Duke Engineers Awarded 19 Major Externally Funded Graduate Fellowships

Incoming and current graduate students and researchers at Duke Engineering had a successful summer 2025, garnering prestigious national awards and funding opportunities to support their impactful research.

Among the new major funded awards were 14 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, two National Institutes of Health Diversity Supplement Awards as well as a National Institutes of Health-Kirschstein F31 Grant, two Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowships, a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Fellowship, and an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the success of our community,” said Sharon Gerecht, the Paul M. Gross Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering and associate dean for research and infrastructure. “Duke is home to some of the most impressive graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the country, and I’m glad they are receiving recognition for their important and exciting research.”

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Fourteen incoming and current graduate students received this incredibly competitive fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The NSF GRF program funds just 15 percent of applicants and supports the most outstanding future researchers whose projects exhibit the highest potential in science and technology.

Fellows receive a three-year stipend, coverage of tuition and fees, and access to professional development opportunities.

Duke’s newest NSF graduate fellows are, left to right and top to bottom:

• Vincent Wang, advised by Leila Bridgeman (MEMS)
• Vancie Peacock, advised by Mark Borsuk (CEE)
• Tyler Corazao, advised by Stefan Zauscher (MEMS)
• Parker Esswein, advised by Sharon Gerecht (BME)
• Nicole Vijgen, advised by Christine Payne (MEMS)
• Morgan McCloud, advised by Roarke Horstmeyer (BME)
• Helena Witham Hall-Thomsen, advised by Nimmi Ramanujam (BME)
• Coban Brooks, advised by Philip Romero (BME)
• Caitlin Lewis, advised by John Pearson (Neurobiology, ECE)
• Benjamin Perry, advised by Philip Romero (BME)
• Alexey Khotimsky, advised by Joanna Bertram (MEMS)
• Victoria Ravel, advised by Aaron Franklin (ECE)
• Tyler Vasse, advised by Tuan Vo-Dinh (BME)
• Trina Nguyentu, advised by Josh Huang (BME)

National Institutes of Health-Kirschstein F31 Grant

Hayoung Jeong

A graduate student in Jessilyn Dunn’s Big Ideas Lab (BME), Jeong received the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award, also known as a F31 grant, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award supports promising graduate students develop into productive, independent research scientists by providing financial support and mentored research training as they conduct research for their dissertation.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Fellowship

Han Zhang

Zhang, a graduate student in the Brinson Lab (MEMS), received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Fellowship, which supports Canadian citizens in doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering, allowing them to fully concentrate on their studies and seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields.

American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship

Jingyi Zhu

A graduate student in the Truskey Lab (BME), Zhu received a fellowship from the American Heart Association. The fellowship enhances the integrated research and clinical training of promising students who are matriculated in pre-doctoral or clinical health professional degree training programs and who intend careers as scientists, physician-scientists or other clinician-scientists, or related careers aimed at improving global cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health.

Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowship

Andrew Hibbs (left) and David Hunt

Andrew Hibbs in the Gehm Lab (ECE) and David Hunt in Cyber-Physical Systems Lab of Miroslav Pajic (ECE) received DoD SMART Fellowships, which provides full tuition, annual stipends, summer internships, and, after graduation, civilian employment with the Department of Defense.