Eleven 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 2022 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) will receive three years of financial support, totaling $138,000, in the form of an annual $34,000 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, 2,193 students nationwide were offered fellowships, and 1,377 students received honorable mention. The NSF issues honorable mention as an academic recognition to meritorious applicants who did not receive fellowship awards. PhD students from the chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and materials departments were offered fellowships. Six additional COE graduate students received honorable mention.  

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. In addition, 

UCSB COE students who received 2022 fellowships by NSF’s GRFP 
Name - Field of Study
Patrick Babb - Mechanical Engineering
Michelle Baldini - Bioengineering
Jadon Binez *- Chemistry of Materials
Eve Bodnia *- Quantum Information Science
Hae Lim - Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Norleakvisoth Lim - Chemical Engineering
Simon Munyan - Materials Research – Physics of Materials
Elizabeth Schauer - Chemical Engineering
Emily Trageser - Materials Research – Photonics Materials
Gabriela Villapando Torres - Bioengineering

Fellowship recipients who earned bachelor’s degrees at UCSB
Name - Field of Study - Current Institution
Jessica Hauck - Chemical Engineering - University of Colorado, Boulder

UCSB COE students who received honorable mention
Name - Field of Study
Sivar Azadi * - Physics and Astronomy – Particle Physics
James Bamford - Materials Research – Polymers
Spencer Hutchinson - Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Nicholas Lewis - Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Claire Wu * - Materials Research - Polymers
Aryan Zaveri * - Materials Research – Electronic Materials

* - Completed research with COE faculty