Students win fellowships for continuing study

Yale undergraduate and graduate students are among the winners of National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowships, and Boren and Beinecke Scholarships.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program: Thirty-four Yale undergraduates and 26 graduate students were selected as fellows in the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), and an additional 15 undergraduates and 21 graduate students were granted an honorable mention. The GRFP provides tuition and funding for the pursuit of graduate degrees in STEM and STEM-related fields with the goal of promoting advanced study in the sciences and encouraging the diversification of faculty in U.S. universities.

The students are among the program’s 2,000 awardees and 1,500 honorable mentions. The chosen undergraduates represent all 12 of Yale’s residential colleges and are in a range of fields, from neuroscience to machine learning to psycholinguistics to cultural anthropology.

A full list of the winners can be found here.

The GRFP is the oldest fellowship of its kind and provides a three-year annual stiped of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees. In addition, fellows have specialized opportunities for international research and professional development. The award is also “portable,” meaning that students may use the funding to attend any accredited graduate school in the United States.

The NSF was formed in 1951 and the GRFP was one of its first initiatives. Since then the fellowship has funded over 50,000 applicants, including more than 500 Yale students. The NSF is an independent federal agency with an annual budget of $7.5 billion that regularly supports research initiatives and programs in colleges and universities across America. In addition to the GRFP, the NSF sponsors the summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates and provides funding for research labs.

Undergraduate students interested in the GRFP may seek advice from the Office of Fellowships Programs in the Center for International and Professional Experience, while graduate and professional school students may contact the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences office. The annual process opens every September with deadlines in late October.

Boren Scholarships: Two Yale College students, Shumayl Syed ’18 of Saybrook College and Eric Sanderson ’18 of Branford College, have been selected as recipients of the Boren Scholarship for overseas study of languages deemed critical for national security.

Syed is double majoring in biology and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and will study Arabic in Jordan. Sanderson, who is majoring in global affairs, will study Russian in Latvia.

Boren awards are split into two categories: Boren Scholarships for undergraduate students and Boren Fellowships to support language study for graduate students. Both awards provide U.S. students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the nation. In exchange for funding, Boren award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year.

The Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), a major federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. The Institute of International Education, which administers the awards on behalf of NSEP, received 791 applications from undergraduate students for the Boren Scholarship and 194 were awarded; 340 graduate students applied for the Boren Fellowship and 114 were awarded. Boren Scholars and Fellows will live in 44 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. They will study 36 different languages. The most popular languages include Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Swahili, and Korean.

The Boren program was initiated in 1994. Since its creation, Yale College students have been selected for 43 Boren scholarships.  Graduate students interested in the Boren fellowship should contact Elizabeth Gill of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at elizabeth.gill@yale.edu. Undergraduate students interested in the Boren Scholarship may seek advice from the Office of Fellowships Programs in the Center for International and Professional Experience. The undergraduate process opens every September with deadlines in mid-November.

For more information about the Boren awards, visit here.

Beinecke Scholarship: Yale junior Sergio Infante of Hopper College has been selected as a member of the Beinecke Scholarship’s class of 2017 awardees. Each year, the program selects 125 colleges and universities across the nation to nominate a single junior-level student for the scholarship. Infante is one of the 20 students selected nationally as a Beinecke Scholar.

Infante, who is majoring in history, is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has been the recipient of both a Bouchet fellowship and a Northwestern University SROP fellowship to support his research. Currently he is the student coordinator and website manager for La Casa Cultural and is a student guide for the Yale Center for British Art, where he was co-curator of the exhibit “The Relics of Old London.” He plans to study history in graduate school.

The Beinecke Scholarship was created in 1975 to support graduate education in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The scholarship provides $4,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school along with an additional $30,000 award during graduate school. The award is tenable at any graduate school worldwide, and Beinecke scholars may supplement their award with other fellowships or funds. Since the award’s creation, Yale has nominated 25 students and 13 have been selected as Beinecke scholars.

Students interested in the Beinecke Scholarship may contact the Office of Fellowships Programs in the Center for International and Professional Experience. The annual process opens every September with campus deadlines in January. For more information about the Beinecke scholarship, visit here.