15 UK Students, Alumni Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Ten students and five alumni were selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

NSF Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees for a research-based master’s or doctoral degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) field.

The 10 students awarded fellowships are: 

• Beatrice Abbott, a geography master’s student from Lexington
• Daniel Dailey, a chemical engineering, mathematics and Lewis Honors College senior from Paris, Kentucky, who will pursue a doctorate in chemical engineering
• Wade Pike, an entomology master’s student from Greensburg, Kentucky
• Steven Poore, an electrical engineering senior from Middlesboro, Kentucky, who will pursue a Ph.D. in electrical engineering
• Ryan Sarhan, an employee in the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who will pursue graduate studies in biosystems engineering
• Krystal Sewell, a pharmacology and nutritional sciences doctoral student from Lexington
• Parker Sornberger, a chemistry senior and 2022 mathematics graduate from Frankfort, Kentucky, who will pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Rochester
• Alexander Stewart, an agricultural and medical biotechnology, biology and Lewis Honors College senior from Clearfield, Kentucky, who will pursue a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona
• Heather Thompson, a biomedical engineering doctoral student from Jackson, Kentucky
• Anastasia Weger, an entomology doctoral student from Austin, Texas.

The five alumni awarded fellowships are:

• Dylan Baker, a 2020 psychology, economics, history, political science and Lewis Honors College graduate from Lexington, who will pursue a Ph.D. in economics at University of Chicago
• Piper Cannon, a 2021 mathematics graduate from Owensboro, Kentucky, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University
• Joseph Clark, a 2021 computer engineering and Lewis Honors College graduate from Charleston, West Virginia, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer engineering at University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Nicole Marguerite, a 2022 neuroscience, chemical engineering and Lewis Honors College graduate from Chicago, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University
• Laura Richardson, a 2021 chemical engineering graduate from Williamsburg, Kentucky, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University

Additionally, Alexis Gauger, an entomology graduate student from Tacoma, Washington, and Sydney Litterer, a 2019 mechanical engineering and Lewis Honors College graduate from Manchester, Iowa, received honorable mention recognition from the NSF.

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