National Science Foundation Awards Graduate Research Fellowships

Riverside, Ca –

Six UC Riverside graduate students have won 2016 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships for having demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research.

Each fellowship consists of three years of support usable over a five-year period. For each year of support, NSF provides a stipend of $34,000 to the fellow, and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the degree-granting institution.

Previous fellows include numerous individuals who have made transformative breakthroughs in science and engineering research, become leaders in their chosen careers, and been honored as Nobel laureates.

"This fellowship has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers, we are very pleased that UCR student achievements are being recognized at this level," said Gladis Herrera-Berkowitz, UCR's director of Student Success Programs in the Office of Undergraduate Education.

She said it was especially satisfying to know that three of the UCR graduate fellowship winners were UCR undergraduates as well, because it demonstrates that the campus provides an excellent undergraduate education. They are: Riley Bottom (neuroscience); Marissa Ann Gionet-Gonzales (chemistry); and Julianne Rolf (environmental engineering). Rolf is a current Chancellor's Research Fellow, a 2015-2016 Barry Goldwater Scholar, and also a recipient of a Fulbright Research Award in Germany.

Awardees who did their undergraduate work elsewhere but have come to UCR for graduate work: Komi German, (psychology); Jesse Tamayo (chemistry); Samantha Corber (bioengineering); Aaron Martinez (geosciences); Ida-Louise Pairs (chemistry).

Three more UCR graduates are NSF Graduate Research Fellows, and are using those Fellowships at other institutions: Nerli Paredes Ruvalcaba, (biological anthropology) at Michigan State University; Fallon Fowler (Life Sciences - Ecology) at North Carolina State University; Brendon Butler (Psychology) at University of California-Irvine.

Read more at UCR Today