The National Science Foundation has awarded Graduate Research Fellowships to 12 UO graduate students. 

That number represents a 24 percent increase over 2023, and when added to past recipients still at the UO it comes to a total of 42 UO graduate students currently in the highly competitive and prestigious program. That’s the highest number in 15 years. 

The fellowship is awarded to outstanding master’s and doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, math and related STEM disciplines. Fellows are selected on their promise to develop breakthrough research. 

NSF fellows at the UO are working on a range of projects, including bee conservation, how teachers mentor students’ learning, climate change messaging, and the impacts of stress on the skeletal system.

Fellowships provide the student with an annual stipend of $37,000 for three years, a $16,000 cost of education allowance (paid to the institution), as well as access to opportunities for professional development and global networking available to NSF-supported graduate students.

The increase in fellowship awards reflects a concerted effort at the UO to raise awareness among graduate students about the NSF award and support them during the application process, said Krista Chronister, vice provost for the Division of Graduate Studies. 

Chronister said several factors are driving the increase in UO graduate students receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. 

One is the emergence of the Bioengineering program at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, which is “attracting some of the top scholars from around the world and they are awarded these prestigious fellowships, and they are choosing to come here,” Chronister said. 

Four of the students awarded fellowships this year are bioengineering students, she said. The Knight Campus’s aim to be a leader in scientific innovation “is showing up in graduate student recruitment success,” Chronister said.

Another factor is the Division of Graduate Studies’ use of a customer relations management system or CRM, which allows the division to systematically contact prospective and current students who are in STEM fields and let them know about the NSF program, she said.

Historically, the UO has relied on faculty advisers to tell students about the program, but the CRM has allowed information about the fellowship to be shared more widely. 

The division also offers workshops for students to learn about the fellowship, and students are encouraged to speak with their advisers to see if they qualify. 

“That has helped quite a bit in terms of creating a larger, more diverse pool of candidates to compete nationally for the award,” Chronister said. “Information distribution is crucial.”

UO faculty members continue to produce groundbreaking research and mentor graduate students in their labs with tremendous success, which is a requirement of the NSF award, she said. UO faculty members also help students prepare outstanding proposals. 

Finally, the Division of Graduate Studies has increased the amount of proposal preparation it offers to students. 

“If students decide with their mentor this is the right award to apply for, we have several faculty who provide workshops to instruct students on proposing,” she said.

The division, along with the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, also offers resources on proposal preparation and submission.

Current graduate students who have received the fellowship awards say it makes a dramatic difference in their academic careers. 

David Frey Rubio is a second-year doctoral student from suburban Atlanta in the bioengineering program. He works in the lab of Marian Hettiaratchi, which focuses on the development of biomaterials for protein delivery and tissue engineering. Frey is working on engineering polymer coatings capable of mitigating the inflammatory response to neural implants.

He said being awarded the Graduate Research Fellowship marked the culmination “of a very long journey.” 

“When you’re doing undergraduate research and are surrounded by grad students, they tell you have to apply for this fellowship,” he said. “Even if you don’t get it, you get great practice learning to communicate both your science and your story.” 

Many students in graduate school struggle with imposter syndrome, believing they’re not supposed to be there, he said. Receiving the NSF fellowship “washed those doubts away with validation,” he said.

In a practical sense, the award provides a lot of support, he said. It allows Frey to conduct “crazy expensive” scientific experiments and provides stipends to attend conferences. The award also stands out on his resume, he said. 

Frey credits his faculty mentors, Mark Blaine, professor of practice of journalism and communication, and Nathan Jacobs, Senior Director of Academic and Impact Programming at the Knight Campus, for helping him prepare his NSF application. 

Nico Molina is in her fourth year seeking a doctorate in clinical psychology. She is studying how oppression, including discrimination and other forms of inequity, interact with personal factors to increase risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors among pregnant and postpartum women. She wants to leverage a social justice approach to foster livable environments for all. 

She applied for the NSF fellowship, she said, because “you can’t get things you don’t apply for, and I don’t take rejection personally.” 

When she found out in 2022 that she had received the NSF award, her reaction was “OMG!” 

“I was like in disbelief,” she said. “I had to read it multiple times. I was completely shocked. I was screaming.” 

Being able to build her own schedule and work independently, without having to work as a graduate employee, for example, has boosted her productivity compared to peers who are conducting research and teaching at the same time.

“Honestly the most valuable thing it has given me is time,” she said. “Your time as a graduate student is so limited.” 

She described the NSF award as a virtuous circle because while NSF pays her salary, it doesn’t fund research, but she’s been able to get grant funding to fund her research from other organizations. 

Hannah Cantrell is pursuing a doctorate in biological anthropology and is researching how the introduction of modern economic forces affect the Shuar, an Indigenous population in Ecuador that until recently has lived a very traditional lifestyle of foraging, hunting and gathering, and horticulture.

Receiving the NSF award, Cantrell said, “means I can work on my research and put more energy into my research and not have to worry about teaching.” 

The award provides three years of funding over a five-year period, so recipients can decide when they want to receive the funding. Cantrell said she decided to take the funding in her first year “so I can hit the ground running and not get bogged down and build a solid foundation." 

She plans to stagger the years she teaches with years she can focus on research, particularly when she is doing field work in Ecuador. 

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program works to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce in the United States. The program seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans.

As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the program has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. The reputation of the fellowship follows recipients and often helps them become lifelong leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. 

More than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 42 fellows have become Nobel laureates.

By Tim Christie, Provost Communications