Rhodes alums Mark Sellers ’15 and Katie Hatstat ’16 were awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships this year.
Sellers, who majored in physics, is now pursuing graduate studies in physics at Washington University in St. Louis. He is working with Prof. Ken Kelton (Prof. Ann Viano’s Ph.D. advisor) on the formation and structure of quasicrystals and metallic glasses. At Rhodes, Sellers worked with Prof. Brent Hoffmeister, investigating the mechanical properties of bone using ultrasound and is coauthor on several papers.
Chemistry graduate Katie Hatstat is pursuing a Ph.D. in chemistry at Duke University. While at Rhodes, she performed research with Prof. Mauricio Cafiero starting in her first year and continuing until she graduated; she also worked with Prof. Larryn Peterson her senior year. Hatstat coauthored papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals twice and presented her work at national conferences five times. She won the Goldwater Scholarship as a junior at Rhodes and is in the 2016 Hall of Fame.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and in STEM education. It provides three years of support for graduate education.