NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship program was its first program, and has supported student research every year since 1952.  The goal is to select, recognize, and financially support individuals who have demonstrated the potential to be high achieving scientists and engineers.  Recipients receive $138,000 over five years to advance their education and their research.

In 2020, Purdue ME's recipients are:

Brian Acosta

Brian is a graduating senior in Mechanical Engineering.  He joined Song Zhang's XYZT Lab in Fall 2018. His research interests include 3D imaging, robotics, controls, and autonomous vehicles.

Matthew Blaisdell

A 2018 graduate of Purdue ME, Matthew now conducts research with Chris Goldenstein.  His focus is wavelength-modulation spectroscopy diagnostics and infrared imaging for propellants.

Debraliz Isaac-Aragones

Debraliz received her bachelor's in aerospace engineering and minor in mathematics from the University of Central Florida in May 2019. She began a direct Ph.D. at Purdue University and is a recipient of the George Washington Carver Fellowship. She is currently working under the guidance of Prof. Justin Weibel from the Cooling Technologies Research Center and Prof. David Warsinger from the Warsinger Water Lab.

Vanessa Kwarteng

Vanessa obtained her Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University. Prior to starting her graduate education Vanessa worked five years at ExxonMobil as a drilling engineer. At Purdue she is a direct Ph.D. student under Ilias Bilionis, working towards building a game mechanism incentivizing energy conserving behaviors in smart and connected communities. Her main research interests are game-theoretical modeling and developing resilient sociotechnical systems.

Purdue ME also had one runner-up in the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, Amanda Braun.

More information about Purdue's 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipients