NIH Record - National Institutes of Health

NIBIB Alumni Selected for NSF Research Fellowships

Three trainees in white lab coats work with samples in the bioengineering lab; one holds beaker of blue liquid and another is peering at a vial
NSF GRFP awardees (from l) Kenneth Adusei, Maria Karkanitsa and Tran Ngo, at the bench in NIBIB’s section on immunoengineering

Photo:  NIBIB

Two NIBIB intramural trainees are recipients of 2022 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards. Maria Karkanitsa and Tran Ngo, intramural trainees from NIBIB’s section on immunoengineering, are among nearly 2,200 awardees nationally. 

Karkanitsa has entered a Ph.D. program in bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego. Ngo is a current postbaccalaureate intramural research training fellow, who is in the process of matching with a graduate program in biomedical engineering.

NIBIB investigator and section chief Dr. Kaitlyn Sadtler mentored each of the awardees from her lab. “These fellows have been really fantastic and wonderful to work with in the lab,” she said. “I have no doubt they will be—and are already—just brilliant scientists. We are very proud and excited for them.”

Kenneth Adusei, an alumnus of the lab, was selected for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2021 and is currently a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The fellowships recognize and support outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. 

The 5-year fellowship includes 3 years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.

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