The National Science Foundation recently announced the recipients of their coveted 2014 Graduate Research Fellowship awards. These prestigious awards have been given since 1952 to graduate students who show a demonstrated potential for significant achievements in science and engineering. 

 

Two students from the BioFrontiers Institute's Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology PhD Program, Ryan Langendorf and Eric Kightley, received fellowships. Three additional IQ Biology students, Kathryn Wall, Cloe Pogoda and John Nardini, were given honorable mentions. An incoming CU-Boulder student, Jamie Morton, who was recently accepted into the IQ Biology program from Miami University, also received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship award.

 

The NSF fellowships provide three years of financial support over a five-year period. This is split into a $30,000 annual stipend and a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution. The fellowship also provides opportunities to participate in international research collaborations and access to NSF-supported research infrastructure. From over 14,000 applicants, a total of 2,000 Graduate Fellows were awarded in 2014, 30 of which went to CU-Boulder students.

 

Last year, the University of Colorado, Boulder students won 21 NSF fellowships, a new record for the campus. CU-Boulder was among the top 20 universities with NSF fellows last year. BioFrontiers and the IQ Biology program are honored to have students involved in the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which is one of the most prestigious awards available for student researchers. Additional information about the awards can be found here: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/

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Most university faculty divide their time between research activities, teaching and service to their institutions, sometimes putting in extra hours to accomplish the job's demands. Being able to shine in all of these areas is a rare accomplishment, especially for newer faculty. For BioFrontiers faculty member Robin Dowell, juggling these responsibilities is second nature.

 

"With respect to components of academia, I firmly believe that these are difficult to separate," she says. "The best way to deeply understand scientific concepts is to get your hands dirty- actually perform an experiment, write a program, or solve a math problem - or to teach the concepts to someone else. In the best-case scenarios, you do both."

 

Her ability to apply this philosophy recently earned Dowell the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award for junior faculty, the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant. Providing five years of support totaling more than $650,000, the grant recognizes emerging investigators who excel at combining teaching and research in ways that directly impact their institutions and the broader community. Dowell is one of only ten scientists nationwide in the field of molecular and cellular bioscience who have received the award so far this year.  

 

The CAREER program requires scientists to complete specific aims in both teaching and research.  Successful candidates have designed projects in which their research feeds into their teaching goals and vice versa, creating a long-term cycle that advances both aims. Projects are also expected to meet institutional needs, such as providing students with mentored external development opportunities or promoting interdisciplinary research.

 

"I have a hard time when people ask me how I integrate such diverse fields," says Dowell. "It isn't about integrating fields, areas or components, but rather ignoring those kinds of boundaries."