Grad student wins Hertz Fellowship

Grad student wins Hertz Fellowship

BY ARIE WILSON
Rice News staff

Rice University bioengineering graduate student Elizabeth “Libby” Stephens has been named one of the prestigious 2006 Hertz Fellows by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.

Each year, the Hertz Foundation awards 15 graduate student fellowships, which are considered to be some the nation’s most elite and competitive endowments. Only 3 percent of applicants from 43 research universities receive appointments. The fellowships are available only to students studying engineering or applied sciences, with a strong emphasis on the physical sciences.

Stephens, who completed her undergraduate studies at Yale and the University of California–San Diego, is studying the biomechanics, microstructure and cell biology of congenitally deformed heart valves in the Medical Scientist Training Program, an elite program offered by Baylor College of Medicine and Rice that allows students to undertake Ph.D. studies from Rice while simultaneously earning a medical degree from Baylor.

A student in the laboratory of Jane Grande-Allen, assistant professor in bioengineering, Stephens hopes to complete her Ph.D. program in 2010 and her medical degree in 2011.

“[Libby] prepared intensely for the technical interviews, reviewing basic science principles and studying selected topics in depth,” Grande-Allen said. “My lab and several faculty members in bioengineering tried to give her as many mock interviews and tough questions as possible. Amazingly, she got a great deal of lab work and dissertation writing done while studying for the Hertz interviews and kept up with her coursework as well.

“One of the reasons that I think Libby’s application attracted attention in the first place is that so much of her enthusiasm, intelligence and compassionate personality — which anyone can see when you meet her — came across in her written essays. She described everything from working in fusion science before she migrated to biomedical research to reading classical literature in her spare time during medical school.”

Grande-Allen said the combination of all these attributes adds up to exactly the type of person that the Hertz Foundation should be looking for. “I am delighted to have Libby in my lab and am thrilled that she has received this recognition,” she said.

The Hertz Fellowship covers tuition and fees, and it can be renewed for up to five years. It also includes a $28,000 stipend for the year.
Stephens is the third Rice student in three years to receive the Hertz Fellowship.