Four University of Iowa graduate students earned National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships in the 2016-17 academic year. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards fellowships to outstanding graduate students based on their demonstrated potential for significant achievements in science and engineering.

Iowa’s four Ph.D. recipients include Hunter Schroer (Engineering – Environmental), Marcie King (Psychology – Neuropsychology), Addison Kimmel (Social Sciences – Archaeology), and Kathryn Klarich (Engineering – Environmental). Nine UI graduate students have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships in the last two years, including a school-record of five last year.

The NSF award provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period ($34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution) for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents, and are selected through the NSF peer review process.

Seven graduate students also received honorable mention recognition in 2016-17, including Michael Lash (Comp/IS/Engineering - Machine Learning), Jason Mixdorf (Chemistry - Chemical Catalysis), Maurice Payne (Chemistry - Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry), Kate Rasmussen (Life Sciences – Neurosciences), David Cooper (Life Sciences – Genetics), Bryan Stressler (Geosciences – Geophysics), and Elizabeth Handschy (Social Sciences - Cultural Anthropology).

This is considered a significant national academic achievement and provides access to XSEDE, a single virtual system that scientists can use to interactively share computing resources, data and expertise.