Students, Alums Receive Competitive NSF Fellowships
Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę students Brianna Aguilar-Solis, Diane-Marie Brache-Smith, Sierra Lema and Sarif Morningstar, and alumni Diana Cruz Garcia and Anna Maria Calderon were awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (GRFP).
The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000, as well as access to opportunities for professional development.
Cruz Garcia, who earned her bachelorās degree in bioengineering from Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę, is pursuing a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, and Calderon, who received her bachelorās degree in life sciences, is pursuing graduate studies at Pennsylvania State University.
Aguilar-Solis, who is from Bakersfield, received her bachelorās degree in chemistry from UC Berkeley and is pursuing her Ph.D. in Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ęās .
Jointly advised by professors Aurora Pribram-Jones and Hrant Hratchian, her research is focused on developing a new model that improves complicated, excited state calculations.
āReceiving this fellowship means that Iāll have more control over the research projects I take on and can ensure that they will be in line with my own research interests to develop theoretical and computational methods for excited state chemistry,ā Aguilar-Solis said. āIāll also be able to take advantage of more pedagogical opportunities, attend more conferences and workshops, and be connected to a new network of fellow recipients. This will help me get the most out of my Ph.D. journey and prepare me for my long-term career goal of becoming a chemistry professor.ā
Brache-Smith, who is from Miami, received a bachelorās degree in biology from Miami Dade College and is pursuing her Ph.D. in the with Professor Maggie Sogin.
Her projectās focus is to determine if seagrass-associated microorganisms can be leveraged to stimulate seagrass growth. The primary goal of her Ph.D. is to explore the feasibility of developing beneficial microbial consortia to use as a probiotic biofertilizer to promote seagrass growth.
Brache-Smith said the fellowship validates her expertise in the field of marine microbiology.
āReceiving this award as a first-generation college graduate, Latina and mother is particularly impactful,ā she said. āThis award demonstrates that I am capable of creating a plan to fill a research gap and communicating it effectively.
āAs an NSF GRFP recipient, I hope to inspire and motivate others from underrepresented groups to pursue their own goals and aspirations.ā
Lema, who is from Hayward, received her bachelorās degree in environmental engineering at Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę this May. She was involved in two research groups with professors Marie-Odile Fortier and Erin Hestir. She investigated how direct land use and albedo change contribute to the life cycle environmental impacts of electricity generated from coal in the U.S.; identified the interrelated factors that could affect the efficacy of the climate engineering approach of ocean iron fertilization; used remote sensing to identify watersheds with wildfire-related sediment and carbon discharges to kelp forests in California coastal waters; and computationally modeled the impacts of wildfires on watershed hydrology.
Lema is continuing to build a research career with broader impacts to environmental protection and climate change mitigation by pursuing a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
While at Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę, Morningstar performed research with the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Centerās (LAEP). In May, they received a bachelorās degree in biological sciences with an emphasis in evolution and ecology. The Sacramento native will be attending UC Davis in the fall to pursue a Ph.D. in plant biology.
āReceiving the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship is one of the highest honors an incoming graduate student can get,ā Morningstar said. āTo me, it is not only a validation of my struggle for success as a first-generation scholar, but also an intimate acknowledgment of my passion for science.ā
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