April 22, 2009 | UW Bioengineering

Twelve PhD students UW Department of Bioengineeering were awarded National Science Foundation (NSF), National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships (NDSEG), or Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) this month. The department ranks second in the nation for the number of these prestigious fellowships awarded to its students in 2009.

Connie Cheng, a doctoral student in James Bryers lab, received a NDSEG award.

Doctoral students receiving NSF Fellowships and their labs are:

• Geoffrey Berguig (Patrick Stayton lab)
• Austin Day ( David Baker & Wendy Thomas labs)
• Erik Feest (Michael Regnier lab)
• Salka Keller (Patrick Stayton lab)
• Sarah Nowakowski (Michael Regnier lab)
• Rachana Shah (Paul Yager lab)
• Julie Shi (Suzie Pun lab)
• Pavel Zrazhevskiy (Xiaohu Gao lab)

Kirschstein Fellowship recipients are:

• Jong Ho Won (Jay Rubinstein lab)
• Ester Kwon (Suzie Pun lab)

The NSF Fellowships are the oldest of their kind. NSF has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in academic and professional careers. Numerous past recipients are Nobel Prize winners. The fellowship includes a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a $10,500 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, and a $1,000 travel allowance.

The NDSEG Fellowship include a three-year annual stipend from $30,500 to $31,500 in addition to tuition and fees.

Ruth L. Kirschstein national Research Service Awards are provided by the National Institutes of Health for training researchers in health sciences and behavioral sciences for doctoral and postdoctoral students. Recipients commit to at least one year of research following their first year of funding.