Two Graduate Students Receive NSF Fellowship

Research Newsroom

May 18, 2020

Two Graduate Students Receive NSF Fellowship

Morgan Schneider, a graduate student with the Advanced Radar Research Center and the School of Meteorology, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship to pursue her Ph.D.

"I've always wanted to study supercell dynamics and tornadogenesis, so having this fellowship gives me the opportunity to study those things alongside my current research, which I also enjoy, without affecting my advisor's grant," Schneider said. "I am so excited to start my dream career of studying tornadoes - this is something I've wanted to do since I was a small kid!"

Schneider's current research involves studying how debris affects tornado wind measurements. Her goal is to develop and test methods to develop more accurate measurements of tornado intensity.

"Combined with the future research I want to do, which is using radar to study how and why tornadoes form, I hope that my research can someday be used to improve tornado warning accuracy and ultimately save lives," Schneider said.

Colton Ross, a graduate student in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering working in the Biomechanics and Biomaterials Design Laboratory, received a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship to pursue his Ph.D.

His undergraduate and thesis research work focused on mechanically characterizing heart valve tissues. Ross was also one of ten finalists in OU’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition this year. His topic was “Rethinking Personalized Cardiac Surgery.”

Moving into his doctoral studies, Ross plans to translate his previous work to the field of computational modeling, considering either multi-scale or design-based approaches. Through his dissertation work, he hopes to make an impact on the clinic by providing the tools for refining heart valve therapies.

“This fellowship was a surprise, and I am extremely thankful for the opportunity,” Ross said. “I can’t wait to see what the next few years hold, and I really hope to make a push to establish the foundation for a bridge between the academic research and the clinical sectors. I’m also delighted to be able to grow more as a person and a researcher through a Ph.D., really preparing me for my dream career performing cutting-edge research in a national laboratory.”