Graduate students in the College of Science are creative, independent and collaborative thinkers and doers. They are also exceptional students, mentors and teachers. This past year, many of our graduate students have received awards, scholarships and fellowships. Below we highlight just some of these noteworthy scholars. They are among the many graduate students who we are proud to honor at the second annual College of Science Graduate Student Appreciation Night on Nov. 3, 2022.
Larry Martin & O’Neill Fellowship
Nima Laal, physics Ph.D. student, is the recipient of the 2022-23 Martin-O’Neill Fellowship, which is awarded to a graduate student from any department in the College of Science whose research involves computational modeling. Read more about Laal and his research.
GEM Fellowship
Fernando Angulo-Barba, mathematics Ph.D. student, received a GEM Fellowship. As part of his fellowship, Angulo-Barba completed a summer internship with Idaho National Labs. The Founded in 1976 at the University of Notre Dame, GEM’s mission is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science industry.
ARCS Foundation, Oregon Chapter Awards
ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation, Oregon Chapter seeks to advance science and technology in the United States by providing financial awards to academically outstanding students who are U.S. citizens studying to complete Ph.D. degrees in science, engineering, mathematics, technology and medical research at Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.
In 2022-23, six incoming College of Science graduate students were awarded ARCS scholarships. Karlie Wiese in chemistry received the ARCTS 10th Anniversary Scholar award. Mackenzie Kawahara (Microbiology) received the Jill V. Josselyn Endowed Scholar Award, Jacqueline Laddusaw (Chemistry) received the Mary Martin Rosenberg Endowed Scholar Award and Jane Van Gunst (Integrative Biology) received the Sue & Bernie McGrath Scholar Award. Other ARCS Foundation Oregon Chapter award recipients include Luke Nearhood (Physics) and Sarah A. Louie (Biochemistry and Biophysics).
National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellows
Two Ph.D. students, Elena Conser (Integrative Biology) and Andrew Clifford (Chemistry) were selected for the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP), which recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in the U.S.
Herbert F. Frolander Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Val Sawiccy (Integrative Biology) received the Herbert F. Frolander Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, which recognizes outstanding teaching and professional involvement with both faculty and students by a graduate teaching assistant at Oregon State University. This award is presented to one graduate student from across the entire university during University Day in the fall.
Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Mentoring by a Graduate Student Award
Jesse Laney (Integrative Biology) received the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring by a Graduate Student Award at University Day in September 2022. This award recognizes outstanding undergraduate research mentoring by Oregon State graduate students.
Wei Family Private Foundation Awards
The Wei Family Private Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established to honor the memory of Dr. (Mrs.) Chung Kwai Lui Wei and Mr. Hsin Hsu Wei. Its purpose is to award scholarship grants to students of Chinese heritage with high academic credentials who are pursuing a degree in Science or Mathematics at Oregon State University or an Electrical Engineering graduate degree.
In 2022-23, the College of Science awarded three Wei Family scholarships to Zhouya He (Statistics), Hsiang Thum (Mathematics) and Laila Sha-J Brubaker (Microbiology).
In addition, the College renewed 13 additional Wei scholarships to current College of Science graduate students:
- Jerry Sun, (Physics)
- Nachuan Zhang (Mathematics)
- Dunping Cao (Chemistry/Environmental, Molecular Toxicology)
- Yuan Gao (Physics)
- Guanyu Li (Physics)
- Chifan Leung (Mathematics)
- Peter Aidan Cowal (Mathematics)
- Yiming Sui (Chemistry)
- Jiawei Liu (Chemistry)
- Wanling Xie (Statistics)
- Jingtian Yu (Statistics)
- Mitchell Lee Kim-Fu (Chemistry)
- Jun Cai (Integrative Biology).
Provost's Distinguished Graduate Fellowships and Scholarships
The purpose of the Provost’s Distinguished Fellowship and Scholarship program is to support programs in the recruitment of Oregon State’s most meritorious graduate students. In 2022-23, the College of Science awarded Provost Scholarships to following students:
- Jake Derby (Integrative Biology)
- Dorothy Zahor (Integrative Biology)
- Giovanni Crestani (Integrative Biology)
- Kaitlynn Spiker (Mathematics)
- Cameron Fish (Mathematics)
- Rebekah Kuss (Mathematics)
- Anshika Nagar (Chemistry)
- Luis Borrego-Castaneda (Chemistry)
- Tinu Anthony (Chemistry)
- Rylan Chilcott (Chemistry)
- Noah Leibnitz (Physics)
- Agustin Griswold (Physics)
- Sadie Grant (Microbiology)
Two prestigious Provost Fellowships were awarded to Olivia Burleigh in Integrative Biology and Jacob Wynne in Microbiology.
Mark and Vicki Hehnen Veteran’s Science Scholarship
Chemistry graduate student Erin McCarn received the 2022-23 College of Science Mark and Vicki Hehnen Veteran’s Science Scholarship. Established by Mark Hehnen (Ph.D.,’78), the scholarship supports science students (undergraduate or graduate) who are veterans.
