Eight students associated with UC Santa Barbara's College of Engineering (COE) have received prestigious graduate research fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Fellows selected for the 2023 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) will receive three years of financial support, totaling $147,000 in the form of an annual $37,000 stipend and an annual cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 paid to the graduate degree-granting institution for tuition and fees. Fellows also receive opportunities for international research and professional development.

The GRFP is the nation’s oldest fellowship program that recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The program is intended to ensure the vitality and diversity of the nation’s scientific and engineering workforce, inspiring future contributions to research, teaching, and scientific innovation. Students can apply to the program before beginning or early in their graduate studies. On average, about 13,000 students submit applications each year. 

This year, 2,552 students nationwide were offered fellowships, including eight students with ties to UCSB’s the mechanical engineering, materials, computer science, and biological engineering departments. The NSF also issues honorable mention as an academic recognition to meritorious applicants who did not receive fellowship awards. Among the 801 students who received honorable mention, seven awardees have connections to UCSB’s College of Engineering.

Of the more than 60,000 graduate research fellows who have received GRFP funding since 1952, 42 have gone on to become Nobel laureates and more than 450 have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. 

UCSB COE students who received 2023 fellowships by NSF’s GRFP 
Name  -  Field of Study
Marianne Arriola - Computing in the College of Creative Studies, working in research lab with Ambuj Singh
Anna Alvarez – Mechanical Engineering, advised by Elliot Hawkes (ME)
William Heap – Mechanical Engineering, conducting undergraduate research for Elliot Hawkes (ME)
Parker Morris – Chemistry, advised by professors Chris Bates (Mat/ChE) and Javier Read de Alaniz
Adele Myers – Physics and Astronomy, advised by Nina Miolane (ECE)
Andrew Rhode – Materials Research, advised by Chris Bates (Mat/ChE) and Angela Pitenis (Mat)
Breanna Takacs – Life Sciences, Data Driven Biology Fellow 
Daniella Walter – Bioengineering, advised by Ryan Stowers (ME), Data Driven Biology Fellow