Fellowship winners Anna Brockway '12, Jamie DeNizio '11, Lydia Fiske Emery '12, Heather Harden '11, Sam Rodriques '13, and Marta Wolfshorndl '13 will pursue a variety of projects with support from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Six recent Haverford College graduates recently were honored with National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards to pursue diverse studies that include genetics, renewable energy, and social class. The fellowship winners Anna Brockway '12, Jamie DeNizio '11, Lydia Fiske Emery '12, Heather Harden '11, Sam Rodriques '13, and Marta Wolfshorndl '13.
The oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and selects recipients who are expected to“achieve high levels of success in their future and academic careers.”
It supports three years of graduate-level research with a $34,000 annual stipend, a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance, and international research and professional development opportunities. For 2015, 16,500 applied and about 12 percent, or 2,000 graduate students, were selected.
Brockway, who majored in chemistry with a minor in philosophy at Haverford, will pursue graduate studies at the University of California-Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group starting this fall with a focus on renewable energy generation and power systems. Currently, she is completing a SunShot Science & Technology Policy Fellowship at the Department of Energy, where her main focus has been on innovative business models and policy for solar energy. Brockway plans to use the fellowship to gain a deeper grasp of technical constraints and engineering considerations for clean energy growth.
DeNizio, who studied chemistry with a biochemistry concentration at Haverford and minored in art history at Bryn Mawr College, is interested in the chemical diversity of the genome and how epigenetic changes to human DNA code can regulate gene expression. She will be studying the DNA modifying enzyme TET to determine the biochemical basis for the differential distribution of oxidized methylcytosine bases observed across different cell types and disease states.
Former Haverford psychology and English double major Emery, who is working on her doctorate at Northwestern University, is looking at how social class influences self-concept change and well-being in romantic relationships.
Harden, who had a major in psychology at Haverford with a minor in dance at Bryn Mawr, is a Ph.D. student in cognitive psychology at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on how the body influences cognition and emotion. She is looking at how encouraging children to move their hands helps them learn mathematical concepts and the non-verbal cues teachers use to identify children's understanding during the learning process. She also is investigating how dance training affects wisdom and decision making.
Rodriques, who was also named a Churchill Scholar in 2013, studied physics at Haverford. As a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he is developing new experimental tools that will interface with and enable the study of brain function. The work also is driving the development of novel medical technologies that seek to address debilitating neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and autism.
Former Haverford chemistry major Wolfshorndl is studying past climate changes using stable isotope analysis of algal and plant lipid biomarkers at the University of Washington School of Oceanography. Her goal is to understand past natural climate variability to determine the extent and implications of current anthropogenic climate change.
In addition, four young alumni—Jordana Bloom '14, Sarah Harrison '13, Matt Romei '14, and Louise Marie St. Amour '12—received honorable mentions in the program.
