News

A Middlebury College student and three recent graduates have received National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowships to pursue graduate education. The NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM fields who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. The fellowship includes an annual stipend of $37,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees for three years.

Following is a list of the 2023 NSF graduate fellows:

Qiting (Tina) Cai ’23, a conservation biology major, will study life sciences and ecology at the University of California-Santa Cruz.

William Greene ’19, who majored in biology and environmental studies—conservation biology, plans to study ecology at a school to be determined. 

Emma Nelson ’20, who majored in physics, plans to study physics of materials at the University of Colorado at Boulder.   

Phoebe Oehmig ’21, who majored in biology and environmental studies—conservation biology, will study life organismal biology at a school to be determined. 

Honorable Mention 

Three recent graduates: Jennifer Ashley Crandall ’21, Caroline Daley ’20, and Parker Ziegler ’16,  received honorable mention in the NSF Fellowship competition.

According to NSF, the purpose of the fellowship program is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The GRFP seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans.

The GRFP is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. Since 1952, NSF has funded over 60,000 Graduate Research Fellowships selected among more than 500,000 applicants. Currently, 42 fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences.