Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | egosney@okstate.edu

Two College of Arts and Sciences graduate students, Sam Miess and Olivia Aguiar, recently received the reputable National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and another CAS graduate student, Hailey Freeman, received an honorable mention.

All three Oklahoma State University students participate in varying research fields within the Department of Integrative Biology. They are the only students at OSU to receive this distinguished honor for 2023.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is considered the most prestigious and competitive fellowship for any STEM graduate student. There are approximately 2,500 awardees out of an estimated 13,000 applicants.

Aguiar is a first-year masters student from Massachusetts conducting research with Dr. Barney Luttbeg in the Department of Integrative Biology. She is researching predation risks in aquatic systems.

Aguiar earned her undergraduate degree as an honors student at UMass Dartmouth. She completed her undergraduate thesis over a joint research project studying how predation risk improves marine snails lifespan, which received publication. At OSU, she is specifically researching the consistency of predation risk responses throughout a Physa snails lifespan. She intends to connect the risk responses to other types of risk like insecticide for Physa snails.

According to Aguiar, the mentorship from both her graduate and undergraduate programs contributed greatly to her success as a student and her fellowship application.

Because I am a first-generation American and being the only person pursuing science and a Ph.D. in my family it was hard finding out all the opportunities available for masters students, Aguiar said. But receiving this fellowship has been such a dream because I can solely focus on my thesis, research and education. In the future, I want to pay it forward and be a resource to future science students.

Miess is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology. He is from Wisconsin and graduated with his bachelors degree from Northern Michigan University.

He studies aquatic bugs such as beetles, crayfish and leeches. He looks at how different aquatic bug species interact with each other and other bug communities and how researchers can use these interactions to assess, rehabilitate and manage aquatic systems.

Miess knows receiving the fellowship will help him extend the possibilities of accomplishments during his Ph.D.

The fellowship frees up time for me to focus on my research, because its a tedious process, Miess said. Also, its great because people recognize its prestige, which will open doors for me. I can participate in side projects and mentor other students.

Freeman is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology. She is researching the interactions between the immune response, the gut microbiome, and behavior in house sparrows, and then compares them with other immune responses across latitudes. She is specifically investigating how the gut microbiome and boldness behavior can mediate pathogen exposure and prevent future infections.

The recognition Freeman received from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship honorable mention fortifies her research.

Their recognition gave me confidence in my research, and it reaffirms that I am on the right path in my field of study, Freeman said.

Story By: Allie Putman, CAS Student Intern | allie.putman@okstate.edu

Excerpt from:

Three integrative biology grad students recognized by the National ... - Oklahoma State University