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NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Awarded to Nine College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Students

/ 7 April 2015 /

Nine current students and recent alumni of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) have received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, which recognize outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

Thirty UMD students were among the 2,000 fellowship winners announced by NSF. Of those, nine hailed from CMNS, including two current graduate students, three current undergraduate students, and four alumni who recently received bachelor’s degrees in CMNS majors.

“These prestigious NSF graduate research fellowship awards are an outstanding recognition of the quality of our undergraduate and graduate students,” said CMNS Dean Jayanth Banavar.

CMNS graduate student fellowship recipients:

  • Ruilong Hu, neuroscience and cognitive science
  • Madhvi Venkatraman, biological sciences

CMNS undergraduate student fellowship recipients:

  • Daniel Farias, computer science, mathematics and electrical engineering; graduate institution: University of California, Berkeley, electrical engineering
  • Michael Mandler, chemistry and biological sciences; graduate institution: Harvard University, organic chemistry
  • Rafael Setra, mathematics and electrical engineering; graduate institution: Stanford University, electrical engineering

CMNS alumni fellowship recipients:

  • Taarika Babu (B.S. '13, biochemistry), graduate institution: Johns Hopkins University
  • Prachi Bagadia (B.S. ’12, biological sciences; B.A. ’12, english), graduate institution: Washington University in St. Louis
  • Joseph Pennington (B.S. ’12, biological sciences and biochemistry), graduate institution: Florida State University
  • Rishi Sugla (B.S. ’13, geology), graduate institution: University of California, San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography

NSF fellows receive three years of support from the agency, including a $34,000 annual stipend, a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the institution, international research and professional development opportunities, and access to a supercomputer.

The NSF received more than 16,500 applications for the 2015 competition and made 2,000 fellowship award offers. The students awarded graduate research fellowships are a diverse group of individuals. Among the awardees, 1,053 are women, 494 are from underrepresented minority groups, 43 are persons with disabilities and 31 are veterans.

About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 10,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and nine interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $250 million.