Two students earn prestigious NSF fellowships

Thanks to the National Science Foundation, a pair of CSU Monterey Bay students won’t have to worry about how they will pay for graduate school.

Beth Alger and Elisabeth Carrillo have received NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowships. The awards support students in science, technology, engineering and math-related fields. For three years, each will receive an annual stipend of $34,000 and a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to their universities, for a total grant of $138,000.

They participated in rigorous research and scholarship through the university’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center or UROC. They won research awards, published their findings and presented their work at professional conferences. Alger, who was mentored by Dr. Timothy Miles, will graduate in May with a major in biology. She will pursue a Ph.D. in plant genetics and breeding at Michigan State University.

Carrillo, who was mentored by Dr. Aparna Sreenivasan, will graduate in May with a major in biology. She plans to attend graduate school at UC Santa Cruz in the molecular, cell,developmental biology program. The fellowships were awarded to 2,000 students – from more than 17,000 applicants – across the country; about 600 of them went to undergraduates. Past recipients include Nobel Prize winners, former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and author Steven Levitt. Alger and Carrillo are examples of how undergraduate research prepares students for life after CSUMB.

“UROC helped me develop confidence as a researcher and a scholar,” Alger said. “I feel prepared to succeed in graduate school and my future career because of the time I spent in this program.”

Carrillo echoes that sentiment. “UROC has been an invaluable resource and has inspired me to continue my education to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology. They prepared me to enter a graduate program and provided a support system.”

Since UROC was established in 2009, 20 students have earned Graduate Research Fellowships. That’s one of the reasons UROC has earned a national reputation for excellence, achievement and leadership.

Published April 5, 2016