National Science Foundation Awards 4 Woodruff School Students Prestigious Fellowships

May 4, 2023
By Chloe Arrington

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded graduate research fellowships to four students in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Second-year Ph.D. students Amro Alshareef, Max Asselmeier, and Abir Muhuri as well as undergraduate student Alexander Chipps, who will pursue a graduate degree in aeronautical and aerospace engineering, were among those named as recipients.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and STEM education fields within NSF’s mission. The program is extremely competitive with more than 12,000 applicants each year.

This year, the NSF also granted an “honorable mention” designation to one of the Woodruff School's graduate student applicants, Alexander Arbogast. This designation acknowledges the student’s potential for success in future graduate studies and research.

The GRFP provides significant financial support to recipients, including a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees. Recipients also receive access to opportunities for professional development.

NSF Fellows are predicted to become knowledge experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in science and engineering. These individuals are key to maintaining and advancing the nation’s technological infrastructure and national security as well as contributing to the economic well-being of society at large.

Introducing the Woodruff School's four students awarded NSF graduate research fellowships for 2023:

Amro Alshareef

Second-year Ph.D. student in Robotics
Advisor: Gregory S. Sawicki
Area of Research: Exoskeleton assistance and neuromuscular physiology
What this fellowship means to me: “I see this fellowship as both a fantastic opportunity to develop my own independent path forward as a researcher and a support of my ability to do so, which can seem uncertain during a Ph.D. at points!"

Max Asselmeier

Second-year Ph.D. student in Robotics
Advisors: Ye Zhao and Patricio Vela
Area of Research: Perception-informed motion planning for legged systems
What this fellowship means to me: “This fellowship represents an opportunity to completely invest myself in the world of robotics and perform challenging, high-impact research that brings inspiration and betterment to everyone, and not just those in the field."

Alexander Chipps

Undergraduate student who will pursue a graduate degree in aeronautical and aerospace engineering
Advisor: Christopher E. Carr
Area of Research: Space Instrumentation
What this fellowship means to me: “I will have greater flexibility in carving the trajectory of my graduate experience while developing novel space exploration technologies."

Abir K. Muhuri

Second-year Ph.D. student in Bioengineering
Advisor: Susan Thomas
Area of Research: Developing microfluidic devices for improving adoptive cell therapies
What this fellowship means to me: “The NSF graduate research fellowship means having the creative, intellectual, and financial freedom to extend the foundational tools developed in our lab into newer and collaborative avenues for improving cellular therapies for cancer."

About NSF GRFP

The NSF GRFP is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in different STEM areas. Established in 1951, the program was the first in the NSF to encourage individuals to pursue graduate education in science. Since 1952, it has funded over 60,000 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants. Currently, 42 Fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences.

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

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