Recipient: NSF GRFP Fellowship

Year: 2018

Rachel Smoak, a member of the University of Iowa’s Sustainable Water Development Program, will use her NSF GRFP award to pursue her own research ideas, while growing as an independent researcher.

“It gives me the opportunity to conduct international research and connects me to a community of exceptional young scientists,” Smoak says.

Smoak’s research focuses on the interaction of plants and bacteria and how they can be used to help address agricultural, environmental, and economic issues at the Food-Energy-Water nexus.