research career,” Hawthorse said. “Research in language acquisition is a crucial step in understanding normal development, so that we are better able to help those with developmental problems.”
Related: Arizona State Students Receive NSF Fellowship - NSF Fellow: Ekaterina Hristova Spriggs
Five Grinnell College Graduates Awarded NSF GRFP
The five Grinnell graduates named NSF Fellows include:
* Adam Booth ‘04, with a major in physics, is pursuing graduate study in geology at the University of Oregon.
* Natalie Funk ‘07, with majors in biological chemistry and French, is studying molecular biology at Harvard University.
* Amber Jolly ‘06, with a major in biological chemistry, is pursuing graduate study in cell biology at Northwestern University.
* Katherine Lewin ‘05, with a major in biology, is studying neurosciences at Duke University.
* Elizabeth Pekarek ‘05, with a major in biology, is pursuing graduate study in evolutionary biology at Duke University.
Each of these NSF Fellows conducted undergraduate research while at Grinnell. Eight other alumni were named to honorable mention by the fellows program.
Grinnell, where approximately one-third of students major in science, ranks high nationally in the matriculation of graduates who later complete Ph.D.s in chemistry (6th nationally); biological sciences (9th); psychology (9th); and physics (20th).
Jumie Yuventi is a 2008 NSF GRF recipient in Electrical Engineering. Jumie plans to use the fellowship to continue his work in Engineering Education, Micro-architecture and circuitry at Stanford University beginning in fall 2008.
Before graduating in December 2007, Jumie Yuventi had completed over two years of undergraduate research at his alma Mater, The City College of New York. The majority of his research endeavors have been through the New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Research Program (NYC LSAMP), funded by the NSF.
After obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree Jumie has continued to work as a web developer for the NYC LSAMP on ProjectSTEM.net, an endeavor that seeks to promote and facilitate collaborative research via the Internet.
He attributes a lot of his more recent success to Dr. Claude Brathwaite, the director of the NYC LSAMP. Dr. Brathwaite encouraged Jumie to get involved in different research projects and also informed him of the NSF Graduate Fellowship award.
Prestigious NSF Graduate Fellowships offered to Cockrell School engineering students
Current graduate students who received fellowships include Jessica Allen, Patrick Doody, Rachel Gerver, Daniel Miller and Cassandra Telenko.
Allen is a first year mechanical engineering doctoral student in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab. She is currently studying the compensatory mechanisms used by post-stroke hemiparetic patients and how they change over the course of rehabilitation. By analyzing experimental data from clinical trials and computer simulations of hemiparetic gait, she hopes to advance the development of individualized rehabilitation programs.
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Doody is a second-year master’s degree student in the energy systems area of electrical engineering. His research focuses on defining a set of metrics to quantify the degree of inter- and intra-hour wind power variability and intermittency. Such metrics are expected to help grid planners and operators integrate and manage large wind power plants.
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Four university graduates received the fellowships to attend universities across the nation to pursue graduate degrees.
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Five university alumni already pursuing graduate degrees around the United States also received the fellowships.
Kyle Osberg a doctoral student in materials science and engineering at Northwestern University is researching the development of novel one-dimensional nanomaterials for applications in electronics and chemical and biological detection.
Edwina Lai a doctoral student in chemical engineering at Stanford University, will focus on using collagen as a tissue scaffold to directionally guide the growth of cells. This research will have potential applications in tissue regeneration.
University of Virginia Graduate Students Secure Esteemed NSF Fellowships
Justin Henriques, David Hondula and Isabelle Stanton are among a select group of 913 students nationwide who were awarded financial support through the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
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Justin Henriques, Systems and Information Engineering (Adviser: Garrick Louis)
Henriques, a master’s student in systems and information engineering, is working to create a decision support model to assist developing communities in determining appropriate and sustainable technologies to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation services. Henriques’ research will build on Capacity Factor Analysis, a systems analysis technique developed by his advisor, associate professor Garrick Louis. Since 1.1 billion people lack access to safe water, and over 2.4 billion lack access to safe sanitation services, this is a significant global challenge.
