Sarah Sundius was selected for a 2020 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award.
Congratulations to QBioS student Sarah Sundius, who was recently selected for a 2020 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award. The DoD NDSEG Fellowship Program, established in 1989 by direction of Congress and sponsored by the Army, Navy, and Air Force, serves as a means of increasing the number of United States citizens earning PhD’s in science and engineering disciplines of military importance. Since program inception, over 4,000 DoD NDSEG fellowships have been awarded and over 60,000 applications received.
The NDSEG Fellowship lasts for 3 years and pays for full tuition and all mandatory fees; a monthly stipend ($38,400 annually); a $5,000 travel budget over the Fellow’s tenure for professional development; and up to $1,200 a year in health insurance.
Sarah is co-advised by Professors Rachel Kuske (Mathematics) and Sam Brown (Biological Sciences). She has begun investigating the proposed interaction of two microbial species cooperating and competing simultaneously from a rigorous mathematical perspective. In her personal statement submitted for this fellowship, Sarah says the following:
“Throughout my graduate studies and beyond, I plan to leverage mathematics across diverse fields, and wish to pursue a research career in government or industry. Focusing on both mathematics and biology has impressed upon me their differences, but also emphasized the importance of their collaboration. My interests in combining nonlinear dynamics, stochasticity, and spatial modeling with biology, present ample paths for improved understanding in ecology and microbiology, while continuing to study innovative mathematics. With the help of the NDSEG, I aim to further integrate novel mathematical approaches in the study of microbial dynamics and their impacts across ecological scales. While mathematical modeling is not new to biology, I will be bringing more sophisticated approaches in rapidly expanding research areas that are driving novel approaches in both fields.”
