Three prior VINSE REU students were awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowships this year.
NSF Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 allowance for tuition and fees for a research-based master’s or doctoral degree in in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Annually, the NSF awards approximately 1,500 fellowships from an applicant pool of over 12,000.
The 2020 awardees:
- Jenna Dombroski – undergraduate at SUNY University at Buffalo undergrad, is now a graduate student at Vanderbilt University (2017 REU)
- Rebeca Gurrola – undergraduate at St. Mary’s University San Antonio, is now a graduate student at Texas A&M University (2018 REU)
- Crystal Nattoo – undergraduate at the University of Miami, is now a graduate student at Stanford University (2017 REU)
The VINSE REU program, funded by the National Science Foundation, brings ten undergraduate students to campus each summer to work closely with VINSE faculty on research projects for 10 weeks. During their time at Vanderbilt we work to make sure they also receive informative lunch talks covering topics such as ethics and responsible conduct of research, how to prepare a research poster and how to apply to graduate school. At the end of the program the students present their work at a poster competition for a chance to win travel awards and present their work at research conferences.