13 Rice students win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Thirteen Rice students have been offered a 2013 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF). They are among 2,000 fellows selected from more than 13,000 applicants.

NSF created the GRF Program to help develop a globally engaged workforce to ensure the nation’s leadership in advancing science and engineering research and innovation. The program provides a way to increase participation of women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans in science and engineering.

The fellowship provides three years of financial support for graduate study in a field within the NSF’s mission that leads to a research-based master’s or doctoral degree. In addition to a $30,000 annual stipend, the fellowship includes an annual $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to their graduate school.

“We are very proud to have our graduate students winning such a large number of NSF Graduate Research Fellowships this year,” said Bonnie Bartel, the Ralph and Dorothy Looney Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and graduate adviser to Kim Gonzalez, one of the recipients. “These awards recognize strong evidence of outstanding potential in science and engineering, and our students are very accomplished and generated thoughtful applications. The students and their mentors both are very excited to see this accomplishment and effort recognized by the NSF.”

Recipients of the 2013 fellowships and their fields of study and graduate schools are:

Graduate students

* Kim Gonzalez, life sciences — cell biology, Rice University.

* Amanda Goodman, chemistry — macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry, Rice University.

* Alicia Jones, life sciences – biochemistry, Rice University.

* Nadia Lara, chemistry — macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry, Rice University.

* Daniel Puperi, engineering — bioengineering, Rice University.

* Josue Salazar, computer/information science/engineering — machine learning, Rice University.

* Arturo Vargas, mathematical sciences — applied mathematics, Rice University.

Seniors

* Carolyn Branecky, geosciences — glaciology, University of California, Santa Cruz.

* Michelle LaComb, chemistry — macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry, Stanford University.

* Joseph Huchette, engineering — industrial engineering and operations research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

* Aditya Kumar, engineering — bioengineering, University of California, San Diego.

* Nathan Koon-Hung Martin, engineering — aeronautical, California Institute of Technology.

* Chengcheng Yang, mathematical sciences — algebra, number theory and combinatorics, University of Chicago.

Fourteen Rice students were given an honorable mention by the NSF GRF Program: Graduate students Kevin Boos, Thomas Clements, Andrew Erwin, Amy Heldenbrand, Anneli Hoggard, Kelsea Hubka, Richard Latimer, Charles Puelz, Chad Rose, Adam Samaniego, Antonia Sebastian, Nicholas Vrvilo and Martha Witick and senior Joscelyn Mejias.