The National Science Foundation awarded seven CSU students fellowships as part of the NSF Graduate Research Program.
Seven Colorado State University students are the recipients of prestigious Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports high-performing graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in areas such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
CSU students who received fellowships in 2019 include Martha Bierut, Jacqueline Griswold, Kirsten Mayer, Sarah Myers, Katie Rocci, Fionna Samuels and Juli Scamardo. Since 2016, the NSF has awarded 25 Graduate Research Fellowships to CSU students.
Each fellowship includes a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees paid to the institution.
The CSU Graduate School, the Office for Scholarship and Fellowship Advising and the Office for Undergraduate Research and Artistry played a key role in the process.
“We are very proud of the seven students who received the NSF-GRFP this year,” said Mary Swanson, associate director of the Office for Scholarship and Fellowship Advising and the Office for Undergraduate Research and Artistry. “It’s a testament to the mentorship and instruction they receive from our faculty at CSU.”
NSF Graduate Research Fellows from CSU
Martha Bierut is a master’s student in the Warner College of Natural Resources and is studying human-elephant conflict issues in western Uganda. After she completes her degree in conservation leadership in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources department, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. and continue her social science and ecological work in East Africa.
Jacqueline Griswold is a recent CSU graduate who earned her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the College of Natural Sciences. She studied biochemistry and was part of Assistant Professor Steven Markus’ lab, where she developed a passion for research. In August, Griswold will begin her graduate studies at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine as a Ph.D. student in the biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology program.
Kirsten Mayer is a master’s student in the Department of Atmospheric Science in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. There, she received the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship and conducted research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder. When she graduates, Mayer plans to pursue a Ph.D. at CSU in the Department of Atmospheric Science.
Sarah Myers studies cognitive psychology as a Ph.D. student in the College of Natural Sciences, where she researches how students self-regulate their learning. For the Department of Psychology, she has given talks and taught courses at CSU on the science of learning, and she plans to continue discussing the science of learning practices with the community and other educators.
Katie Rocci is working on earning her master’s degree from the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology. Her studies have focused on the effect of biochar – a sustainable soil amendment – on nitrogen cycling in agroecosystems. For her Ph.D. work, she will study nitrogen cycling in unmanaged systems and its coupling with soil carbon stabilization.
Fionna Samuels is a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Natural Sciences. There, she is investigating how cryoprotectants – substances used to protect biological tissue from freezing damage – move through and localize in living plant cells with Raman microscopy.
Juli Scamardo, a recent master’s graduate from the Warner College of Natural Resources, examined the potential for and channel response to beaver restoration across Colorado for her thesis. Scamardo will be coming back to the Warner College of Natural Resources this fall to pursue her Ph.D., researching processes, magnitudes and implications of sedimentation in ephemeral streams across the American Southwest.
NSF Graduate Research Honorable Mentions
Daniel Andreas Corbin
Chemistry
College of Natural Sciences
Karin Emanuelson
Watershed Science
Warner College of Natural Resources
Cassidy Jackson
Chemistry
College of Natural Sciences
Marcel Jardeleza
Ecology
Intra-University
Bridget McGivern
Soil and Crop Sciences
College of Agricultural Sciences
Rebecca Much Windell
Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Warner College of Natural Resources
Kelly Nieto
Chemistry
College of Natural Sciences
Christopher Rom
Chemistry
College of Natural Sciences
Laura St. Clair
Microbiology
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Lindsay Winkenbach
Biochemistry
College of Natural Sciences
Jakob Wolynski
Bioengineering
Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program was developed to promote diversity in science and engineering in the United States.
Since 1952, the NSF has funded more than 50,000 Graduate Research Fellowships, with 42 fellows going on to become Nobel laureates and more than 450 becoming members of the National Academy of Sciences.
Past fellows include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt and NASA scientist Amy Mainzer.
Students interested in applying for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program should contact Mary Swanson at mary.swanson@colostate.edu.
