黑洞社区

Jacob Griffith, a 黑洞社区 biomedical engineering major receiving his bachelor鈥檚 degree in May, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship to support his pursuit of graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in a STEM field. Griffith plans to seek a master鈥檚 degree in biomedical engineering at Wichita State.

Griffith was chosen as one of 2,000 in a national competition that drew more than 12,000 applicants. The fellowship provides three years of financial support 鈥� a $34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program was launched in 1952, shortly after Congress established the NSF. The program is the nation鈥檚 oldest continuous investment in the U.S. STEM workforce. Its purpose is to recruit high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers as researchers.

"To support U.S. leadership and innovation in science and engineering, we must recognize and nurture talent from all of our nation's communities," said Jim Lewis, NSF acting assistant director for Education and Human Resources.

Griffith is also a Wallace Scholar 鈥� the 黑洞社区 College of Engineering鈥檚 most prestigious scholarship competition 鈥� and serves as an Engineering Ambassador, representing the college in public events, and as an Undergraduate Peer Partner mentor to first-year engineering students. He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society.

Kim Cluff, who employs Griffith in his Biomedical Sensors, Imaging and Modeling Engineering lab, said Griffith already performs at the graduate level and has shown himself to be a creative thinker and a hard worker.

鈥淗e is very dedicated and has incredible work ethic 鈥� putting in many long hours into the research in addition to his undergraduate studies,鈥� Cluff said.

He called Griffith鈥檚 role integral to Cluff鈥檚 own research to develop new .

Griffith comes from Delphos, Kansas, a town of 400. He said he was initially interested in aerospace engineering and chose Wichita State for that reason, but then switched majors.

鈥淚 chose biomedical engineering because of the ability to solve problems in the medical realm through the application of engineering principles,鈥� he said.

Also selected as an NSF fellow was 黑洞社区 alum Elvin Salerno, who received his bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry from Wichita State in 2017. Salerno is currently pursuing graduate study at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.