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Rebecca Firth, a doctoral student in chemistry from Kingsport, Tennessee, and Stephanie Handford, a May graduate in mechanical engineering from Waukesha, Wisconsin, received fellowships through the . Eddie Heinen, of Waterloo, Illinois, who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, earned an honorable mention.

The fellowships provide three years of annual financial support, including a $37,000 living stipend and $16,000 for tuition, according to

"The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is one of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to STEM students pursuing research-based graduate degrees," said Vivian Ibrahim, director of the UM Office of National Scholarship Advisement and Croft associate professor of history and international studies.

"I had the pleasure of working directly with Stephanie and Eddie during the application process, and I was consistently impressed by their clarity of vision and commitment to research. Rebecca's recognition as a fellow also speaks volumes about the strength of UM's graduate programs and our students' potential to contribute meaningfully to their fields."

Handford was notified in April that she had received an honorable mention in the fellowship program. However, NSF recently elevated 504 additional applicants, including Handford, to the list of those receiving fully funded fellowships.

"My time at Ole Miss prepared me for pursuing a doctoral degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign," she said. "My time as the UM Rocket Team project manager, Engineering Student Body president, completing research at the National Center for Physical Acoustics' High Speed Aeroacoustics Group and with Dr. Samrat Choudhury allowed me to gain the relevant experience necessary to complete internships at SpaceX, Apple and with the DAAD-RISE program in Germany."

She plans to focus on the field of computational fluid mechanics.

"I want to be able to utilize my experience as a woman in a male-dominated field to encourage other young women to pursue engineering and feel like they belong," Handford said. "That they too are able to accomplish anything they set their minds to. I hope to be able to teach students at the collegiate level and help all students be successful."

Firth begins her third year in the doctoral program at Ole Miss this fall.

"I have wanted to have a career in science since I was in middle school, so the fact that the reviewers read over my application materials and were able to see my potential means a lot to me," Firth said. "It helps cement in my mind that all the hard work I've done over the better part of the last decade has led to something."

Firth said her time at the university, particularly her work with Ryan Fortenberry, her doctoral adviser, have helped her grow both personally and professionally. Her research focuses on how space dust and comets help scientists understand the formation and structure of the solar system.

"Graduate school has been challenging in a different way than anything I've done previously," she said. "I feel like I am being pushed to fulfill my full potential as a scientist, so that by the time I graduate, I will be able to pass what I've learned down to the next group of aspiring scientists.

"Over the next few years, I want to focus on honing my mentorship skills by working more closely with undergraduate students who have joined my research group."

Heinen plans to enroll as a graduate student in environmental chemistry and technology this fall at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

"Receiving this recognition felt like a meaningful way to wrap up my undergraduate research experience," he said. "I'm proud that my proposal earned honorable mention, and it is a nice acknowledgment of my hard work in the lab.

"It's also a great motivator as I prepare for graduate school, and I'm excited to keep building on this momentum in future research projects."

His undergraduate research at Ole Miss focused on microplastic pollution in agricultural environments.

"I am very interested in detecting and remediating prevalent contaminants such as microplastics and PFAS," he said. "In graduate school, I will continue researching microplastics, but from a remediation standpoint.

"My work will focus on engineering membranes that are capable of filtering lower-micron microplastics and nanoplastics for applications in wastewater treatment."

Heinen plans to reapply for an NSF fellowship in the future and hopes to refine his application with guidance from his adviser once he begins research this fall.

This material is based on work supported by the award no. 2235036.

Top: The National Science Foundation has honored Rebecca Firth, a doctoral student in chemistry, and Stephanie Handford, who graduated in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, with 2025 Graduate Research Fellowships. The NSF also recognized Eddie Heinen, who completed a bachelor's degree in chemistry in May, with an honorable mention in the Graduate Research Fellowship Program.