Four LSU Students Named NSF Graduate Research Fellows, Seven Receive Honorable Mention
This year’s awardees represent four colleges across the LSU campus—Science, Engineering, Coast & Environment, as well as Humanities & Social Sciences.
BATON ROUGE – The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, or GRFP, is the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind. Fellows are anticipated to become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to scientific innovation and teaching, help maintain and advance the nation’s technological infrastructure and national security, as well as contribute to the economic well-being of society at large.
This year, four LSU students or recent graduates have been named fellows, and seven others received an honorable mention. While the GRFP is focused solely on the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), the LSU awardees represent four different colleges across campus: Science, Engineering, Coast & Environment, as well as Humanities & Social Sciences.
Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 education allowance for tuition and fees, opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research.
The program is highly competitive. More than 12,000 students across the nation applied while just under 2,100 won fellowships and 1,800 received an honorable mention this year. An important part of the application process at LSU is a rigorous fall workshop program, sponsored by the Colleges of Engineering and Science, LSU Libraries, Communication Across the Curriculum (CxC), LSU Discover, and the Honors College. The team behind the workshop series includes both faculty and staff: Drew Lamonica Arms, director of fellowship advising, Honors College; Jennifer Baumgartner, CxC faculty chair and associate professor in the School of Education; Cristina Caminita, head of research and instruction services, LSU Libraries; Sarah Ferstel, program manager, LSU Discover; Carol Friedland, Cajun Constructors Associate Professor in Construction Management; Marybeth Lima, Cliff & Nancy Spanier Alumni Professor in Biological and Agricultural Engineering; and Sheri Wischusen, director of undergraduate research for the College of Science.
“We are so excited for these students,” said Wischusen and Lima, who lead the workshop series together. “This is a life-changing opportunity for amazing researchers who will make a positive impact on our society and the world. As part of their proposals, the students had to include outreach activities as well as their research, so they are poised to move forward into a bright future. This national recognition is a testament to the outstanding support that LSU provides to students in their scholarly endeavors.”
The recipients of the 2020 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship are:
Jasmine Bekkaye from Baton Rouge, Louisiana attended McKinley High School before coming to LSU for
her Bachelor of Science 2015-2019, during which time she also served as the Vice President
of Engineering Diversity Ambassadors, 2016-2019. She will return to LSU for graduate
school this fall to pursue her Master of Science in civil engineering with a concentration
in geotechnical engineering.
“I always liked chemistry and math and being outside,” she said. “For me, environmental
engineering is a way to give back. I became involved with several undergraduate research
projects at LSU, such as coastal restoration and marsh restoration. We studied oil
compounds in plant tissue in Barataria Bay, which was impacted by the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill. This also gave me an excuse to do some chemistry.”
Her proposal, “Disaster Debris Dilemma: Developing a High-Fidelity Debris Prediction
Model and Quantifying Shadow Environmental Costs to Waste Management Infrastructure,”
illustrated another interest—tracking waste from natural disasters, such as hurricanes
or floods, using drones and smart phones.
Felicia Chaisson from Houma, Louisiana calls herself a “non-traditional student.” She joined the Marine
Corps for five years and received two bachelor’s degrees, a Bachelor of Science in
psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with a focus on criminology. She is
now heading into her third year of graduate school at LSU where she studies psychology
and cognitive neuroscience.
“During my military time, I did a lot of training of marines on very specific forms
of intelligence processing and analytics,” Chaisson said. “I then used that knowledge
working as a criminal analyst in East Baton Rouge for a while. At LSU, Dr. Megan Papesh’
course on physiological psychology blew me away; how the brain processes information,
the chemical processes. I began working with Dr. Stephen Greening, looking at how
emotions and anxiety relate to your ability to perceive things or perform a task.
This helped me answer some of the questions I had in the military, about how PTSD
can influence regular, day-to-day life.”
Chaisson is currently doing research in Dr. Heather Lucas’ Brain and Memory Lab.
Megan Guidry from Luling, Louisiana is wrapping up her Bachelor of Science in biology at LSU this
May and will be going to the University of Rhode Island for her PhD, focusing on oyster
genomics.
“I found my passion for oysters in Dr. Morgan Kelly’s lab,” she said. “Growing up
in southeast Louisiana, where communities are on the front lines of climate change,
shaped my interest in coastal environments. I also discovered I like tedious tasks
and tolerate failing a lot, and since that’s a big part of research, I got really
involved in undergraduate research.”
Guidry’s NSF proposal was titled, “Microbiome, Metabolome, and Ploidy Effects on the
Eastern Oyster in the Chesapeake Bay during the Summer Mortality Period.” During her
time at LSU, she has also been engaged in an LSU Honors College program called LASAL,
Louisiana Service and Leadership, which she sees as a contributor to her success in
becoming an NSF fellow:
“The program focuses on important issues in Louisiana, such as poverty and sea level
rise and coastal erosion and how those issues interface with each other. The question
I have, which even relates to oysters, is how we protect the most vulnerable in the
most vulnerable places.”
Matthew C. Johnson from Rockford, Illinois came to LSU for his undergraduate degree in biological sciences
and is currently pursuing a PhD in computational biology at University of California
San Francisco, or UCSF. He realized his interest in and knack for research through
a work-study program where he, as part of the IT department in the Life Sciences building,
helped professors with their computer issues.
“It was Dr. Maheshi Dassanayake who allowed me to get my first experience,” he said.
“She put me on a computational project because she knew I was good with computer science,
which led me to start looking around for graduate programs in bioinformatics.”
