Three Alumni Receive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships
Three recent graduates have been offered National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships in support of their graduate studies research. Four additional Middlebury alumni and a current student received honorable mention.
The highly selective NSF GRFP program supports outstanding students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at U.S. institutions.
Abigail Santis ’23, who majored in environmental studies and earth and climate sciences at Middlebury, is a first-year PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis, where she studies climate and paleoclimate as part of a research lab.
“My time at Middlebury in the ECSC department in particular ignited a passion for research that led to me pursuing a PhD,” she said. “I am extremely grateful for all of the opportunities and mentorship that my professors provided during my time at Middlebury and beyond.”
The NSF GRFP fellowships provide students with a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 along with a $16,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, paid to the institution, as well as opportunities for professional development.
For Santis, the stipend will support her research on climate factors driving changes in previous Indian summer monsoons to better understand how the monsoon system might evolve in the future. That research involves working with sediments from Loktak Lake in India and utilizing organic biomarkers to reconstruct changes in the landscape and hydroclimate throughout the past 50,000 years.
Camryn Kluetmeier ’21.5 plans to use the award to support her research starting in fall 2025 as a PhD candidate in the Earth and Climate Sciences Department at Duke University.
“GRFP support will allow me to pursue research on how climate change impacts the storage and movement of water reserves in alpine and arctic environments using a combination of remote sensing and field observations,” said Kluetmeier, who recently gave a seminar with Tamlin Pavelsky ’01 at the College sponsored by the ECSC department.
This year’s Middlebury recipients of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships include the following:
- Camryn Kluetmeier ’21.5, Environmental Studies and Geology, Duke University
- Oliver Patrick ’24, Environmental Studies and Biology, TBA
- Abigail Santis ’23, Environmental Studies and Geology, Washington University
The following were named honorable mention:
- Matthew Brockley ’23, Biochemistry and Math
- Sophia Johnson ’22, Geology
- Amanda Manoogian ’24, Earth and Climate Science
- Ella Thompson ’25, Biology and Environmental Studies
- Max Zeltsar ’24.5, Conservation Biology
For more information about the NSF GRFP and other fellowship opportunities, visit the Middlebury Fellowships Office.