Congratulations to Janet Joseph, recipient of the 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)! The NSF GRFP is a prestigious and competitive fellowship that supports outstanding graduate research across the country. Janet Joseph is a third-year PhD candidate in the Pathobiology Graduate Program, working with Dr. Laura Stroud. Her research aims to characterize the impact of chemical and biological stressors on transcriptomic markers of the placenta, focusing on inflammatory and neuroinflammatory markers critical for a successful response during pregnancy.

We would also like to congratulate Octavia Florent on receiving an Honorable Mention for the 2024 NSF GRFP. Octavia is a third-year PhD candidate in the Chemistry Graduate Program under the mentorship of Dr. Brenda Rubenstein. She is studying the electron nematic phase in multilayer graphene materials, utilizing computational methods to predict electronic order and phases within multilayer graphene heterostructure and develop novel order parameters to track the emergence of nematicity.