8 OSU students earn major NSF award

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Three of OSU’s eight 2010 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow were from the College of Arts and Sciences. From left, are David Zheng, Tomica Blocker and Blake McMahon.
Eight Oklahoma State University students have been selected to receive almost $1 million in funding from the prestigious National Science Foundation.

Named NSF Graduate Fellows this spring are Tomica D. Blocker, Bel Aire, Kan., zoology graduate student; Brandon Brooks, B.S. December microbiology graduate from Tulsa; Jeremy L. Hill, Midwest City, a mechanical and aerospace engineering senior; Jessica Lay, Tulsa biosystems engineering senior; Russell B. McMahon, Tulsa political science senior; Ryan C. Paul, Tulsa mechanical and aerospace engineering senior; Kevin Stunkel, Bethel, Conn., biosystems engineering graduate student; and Da-Jiang Zheng, Stillwater zoology graduate student.

Receiving honorable mentions were Taber Midgley, Durant biosystems engineering senior, and Annabel Alonso, Fort Worth, Tex., biochemistry and molecular biology doctoral student.

“The quality of OSU students has never been as apparent as it is this spring, with both undergraduates and graduate students bringing home such major awards,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “Eight NSF Fellowship recipients is the largest number OSU has ever received in one year.”

The value of each three-year Fellowship is $121,500, according to Dr. Gordon Emslie, dean of the OSU Graduate College and Regents Professor. This includes $90,000 in funding paid directly as stipends to each student, plus $10,500 annually to cover tuition and fees and other ancillary support at the institution where each student chooses to study.

“Oklahoma State University is extremely proud of all these students, and I congratulate them all,” said Emslie. “For OSU students to receive such a high number of awards in such a fierce national competition speaks very highly not only to the talents and credentials of these individual students, but also to the overall quality of the research being carried out by students at Oklahoma State. We look forward to working with those students who have decided to apply their fellowship to continue their graduate education at OSU, and we wish the very best for those OSU fellowship recipients who will be pursuing their graduate education at other prestigious institutions.”

Blocker, Lay, Stunkel and Zheng plan to use their Fellowships at OSU. Blocker and Zheng will study animal behavior, and Lay and Stunkel will study environmental engineering.

Brooks will study microbiology at the University of Colorado at Boulder; Hill will study aeronautical and aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology; McMahon will study international relations at the University of Oxford; and Paul will study aeronautical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University.

The Fellowship program is NSF’s oldest program, founded in 1952. The program has supported more than 44,000 U.S. citizens, nationals and permanent residents who are pursuing advanced degrees in science or engineering. The program is highly competitive to ensure the U.S. scientific and technological workforce and to maintain diversity. According to the NSF, the Fellows are expected to become knowledge experts who will contribute to the nation’s research, teaching, and in scientific and engineering innovations.