The National Science Foundation has awarded 18 Graduate Research Fellowships to Rice-affiliated students. Rice’s 2025 NSF GRFP Fellows include both current and incoming graduate students. This cohort underscores the breadth and depth of Rice’s graduate talent, spanning disciplines and research areas.
Each fellowship provides three years of support over a five-year fellowship period. For each of the three years of support, NSF provides a $37,000 stipend and $16,000 Cost of Education allowance payment to cover all tuition and mandatory fees at the graduate degree-granting institution of higher education for each fellow who uses the support in a fellowship year.
The GPS Fellowship Coaching Program, run by Randi McInerney, the program administrator for Graduate Student Fellowships in Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, remains foundational to Rice’s success in external graduate fellowships like the NSF GRFP. The program offers information sessions, drop-in writing workshops, and one-on-one coaching. Fellowship coaches support all stages of the application writing process, from identifying funders' values and selection criteria to proofreading advanced drafts.
“Our fellowship coaching team is phenomenal!” says McInerney. “In addition to the training our graduate student coaches undergo as part of their onboarding process, our coaches have a strong record of success applying to fellowships themselves, as well as excellent mentoring skills and potential. Most of our coaches articulate a strong desire to pay forward the support and guidance they received when applying to major fellowships.”
The coaching program is open to all graduate students who wish to pursue a major external fellowship, and applicants may request a coach at any point in their preparation process at least 3 weeks before their deadline.
The application process is often as transformative as the outcome. Whether or not a fellowship is received, candidates benefit from clarifying their research trajectory, honing persuasive writing skills, and articulating their broader impact philosophies.
“We celebrate not only those who earned the fellowship but also every student who persevered through the application process,” said Seiichi Matsuda, dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. “Submitting a well-crafted proposal is no small feat, and it’s gratifying to see our coaching infrastructure empowering students across departments.”
One of the strengths of Rice’s coaching model is its collaborative spirit. Coaches typically help students identify a narrative thread across their academic and service experiences, refine hypotheses and research plans, and strengthen clarity and coherence.
As the 2025 Fellows begin their supported graduate journeys (or join Rice anew), the university looks forward to the research advances, interdisciplinary impact, and mentorship contributions they will bring. Rice remains committed to expanding fellowship support, enhancing coaching resources, and helping more students become competitive for national and international awards.
The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies recognizes graduate students and postdocs awarded major external fellowships at the annual Take the Cake ceremony. This year's ceremony will take place on October 22, 2025. Below is the list of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships awardees:
Current (or continuing) Rice students:
- Rose Albu Mustaf (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
- Alex Jiménez-Martin (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)
- Emma Victoria Brown (Mechanical Engineering)
- Katherine Chen (Biomedical Engineering)
- Paul Kim (Bioengineering)
- Rachel Kovach-Fuentes (Nuclear Physics)
- John Lê (Electronic Materials)
- Grace Bethany May (Bioengineering)
- Sofia Isabella Urbina (Mechanical Engineering)
- Jeffrey Alejandro Vanegas (Bioengineering)
Incoming / New Rice graduate students (class entering Fall 2025):
- Jackson Maxwell (Chemistry)
- Meer Muhtasim Mahfuz (Materials Science and NanoEngineering)
- Caleb Hatch (Materials Science and NanoEngineering)
- Varun Gunda (Bioengineering)
- Christopher Smith (Bioengineering)
- Lydia Cox (Ecology)
- Esha Ramanan (Bioengineering)
- Tyler Bartolome (Systems and Molecular Biology)
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Honorable Mention Awardees
- Naveed Ahmed (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
- Nicole Baalbaki (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
- Shawn Belongia (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
- Grant Brown (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
- Jacob Cabler (Bioengineering)
- Alexandria Carter (Bioengineering)
- Danielle Chew-Martinez (Chemistry)
- Zina Deriche (Chemical Engineering)
- Jonathan Fascetti (Bioengineering)
- Amanda Galloway (Bioengineering)
- Edgar Gevorgyan (Mathematics)
- Vienna Huang (Bioengineering)
- Harrison Huang (Computer Science)
- Thomas Hulse (Applied Physics)
- Benjamin Kaufman (Bioengineering)
- Elizabeth Kelley (Bioengineering)
- Alison Lao (Bioengineering)
- Alex Ma (Bioengineering)
- Madison McLaren (Bioengineering)
- Victoria Messuri (Chemical Engineering)
- Manini Penikalapati (Systems, Synthetic & Physical Biology)
- Leah Peralta (Biochemistry and Cell Biology)
- Matthew Radosevich (Mathematics)
- Elijah Rice (Mechanical Engineering)
- Miriam Silberman (Systems, Synthetic & Physical Biology)
- William Smith (Applied Physics)
- Caroline Spindel (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
- Lillian Stillwell (Chemistry)
- Kyra Stovicek (Mechanical Engineering)