NSF Awards Graduate Research Fellowships to 23 UT Natural Sciences Students

Dozens of College of Natural Sciences students at The University of Texas at Austin have received notification from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that they are recipients this year of awards or honorable mentions in the competition for NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.

NSF-GRFs are given to students pursuing or planning to pursue a research-based graduate degree program in a STEM-related field. The fellowship is awarded to exceptional individuals to support furthering their research and professional advancement, as promising emerging scientific leaders.

​This year, the program awarded fellowships to 10 undergraduates or recent alumni of the college and 13 graduate students in the College of Natural Sciences. Four other graduate students and four other undergraduate students and recent alumni were awarded honorable mentions. Below are the recipients, their programs of study and the research areas for which they received fellowships and honors.

2023 Graduate Research Fellowship Recipients

• Edith K. Amason, Chemistry graduate student – Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanism
• Pranav Atreya, Computer Science undergraduate student – Robotics
• Celeste Barnaby, Computer Science graduate student – Formal Methods, Verification, and Programming Languages

• Vidal Bejar-Padilla, Cell and Molecular Biology graduate student – Developmental Biology

• Amy Marie Bradford, Mathematics graduate student – Algebra, Number Theory, and Combinatorics

• Katherine Alexandra Faulkner, Environmental Science undergraduate student – Paleontology and Paleobiology

• Matthew Robert Giordano, Computer Science undergraduate student – Computer Systems and Embedded Systems

• Vishnu Iyer, Computer Science graduate student – Quantum Information Science

• Maria Larina, Computer Science undergraduate student – Bioinformatics
• Jack Lloyd, Marine Science graduate student – Biogeochemistry
• James Mang, Astronomy graduate student – Astronomy and Astrophysics

• Emily Britton May, Biology undergraduate student – Cognitive Neuroscience

• Carson Blake Molder, Computer Science graduate student – Computer Architecture
• Alexa Morales, Astronomy graduate student – Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Geoffrey Mon, Computer Science graduate student – Algorithms and Theoretical Foundations
• Brandy Routh, Neuroscience graduate student – Neurosciences
• Benjamin Lawrence-Sanderson, Physics/Plan II undergraduate student – Particle Physics

• Aniket Sanghi, Astronomy undergraduate student – Astronomy and Astrophysics

• Aislinn E. Smith, Mathematics (B.S., ’22) – Topology
• Maria Straight, Astronomy graduate student – Astronomy and Astrophysics

• Alfredo J. Velasquez, Human Development and Family Sciences graduate student – Human Development & Family Sciences

• Lincoln Weber, Physics graduate student – Condensed Matter Physics
• Kevin Zhou, Chemistry undergraduate student – Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry

2023 Honorable Mentions

• Eman Asaad Alasadi, Chemistry graduate student – Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanism

• Nada W. Elessawy, Chemistry alum (B.S., ’21) – Chemical Measurement and Imaging
• Holland Kate Frieling, Physics/Plan II undergraduate student – Condensed Matter Physics

• John Houghteling, Physics undergraduate student – Particle Physics

• Celena Marsters, Chemistry graduate student – Chemical Structure, Dynamics, and Mechanism
• Hoang Pham, Chemistry graduate student – Chemical Catalysis
• Ishika Rashed, Chemistry graduate student – Chemical Measurement and Imaging
• Mady S. Telford, Microbiology graduate student – Microbial Biology