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• David Hondula, Environmental Sciences (Adviser: Robert Davis)
Hondula, a master’s student in atmospheric science in the Department of Environmental Sciences, is investigating the impacts of weather and climate on the respiratory health of residents of Washington, D.C. “I think one of the strengths of David’s proposal is that declining respiratory health is an emerging environmental problem,” said professor Robert Davis, Hondula’s adviser.
Hondula will examine the interrelationships between the many environmental causes of respiratory distress, including weather, pollution and pollen. “This is an important project because conditions like asthma and bronchitis are related to a wide variety of both indoor and outdoor factors,”
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• Isabelle Stanton, Computer Science (Adviser: Nina Mishra)
Doctoral candidate Isabelle Stanton’s computer science research is working to address privacy challenges brought on by online social networking - including interactions through instant messaging, e-mails, and Web sites like Facebook.
She is developing algorithms that allow representations, or social graphs, of who interacts with who to be released while still preserving user privacy. Stanton’s findings may have tremendous practical value in a wide variety of fields, from sociology to marketing.
Engineering physics major, Karen Vaughn, offered NSF and NDSEG Fellowships
Karen Vaughn, a graduating senior from Case Western Reserve University, faces a tough decision as a new graduate. Having received two major awards to support her graduate education at the University of California at Berkeley, Vaughn will have to decide between accepting the National Science Foundation Fellowship or the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
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Vaughn came to the university as a transfer student from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. She says she chose Case Western Reserve for its opportunities to participate in undergraduate research projects and has spent the last two years working with physics professor Charles Rosenblatt’s research group on the study of liquid crystals.
The Rosenblatt group’s research project examined ways to control the liquid crystal orientation on a surface by controlling the “pre-tilt” angle, with the ultimate goal of achieving this on a pixel-by-pixel basis using ink-jet technology.
“If we are successful, we will be able to develop new types of switchable optical gratings for purposes of laser beam steering and optical communications,” said Rosenblatt.
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For her senior capstone project, Vaughn designed a microelectrical mechanical system (MEMS) resonator and tested the use of silicon carbide as a potential material for the resonator. She worked on the research with Mehran Mehregany, Goodrich Professor of Engineering Innovation at the Case School of Engineering and one of the pioneers of MEMS research. She plans to continue that area of research when she heads to Berkeley in the fall where she will pursue her interests in MEMS and optoelectronics.
While engineering research takes up much of her time, Vaughn has found time to continue developing her skills as a fencer and participated in the Midwestern Conference Championship. She also spends her off-campus time snow skiing in winter and water skiing in summer and thinks the two sports might translate into surfing if she has a chance to try it during her studies not far from the Pacific Ocean.
Since childhood, Vaughn said never doubted she would go into the sciences.
“I grew up in a science-minded family,” she said, adding that her father is an engineer with several patents on inventions and an uncle is a chemist.
Having fun with her father, she recalls how he conducted an experiment in the kitchen using the car battery to show the Vaughn children how to create an electromagnet and another one growing bean seeds in different soil and amounts of water to track growth.
Christopher Colson and Sarah (Grochowski) Lukes (photo), are both working on their doctorates in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Two MSU students receive NSF research fellowships
Colson, who used to be a nuclear engineer officer on a submarine, will focus on power systems related to alternative energy. Lukes, who was MSU’s top engineering student in 2005, will work to improve the focus controls on optical instruments used in surgery.
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Before coming to MSU, Colson, a native of Washington, D.C., graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1999 and served most of seven years on a submarine. When his service ended, Colson said he was “kind of reborn as an electrical engineer” and decided to attend graduate school. He was attracted to MSU because of its strong power systems program. “I always knew I wanted to pursue research,” Colson added.
His time on the submarine was all about nuclear energy, Colson said. He will use his fellowship to work on power management of power generation systems as they relate to alternative energy. “It’s an absolutely relevant topic for the NSF to be supporting,” Colson said.
Lukes, a native of Casper, Wyo., will use her fellowship to improve the focus controls on optical imaging devices. She will work in the Montana Microfabrication Facility at MSU and apply her understanding of mechanical systems to catheter-based microscopy.
Lukes earned her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. She became interested in research and developed her abilities through internships, Lukes said. At the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., she analyzed the joint space in knees and attended several conferences on transplants and related technology. At Boston Scientific, she was involved in stent development. When she interned with Ross Snider at MSU, she helped analyze neurological data from crickets. She learned machining while working in Doug Cairns’ composite materials laboratory at MSU.
