9 UI students, recent alumni awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

9 College of Iowa college students and up to date graduates have been named recipients of the highly-competitive Graduate Analysis Fellowship Program funded by the Nationwide Science Basis (NSF).

Recipients embody graduate college students Kendall Riley, Hannah Zadeh, and Samantha Kruse; undergraduates Nyah Davis, Lily Jones, and Anvay Pradhan; and up to date graduates Riley Lewers, Emily Silich, and Victoria Cassady. 

The efforts of three extra Hawkeyes—Rose Gogal, Andrej Corkovic, and Carly Donahue—have been acknowledged as honorable mentions. 

The NSF GRFP acknowledges and helps excellent graduate and undergraduate college students who’re pursuing research-based grasp’s and doctoral levels in fields inside NSF’s mission. The GRFP gives as much as three years of help for the graduate schooling of recipients who’ve demonstrated their potential for important achievements in science and engineering analysis. Every award cycle, the NSF receives about 13,000 purposes and, in 2022, the company provided fellowships to 2,193 college students.

Established in 1952, the GRFP is essential to the NSF’s technique to develop a globally engaged workforce and make sure the nation’s management in advancing science and engineering analysis and innovation. A serious purpose of this system is to extend the variety of the STEM workforce, together with geographic distribution, in addition to the participation of ladies, underrepresented minorities, folks with disabilities, and veterans.

Fellows chosen for the 2022 Graduate Analysis Fellowship Program will obtain three years of economic help, totaling $138,000. The annual $34,000 stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance are additionally coupled with different alternatives for worldwide analysis {and professional} improvement. 

Undergraduate college students

Nyah Davis of Des Moines, Iowa, will graduate from Iowa in Might with a level in arithmetic. A 2021 Goldwater Scholar and 2022 Ford Pre-Doctoral Fellowship awardee, Davis has carried out analysis within the Division of Arithmetic with Colleen Mitchell and Ryan Kinser.  Her honors thesis on Normal Representations of Finite-Dimensional Algebras was supported by a Analysis Coaching Group (RTG) Undergraduate Fellowship. Within the fall, Nyah will start her doctoral research in theoretical arithmetic at Rice College as their first Raymond Johnson Graduate Fellow.

Lily Jones of Ankeny, Iowa, graduated with honors with a level in Chemistry from Iowa in December 2021. Whereas at Iowa, Jones carried out analysis with Elizabeth Stone on atmospheric chemistry with a give attention to the characterization of bioaerosols. By learning how pollen ruptures underneath excessive climate situations, Jones helped develop strategies for the spatial evaluation of aeroallergens. Jones will proceed her coaching in fall 2022 at Colorado State College the place she’s going to examine biosphere-atmosphere interactions and their implications for local weather processes.

Anvay Pradhan of West Des Moines, Iowa, will graduate from Iowa in Might with levels in mechanical engineering and pc science. His analysis experiences have ranged from tribology to house physics instrumentation to industrial robotics. Along with analysis and instructing collaborations with Phil Deierling within the Faculty of Engineering’s Division of Mechanical Engineering, Pradhan spent the final two summers working with researchers on the California Institute of Know-how to develop an origami-inspired metamaterial with tunable permeability. This fall, Pradhan will attend the College of Michigan the place he’ll focus his analysis on the modeling, simulation, and design of compliant, biomimetic robots. 

Current graduates

Riley Lewers of Iowa Metropolis, Iowa, earned a Bachelor of Science diploma in economics and arithmetic from Iowa in 2020. Since graduating, Lewers has labored on the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Chicago. She’s going to start doctoral work in utilized economics on the College of California, San Diego in fall 2022 the place she’s going to focus her research on environmental economics.  As an undergraduate at Iowa, Lewers started exploring analysis via early collaborations with David Frisvold within the Division of Economics and Rene Rocha within the Division of Political Science. 

Emily Silich of Epworth, Iowa, graduated from Iowa with levels in astronomy and physics in spring 2021. A 2020 Goldwater Scholar, Silich labored on the HaloSat, an astrophysics mission in collaboration with NASA that searches the Milky Approach’s galactic halo for lacking matter as a member of Phil Kaaret’s analysis workforce within the Division of Astronomy and Physics. Silich is in her first yr of graduate examine in astrophysics on the California Institute of Know-how.

Victoria Cassady of West Des Moines, Iowa, graduated from Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts diploma in biochemistry and a Bachelor of Science diploma in microbiology in spring 2020. As an undergraduate, Cassady carried out analysis on the usage of ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequencing to foretell most cancers outcomes with Ronald Weigel within the Division of Surgical procedure within the Carver Faculty of Drugs. She is a second-year doctoral scholar within the Division of Earth Sciences on the College of California, Los Angeles the place she is learning how microbial buildings are preserved within the rock report and what microbial processes affect stromatolite textures. 

Graduate college students

Samantha Kruse of Waterloo, Illinois, graduated from Webster College in Might 2020 with a Bachelor of Science diploma in Chemistry. She is presently a PhD candidate within the UI Division of Chemistry the place she is working with Tori Z. Forbes and Len R. MacGillivray to develop a elementary understanding of the construction and performance of the connection of natural supplies with publicity to completely different types of radiation (i.e., gamma, beta, and alpha).

Kendall Riley of Loogootee, Indiana, graduated from Indiana College in 2020 with bachelor’s levels in human biology and psychology. She is a second-year PhD scholar within the Division of Sociology and Criminology at Iowa. With the help of her mentor Mark Berg, Riley is learning how trauma and adversity get form well being. Extra particularly, her analysis seeks to know incarceration as a social determinant of well being and its function in perpetuating well being disparities for Black folks dwelling within the U.S. who’re hyper-exposed to the prison authorized system.

Hannah Zadeh of Ankeny, Iowa, graduated from Iowa in 2021 with honors in sociology and is in her first yr of doctoral coaching within the Division of Sociology and Criminology at Iowa. They’re learning the sociology of organizations, politics, and science with a give attention to how information and social classes like race and gender/intercourse are understood and used within the well being care system. Zadeh’s analysis is underneath the supervision of Louise Seamster within the Division of Sociology and Criminology and African American Research and Martha Carvour within the Division of Inside Drugs at UI Well being Care. 

The next Iowa college students and a current graduate have been acknowledged with honorable mentions:

Rose Gogal, biomedical engineering, UI Faculty of Engineering

Andrej Corkovic, of Rock Island, Illinois, Division of Chemistry, UI Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Carly Donahue of Bettendorf, Iowa, biomedical engineering, College of Minnesota, Twin Cities