Grad Students Gabet and Routson Awarded Prestigious Fellowships
Katie Gabet and Rebecca Routson were recently awarded fellowships from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). In addition, Gabet was awarded The Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE SCGF).
Katie Gabet is working toward her Ph.D. with Professor Jeffrey Sutton in the Laboratory for Advanced Fluid Dynamics and Combustion Research. Her research project is to experimentally investigate turbulent combustion dynamics using new, high-speed laser diagnostics. According to Professor Sutton, “Katie’s research is aimed at making measurements of combustion species and examining how they interact, at more than 10,000 samples per second. For certain measurements, this is more than a factor of 1000 times faster than the current state-of-the-art and will definitely result in new and very exciting information.” The ultimate goal of research in this field is to provide a better understanding of combustion chamber processes in order to aid advanced engine development. “This will allow her to analyze a time-history of combustion processes, not only discovering new physics, but providing key information to modelers who wish to predict their fate” said Sutton.
Rebecca Routson is working on her masters in Mechanical Engineering with Professor Robert Siston in the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab. She is characterizing how healthy young adults ascend and descend stairs so that a comparison can be made to this data in the future with subjects who suffer from arthritis in their knees. Professor Siston explains, “The ability to climb stairs is an important activity of daily living. Unfortunately, for patients with movement disorders like knee arthritis or who have had a stroke, the inability to accomplish this task significantly decreases their quality of life. Becca’s project is a challenging combination of experimental measurements and computer simulations and establishes important baseline information that can be used as a reference to improve clinical interventions.” Routson plans to pursue her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and continue to do research in the area of biomechanics.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the U.S. and abroad. Applicants are judged in the areas of intellectual merit and broader impact. This year NSF GRFP awarded 2000 fellows a three-year annual stipend of $30,000 along with a $10,500 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees, a one-time $1,000 international travel allowance and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S., or foreign institution of graduate education they choose.
The DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship program supports outstanding students to pursue graduate training in basic research in areas of physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computational sciences, and environmental sciences relevant to the Office of Science. The Fellowship award provides three years of tuition support, an annual stipend of $35,000 for living expenses, and an annual research stipend of $5,000 for full-time graduate study and thesis or dissertation research at a U.S. academic institution. This year the DOE SCGF awarded 150 fellowships from more than 3200 applicants.
