A total of 16 UCI graduate scholars received honors from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Seven of those students received earned a Graduate Research Fellowship from the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), while nine were recognized with honorable mention.
The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. NSF actively encourages the submission of applications from the full spectrum of talent that the US has to offer. The five-year Fellowship provides three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000. The GRFP has a history of selecting recipients who go on to achieve high levels of success. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, Google founder, Sergey Brin and Freakonomics co-author, Steven Levitt.
This year’s UCI recipients are listed below:
NSF-GRP Award Winners
Christian Bernal Zelaya – Statistics
Azara Boschee – Civil & Environmental Engineering
Makayla Luevano – Chemistry
Berenice Rojas – Chemistry
Jesse Giovanni Sanchez – Education
Abigayle Simpson – Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Tre Willingham – Physics
Honorable mentions
Massee Said Akbar – Physics and Astronomy – Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Elionel Botello-Cornejo – Life Sciences – Biochemistry
Jay Krishnan – Physics and Astronomy – Particle Physics
Shabnam Moghareh Dehkordi – Life Sciences – Cell Biology
Adrian Francisco Duran Ornelas – Engineering – Materials Science and Engineering
Samuel Tomaras Stout – Engineering – Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering
Ahoora Tamizifar – Mathematical Sciences – Analysis
Allison Tilzey – Engineering – Environmental and/or Ecological Engineering