Posted on April 20, 2021 by Bruce Forey and Breannah Ruesga
An impressive 11 UTSA students and alumni were among a select group to receive a prominent award to advance their graduate research education.
Person in a lab
An impressive 11 UTSA students and alumni were among a select group to receive a prominent award to advance their graduate research education.
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports students with outstanding potential as future science, technology, engineering, and math research leaders, and who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions.
UTSA’s newest award recipients are:
- Jennifer Brett, cultural anthropology
- Pete Gueldner ’20, biomedical engineering
- Kennedy Howland, biomedical engineering
- Morgan Johnston, neuroscience
- Elysa Jui ’20, biomedical engineering
- Daniel Martinez, chemistry
- Favour Obuseh, biomedical engineering
- Daisy Paredes, cultural anthropology
- Cynthia Perez ’19, biomedical engineering
- Christian Strong, chemical engineering
- Kaitlyn Varela ’20, chemistry
Additionally, Naomi Alyafei, Talha Khan and Joshua Ramirez received honorable mentions.
The prestigious fellowship provides the recipients various benefits such as three years of financial support, an annual stipend of $34,000, and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the institution they’re attending, to name a few.
Being selected for the NSF Fellowship is no simple task. Applicants are required to produce two original essays: a Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Statement; the other being a Graduate Research Plan Statement. The students also submit three letters of recommendation by a national panel of engineering and science faculty. Next, the applicants are reviewed for success in their careers. The students also must demonstrate the ability to develop a strong research plan, succeed with their graduate study, and have broad impacts on society. Only 15% of applicants are chosen to receive the fellowships.
“These are highly competitive fellowships,” said Eric Brey, UTSA Edward E. Whitacre, Jr. Endowed Chair of Biomedical Engineering. “They are the oldest graduate fellowships and select students who are expected to be lifelong leaders in their field.”
With these fellowships, the students are set to pursue doctoral degrees at a variety of universities.
“Many haven’t made their final decisions but they will end up at some amazing places like Cal Tech, Rice, MIT and Stanford,” Brey said.
EXPLORE FURTHER
This article was originally published in UTSA Today. You can access the original article via this link
— Bruce Forey and Breannah Ruesga