Upon graduation from LSU, Johnson went to Harvard to study host-microbe interactions;
how behavior is influenced by microbes in the gut. Now a graduate student under the
mentorship of Dr. Joseph Bondy-Denomy at UCSF he is focused on the gene editing technology
called CRISPR.
“We discover anti-CRISPR genes that viruses evolved to survive against the CRISPR
systems that bacteria use to kill viruses. By having these anti-CRISPRs, we add another
tool to our gene editing toolbox. We can turn off editing to improve accuracy or even
as a preventative measure against nefarious gene-editing biowarfare.”
The title of Johnson’s NSF proposal was “Network Analysis of Gene Neighborhoods to
Discover Anti-CRISPR Proteins.”
The honorable mentions are:
Spenser Babb-Biernacki from Phoenix, Arizona received her Bachelor of Science in conservation biology and
ecology from Arizona State University in 2016 and is now working toward her PhD in
systematics, ecology, and evolution in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences.
Babb-Biernacki’s proposal, “Understanding Speciation of the Fungal Parasite Pneumocystis,”
stemmed from her realization that fungi are poorly known, yet essential to the foundation
of all life on Earth.
“I have a longstanding fascination with the unknown life on this planet,” she said.
“I am also a Star Trek fan, and one of the reasons they travel through space is to
‘seek out new life.’ Well, we have plenty of undiscovered life right here on Earth!”
“I chose LSU because of the wonderful program at the LSU Museum of Natural Science,
where we get experience in collection and curation of the natural world,” she continued.
“I hope to work in a museum or herbarium collection helping to document new species
of fungi after I graduate.”
Eamon Corbett from Pelham, New York received his Bachelor of Arts in integrative biology at Harvard
University in 2017 and is now working toward his PhD in systematics, ecology, and
evolution in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences and the LSU Museum of Natural
Science. Corbett’s proposal, “What is the Genetic Basis of Eye Color Variation in
Birds?”, focused on grackles, a group of blackbirds native to Louisiana.
“I’ve been an avid birdwatcher and lover of nature since early childhood,” he said.
“I chose LSU to work with Dr. Brumfield and Dr. Faircloth and to be at the LSU Museum
of Natural Science, which has one of the best and most active ornithology programs
and collections anywhere.”
Melanie Kimball from Baltimore, Maryland received her Bachelor of Science in biology from St. Mary's
College of Maryland in 2019 and is now working toward her PhD in cellular developmental
and integrative biology in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences. Kimball’s proposal,
“The Neurobiology of Personality: Potential Mechanisms Mediating Individual Variation
in Neophobia Behavior,” came from her interest in connecting neurobiology and behavioral
phenotypes.
“I chose to study avian neuroendocrinology and behavior because it is an integrative
field with many under-studied niches,” she said. “So, there is a lot of potential
to generate new and interesting research questions. That’s also why I chose LSU; because
I was impressed by the breadth of research and very collaborative environment.”
Allyson Kristan from Raleigh, North Carolina received her Bachelor of Science with Honors in marine
biology from UNC Wilmington in 2017 and is now a first-year graduate student in the
LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences. Her proposal, “Developing a Novel
Paleo-Ecological Archive to Quantify the Impacts of Anthropogenic Exploitation and
Climate Change on Sub-Antarctic Marine Predators,” combined penguin research and scientific
communication to, in her words, “give a voice to irreplaceable marine species who
cannot speak for themselves.”
“LSU and my advisor, Dr. Mike Polito, offered me an unparalleled opportunity to advance
research that compels ocean conservation.”
Shannon Alexis “Lexi” Nelson from Pensacola, Florida graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in environmental
studies from the University of West Florida in 2019 and is a current graduate student
in the LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences. Growing up near the coast
sparked her passion for studying interactions between land and sea, exemplified by
her proposal, “Precipitation Responses Following Abrupt Changes in Land Surface Characteristics.”
“LSU places me close to the Gulf of Mexico and to the Mississippi River Delta, where
environmental and coastal issues are rapidly evolving,” she said. “This provides opportunities
for relevant and timely research endeavors.”
Dzmitry Vaido from Minsk, Belarus attended Belarusian State Medical University (BSMU) for three
years to study dentistry. Realizing he’d rather study science, he is now majoring
in physics and minoring in math at LSU. This June, he hopes to move to California
to begin working toward a PhD in physics at University of California Los Angeles,
or UCLA, where he was recently accepted. His proposal, “Using Bose-Einstein Condensate
to Simulate the Expanding Universe,” has nothing at all to do with dentistry.
“Physics takes all the best tools from mathematics and applies them to understand
the world around us,” Vaido said. “I always wanted to understand how nature works,
and I love mathematics, so what field could be better for me than physics? Also, I
just enjoy solving puzzles. There is always this nice feeling of joy when you tackle
another physics problem, especially if it’s a hard one.”
Sara Wang from Los Angeles, California graduated from the University of Washington with two
Bachelor of Science degrees in general biology and in environmental science and resource
management in 2014. She’s a current PhD student in the LSU Department of Oceanography
& Coastal Sciences where she specializes in stable isotope ecology with her advisor,
Dr. Mike Polito. Her interest in ornithology was reflected in her proposal, “Impacts
of the El Niño Southern Oscillation on the Foraging Ecology of Peruvian Seabirds.”
“I've had a particular fondness for birds and natural observation for as long as I
can remember,” she said.
Since 1952, NSF has funded over 50,000 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. In addition, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a high rate of doctorate degree completion, with more than 70 percent of students completing their doctorates within 11 years.
Elsa Hahne
LSU Office of Research & Economic Development
225-578-4774
ehahne@lsu.edu