Dartmouth Students Strike It Big With NSF Fellowships

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Eighteen Dartmouth students and alumni have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships (GRF) for 2014. They are among 2,000 winners drawn from an applicant pool of more than 14,000. An additional 19 Dartmouth applicants were accorded honorable mention in the competition.

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Dartmouth graduate students, from left, Erin O’Malley, Alden Claire Adolph, and Kristina Rapuano will use their NSF Graduate Research Fellowships to continue their studies at Dartmouth and Thayer School of Engineering. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)

The award will support Dartmouth GRF recipients in their development as scientists as they conduct research in atomic physics, ocean engineering, ecology, cognitive neuroscience, and other disciplines. The winners will pursue graduate studies at a variety of top-notch research institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Caltech, and Dartmouth.

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“The Graduate Studies Office is extremely proud of all of our students who won National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships or were accorded an honorable mention,” says F. Jon Kull ’88, dean of graduate studies. “Receiving this award is a significant academic milestone that honors students’ hard work and recognizes the potential of their research. We also want to acknowledge all of the previous graduate student NSF recipients and the faculty members who spent time carefully drafting and revising application materials in our professional development workshops. We are fortunate to work with so many talented and dedicated scholars.”

“As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers,” says the NSF on its website. Previous fellows include past U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu; Google founder Sergey Brin; Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt and many Nobel Prize winners.

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The new fellows will each receive three years of support from NSF, including a $32,000 annual stipend and a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the institution. They join 18 current Dartmouth students who are previous fellowship recipients.

2014 Recipients of NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

  • Alden Adolph, environmental engineering
  • Kenneth Baclawski ’12, social sciences—linguistics
  • Jeremy Brouillet ’13, physics and astronomy—atomic, molecular, optical physics
  • Laura deSouza ’08, life sciences—neurosciences
  • Kayla Eisman ’09, social science—linguistics
  • Jennifer Feltner ’01, life sciences—ecology
  • Blythe George ’12, social sciences—sociology
  • Molly Grear ’11, engineering—ocean
  • Cristina Herren ’12, life sciences—ecology
  • Erin Larson ’11, life sciences—ecology
  • Rebecca Niemiec ’13, social science—decision making/risk analysis
  • Erin O’Malley, physics and astronomy
  • Fioleda Prifti, engineering—biomaterials
  • Kristina Rapuano, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Samuel Snow ’11, life sciences—evolutionary biology
  • Jane Tucker ’09, psychology—social
  • Michelle VanTieghem ’12, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Elise Wilkes ’12, geosciences—biogeochemistry
Honorable Mentions
  • Laurel Anderson ’14, physics and astronomy—condensed matter physics
  • Desmond Ang ’08, social sciences—economics
  • Moises Chavez, life sciences—biochemistry
  • Annie Chen ’13, life sciences—microbiology
  • Daryl DeFord, mathematical sciences—algebra, number theory, combinatorics
  • Alexander Engler ’12, engineering—bioengineering
  • Joseph Futoma ’14, computer/IS/engineering—machine learning
  • Ruth Heindel, geosciences—paleoclimate
  • Adrienne Hoarfrost ’11, geosciences—biological oceanography
  • Alexander Kell ’10, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Julia Kelson ’12, geosciences—tectonics
  • Suzanne Kelson ’12, life sciences—ecology
  • Shari Liu ’14, psychology—developmental
  • Priyanka Nadar, engineering—biomedical
  • Thomas Robbins ’11, chemistry—chemistry of life processes
  • Alexandra Seletsky ’09, life sciences—molecular biology
  • Laura Spector ’10, life sciences—molecular biology
  • Thomas Tzy-Sheng Wang ’16, life sciences—molecular biology
  • Andrew Wong ’12, engineering—electrical and electronic
Current Dartmouth graduate students who received a GRF in a prior year
  • Carissa Aoki, life sciences—ecology
  • Amy Baker, life sciences—microbiology
  • Robert Chavez, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Alexandra Giese, geosciences—glaciology
  • Sean Guillory, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Anna Hatch, life sciences—cell biology
  • Maria Hindt, life sciences—molecular and cellular biology
  • Eshin Jolly, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Thomas Kraft, social sciences—biological anthropology
  • Kathleen Lewicki, engineering—biomedical
  • Gabriella Pardee, life sciences—ecology
  • Eric Reavis, psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Beth Reinke, life sciences—evolutionary biology
  • Alexander Schlegel—psychology—cognitive neuroscience
  • Brandon Smith, chemistry—physical
  • Christine Urbanowicz, life sciences—ecology
  • Vivek Venkataraman, life sciences—ecology
  • Sarah Wolff, mathematical sciences—algebra or number theory
Joseph Blumberg