Buckeye engineering grad students, alums earn NSF research grants

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Bronson Frank (headshot)
Frank

Eight Buckeye engineers have been awarded a 2023 Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF) following a national competition. NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports graduate students who show immense promise as researchers and leaders in science and engineering.

The Ohio State University College of Engineering is represented by two current graduate students and six alumni. The following individuals were selected from more than 12,000 applications during the 2023 award cycle:

Graduate Students

Bronson Frank, biomedical engineering, is developing biosensors to detect forces along the cytoskeleton of the cell.

Giacomo Melaragno (headshot)
Melaragno

Giacomo Melaragno, welding engineering, is developing alloy design and additive manufacturing approaches for metallic alloys to improve service life and performance in fittings for harsh service applications such as hydrogen production.

Alumni

  • Jacob Belding ’22, who is pursuing a chemical engineering degree at Cornell University
  • Ada Kanapskyte ’21, who is pursuing a biomedical engineering degree at University of California, Davis
  • Sophie Leanza ’23, who is pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at Stanford University
  • Natalia Mendonca ’23, who is pursuing a biomedical engineering degree at Northwestern University
  • Lia Gomez-Perez ’23, who is pursuing a medical engineering/medical physics degree at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology program
  • Elizabeth Guilfoyle ’22, who is pursuing a biomedical engineering degree at Duke University

GRFP is a critical program in NSF's overall strategy to develop a globally engaged workforce necessary to ensure the nation's leadership in advancing science and engineering research and innovation. It provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period—a $34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution. That support is for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in a STEM field.

by Meggie Biss, College of Engineering Communications | biss.11@osu.edu