Supporting the next generation of scientists has long been the goal of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Since 1952, it has rewarded students in STEM fields who show exceptional promise to make a real impact through their research pursuits. This year, four University of Colorado Anschutz doctoral students have been named fellows of the prestigious program.
The fellows are Emily Ekstrum of the Computational Bioscience program, Colette Hopkins of the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development program; Robert Kidd of the Molecular Biology program, and Elizabeth Ung of the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development program. More information and a brief Q&A with each awardee can be found below.
These early-career students will each receive three years of support over a five-year fellowship period, including a stipend and Cost of Education allowance payment to cover tuition and fees.
“It’s really supporting people as they’re transitioning to this graduate training. It’s hitting at a time where there’s a lot of enthusiasm but maybe under-formed ideas,” Dr. Jeffrey Moore, associate professor and director of the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development program; said. “It’s an encouragement for that raw enthusiasm and potential.”
The application was open to students who have completed less than one academic year in a graduate degree program, a new requirement that meant second-year doctoral students were no longer eligible to apply as in previous years.
There were 2,500 awardees chosen from over 14,000 applicants nationwide according to NSF. They represent disciplines ranging from economics to biological sciences and everything in between.
“This is really an incredible accomplishment and victory,” Moore said. “We came back strong and I think that’s great. The eligibility requirements were rewritten two months before proposals were due. Rather than stepping back, we had a lot of students step up. It’s just an incredible accomplishment, not only by the folks who got these awards but by everybody who even got these submitted in the first place.”
To support students in preparing strong applications, the Graduate School hosts an information session and workshop each fall facilitated by Moore. Two of the CU Anschutz awardees, Ekstrum and Kidd, participated in the workshop.
The application structure is different than the traditional grant writing students are trained to do and adds in a broader impact emphasis that is a unique aspect of the fellowship. Applicants are asked to think about how important their work and activities can be to society.
“It motivates students to think about things that they do away from the bench like mentoring, like science communication, like getting out and really interacting with people who are not in their lab or in their graduate program, and trying to bring science to them,” Moore said. “This [fellowship] is NSF saying this is important. And I think for a lot of students, whether they get the GRFP funded or not, that's a great motivation to say these things may be part of your core values and why you want to be a scientist.”
Asking students to think about these big concepts so early in their graduate education, though, can be as daunting as it is rewarding and beneficial for professional development.
The first part of the hosted workshop focuses on teaching students to focus on their core questions and the broad importance of those questions for society. It’s how their science fits into the grand scheme of things and how they write about that.
Past CU Anschutz awardees will then share their successful proposals with workshop attendees, letting them see what they actually look like. These proposals come from a variety of programs on campus and showcase that there is more than one way to be successful.
Attendees are then welcome to submit their draft proposals by a certain date to ensure time for review and finalization before the NSF application deadline. Reviewers can be faculty, postdocs, or even upper-level students.
“The heroes in this program are the reviewers who, in a pretty tight timeline, read these documents and give feedback back to the applicants. It's a really nice team effort, and I think that has made a big difference and made this not only a more approachable fellowship application for students but improved our success,” Moore said.
He and the Graduate School plan to host another workshop for prospective applicants this fall. The workshop is always looking for additional reviewers, and those who are interested in volunteering their time may reach out directly to Moore.
Colette Hopkins
