Eight current students in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and several admitted, prospective graduate students received 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards that will allow them to pursue graduate studies in the field of biomedical engineering.
The following graduate students are among the awardees:
- Brinkley Artman is a first-year graduate student working with Evan Wang.
- Advika Kamatar is a second-year graduate student, working with Jeanne Stachowiak and Sapun Parekh.
- Abbey Nkansah is a second-year graduate student, working with Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez
- Reshmi Patel is a first-year graduate student, working with Tom Yankeelov. Patel is also an Imaging Science Fellow.
- Breahna Singer is a first-year graduate student, working with Stephanie Seidlits.
- Sani Tripathi is a first-year graduate student, working with James Tunnell. Tripathi is also an Imaging Science Fellow.
- Ketsia Zinga is a second-year graduate student, working with Jeanne Stachowiak and Pengyu Ren.
One current biomedical engineering undergraduate student and one alumnus also received awards. Aditi Merchant is a senior within the department and Jordyn Wyse received their Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from UT Austin in 2021.
Aislinn Hurley, a senior in the UT Austin Biomedical Engineering department, received an honorable mention. Additionally, four prospective UT Austin biomedical engineering graduate students are among the lists of awardees.
The purpose of the GRFP is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The GRFP seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000, along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), as well as access to opportunities for professional development available to NSF-supported graduate students.
The program dates back more than 70 years, making it the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, and it has historically funded a little more than 10% of applicants. Past fellows include former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google founder Sergey Brin and Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt.
Since 1952, NSF has funded more than 60,000 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants. Currently, 42 Fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a high rate of doctorate degree completion, with more than 70 percent of students completing their doctorates within 11 years.
