AEM student awarded prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

PhD student, Jonathan Smith, will receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance.

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (04/22/2021) - Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (AEM) graduate student, Jonathan Smith, has been recognized as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow. Smith will receive a five-year fellowship period and three-year annual stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is a prestigious program and the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind. With a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers, only about 2,000 applicants in 12,000 will receive an offer. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.

Jonathan Smith is a first year PhD Student in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, specifically studying fluids and controls. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and minors in Aerospace Engineering & Materials Science. Currently, he is working with AEM Professor Maziar Hemati and Zachary Johnston in AEM Professor Graham Candler’s group on analyzing CFD simulations of transitional hypersonic flow, but he plans to start projects related to his fellowship in the summer (developing an input-output framework for predicting transition to turbulence in hypersonic flows).

Despite the challenges this year, Smith remains optimistic about the future. “Studying in AEM has been great so far, all things considered; moving to a new city and starting school during a pandemic hasn't been easy, but I think that the department has been a really good fit for me. Working with [Professor] Hemati has been really great! In such a short time, he's already been a great help to me as far as getting started with research and preparing my materials for fellowship applications back in the fall. I'm very excited to continue working with him as my advisor for my PhD here.”