The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. 

As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers.  The reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, Google founder, Sergey Brin and Freakonomicsco-author, Steven Levitt.   

Fellows share in the prestige and opportunities that become available when they are selected.  Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $32,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose. 

Michelle’s research focuses on the development of an interactive Electronic Health Record simulation tool that improves expertise and coordination of information and resources during the simulation of medication delivery. The goal of the simulation is to help healthcare organizations decrease medication errors and adverse drug events through improved multidisciplinary training and team situation awareness. Furthermore, this project could potentially transform medical education, by enabling tablet-based health care simulations disseminated as practicum modules integrating PharmD or RN, and MD providers.