Two graduating seniors taking $100K-plus fellowships to MIT
Among other research projects, Palmer traveled to Armenia, where he had previously served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to research economic benefits of higher education there. Funding for the field study and preparatory research came from a grant from BYU’s Office of Research and Creative Activities.
After returning, he continued his research and made it the focus of his honors senior thesis. “My research work is so indicative of the complete BYU experience,” Palmer said. “It ties together my mission, interacting with international governmental representatives on campus, mentoring from the economics faculty, and help from the Honors Department to get my applications together for funding.”
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Across campus in a laboratory in the engineering building, Landon’s undergraduate experience involved considerable hands-on work studying how to make materials stronger and last longer. He eventually was the lead author on a paper published in an academic journal and a co-author on several others. In addition to the NSF Fellowship, Landon won the prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, which is worth approximately $200,000 (although he’s only allowed to use one at a time).
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Three recent BYU graduates were also named 2008 NSF Fellows and are already in graduate school:
Marian Adamson is studying bioengineering at the University of Michigan. Brigham Frandsen will welcome Palmer into the economics program at MIT. Adam Washburn is studying analytical chemistry at the University of Illinois.
Awards Still Pouring In For CU-Boulder Graduating Physics Student Ben Safdi
Safdi, who will graduate in May with dual degrees from CU-Boulder in engineering physics and applied mathematics, will study for a Certificate of Advanced Study in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Churchill College at Cambridge. Safdi will work with several high-profile faculty members there, including world-renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, as well as department chair Brian Greene, one of the founders of “string theory.”
In early April, Safdi also was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which provides up to $121,000 for up to three years of funding for master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Safdi plans to undertake his NSF fellowship at Princeton University after he returns from Cambridge in fall 2009.
In the past year, Safdi also has been the recipient of a $7,500 Goldwater Scholarship and a $10,000 Astronaut Foundation Scholarship — the latter presented to him last November by NASA Mercury astronaut and CU-Boulder alumnus Scott Carpenter. He also received the CU-Boulder Provost’s Award for Academic Achievement in 2005 and has won or placed in several regional and national math competitions.
podcast with Ben Safdi
Related: American Radio Relay League Scholarship Recipient Wins Research Fellowship - NSF Graduate Research Fellow Profile and Nobel Laurette - Burton Richter - Gustavus Alumna Receives Prestigious Fellowship
University at Buffalo students earn top national awards
Last year, UB students or recent graduates garnered a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense and seven Fulbright fellowships, in addition to the Udall scholarship. This year, in addition to Krolikowski, UB’s other national award winners are Bradley Cheetham, UB’s third Goldwater Scholar in four years; Kelly Miller and Stacy Pustulka, who won National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships; and Dale Hess, a geology student who won a Fulbright Fellowship.
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Last year’s Udall winner from UB, Kelly Miller, continues to receive accolades, this time as a winner of a 2008 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship… Miller, a senior environmental engineering student, has been engaged since her freshman year in research and activism regarding world-wide water quality issues. She has worked to perfect a low-cost sand filter that would make cleaner drinking water in Third World countries and has given presentations for the World Water Forum. After graduation, Miller plans to work for six months with Greenpeace’s Project Hot Seat Campaign as a field organizer and will enroll in the master’s program in engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in fall 2009.
Stacy Pustulka, who graduated from UB in December 2007 with a B.S. in chemical engineering and a minor in biotechnology, is UB’s other NSF fellow… As an undergraduate, Pustulka performed research in the areas of tissue engineering and metabolic engineering. She received a Dean’s Fellowship and a James C. Meade Graduate Fellowship from Carnegie Mellon University, where she will begin her Ph.D. studies in chemical engineering this fall, focusing on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Recent UB graduates who join Miller and Pustulka as NSF Graduate Research Fellows are Christine Balonek, ’07, who is studying chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and Nicholas Polanto, ’00, who is studying ecology at Penn State. Balonek received honorable mention in the fellowship competition last year as a UB undergraduate.
Related: Science and Engineering Fellowship and Scholarship Directory
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