Two 2020 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships have recently been awarded to Purdue University Davidson School of Chemical Engineering senior Takashi Yokokura and 2018 ChE alumna Ana Carneiro. The 2020 NSF GRFP awards were announced in late March.

Takashi Yokokura (left) is currently a senior and will graduate in May 2020 with his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with honors. He has an undergraduate concentration in sustainable energy. Yokokura will enter the graduate program in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in Fall 2020.

Ana Carneiro (right) received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Purdue in 2018. She is pursuing her PhD at University of California, Berkeley in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Carneiro is part of Dr. David Schaffer's research team, studying the use of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) for the development of novel viral therapeutics. 

The prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is the oldest STEM fellowship program supporting research-based graduate students. The program recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers, and supports their graduate research training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The NSF award provides three years of financial support with a stipend of $34,000 per year and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance per year to the graduate institution the recipient attends.

Read more about the 15 current Purdue College of Engineering students who are awardees of the 2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. This is the largest group of award recipients from the College of Engineering in several years. Yokokura, Carneiro, and the other newly chosen College of Engineering Fellows join an illustrious group of NSF GRFP alumni, including Google founder, Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners, including former U.S Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu.

Sources: Takashi Yokokura, tyokokur@purdue.edu

                Ana Carneiro, ana_carneiro@berkeley.edu

Writer: Makenna Fitzgerald, fitzge39@purdue.edu