The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering had a lot to celebrate this spring: nearly a dozen students were named 2026 NSF Graduate Research Fellows, contributing to an institution-wide record of 52 awardees at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — the highest total in the university's history with the program. There were 30 graduate students and 22 undergraduate students among the winners.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is the nation's oldest fellowship supporting graduate students in STEM fields, providing three years of funding including an annual stipend and cost-of-education allowance. This year's competition was especially demanding, with a compressed application timeline and new eligibility restrictions that excluded second-year graduate students, making the materials department's strong showing all the more notable.
In the initial announcement from the university, seven current materials science and engineering students were named:
- Nikhila Balasubramaniam
- Spencer Biziorek
- Jacob Copeland
- Maxwell Feidler
- Elena Granzeier
- Joshua McPherson
- Victor Herman Williams
Additionally, the department has four incoming students, expected to start during the fall 2026 semester, who have been awarded 2026-27 NSF graduate research fellowships: