National laboratory welcomes 13 INL graduate fellows to support research
This summer, INL welcomes 13 students into the second cohort of INL graduate fellows from universities throughout the U.S. The new INL graduate fellows will join the first cohort selected in August last year.
The recipients of these competitive fellowships have their tuition and fees covered by their university during their first years of graduate school (years one to three), and their tuition and fees plus a $60,000 annual salary are paid by INL during the last two years of their doctoral research performed at the lab.
In the first years of their Ph.D. program, graduate fellows will spend most of their time taking classes at their university. That balance will shift in the last years of their Ph.D. program, where graduate fellows will spend the majority of their time at INL conducting research. The typical graduate fellow program runs between three and five years.
There are mutual benefits for the graduate fellows, universities and the lab. Throughout the program, the graduate fellows will interact and collaborate with both their INL mentor and their university thesis adviser.
The program allows INL to integrate students into the laboratory and provides graduate fellows with work on significant projects that will help them fulfill their thesis research requirements. INL gains access to skilled staff, along with the opportunity to build long-term collaborations with universities, increase recruiting opportunities, and interact with a continuous pipeline of students interning and conducting research at the lab. Both the university and INL have the opportunity for joint publications and intellectual property.
“INL graduate fellowships provide great opportunities for everyone involved,” said Michelle Thiel Bingham, INL’s University Partnerships program director. “Students receive quality education and an invaluable research experience, and help inspire our INL research with fresh perspectives. INL strengthens its partnerships with universities while continuing to develop the next generation of engineers, researchers, scientists and leaders.”
Graduate fellows were selected in degree fields that closely tie to INL’s three mission areas of innovative nuclear energy solutions, other clean energy options and critical infrastructure.
Congratulations to the following students who were selected as the second cohort of INL Graduate Fellows:
*EES&T: Energy & Environment Science & Technology, MFC: Materials & Fuels Complex, N&HS: National & Homeland Security, NS&T: Nuclear Science & Technology
The next call for INL graduate fellows will open in fall 2018 and will be available to all universities. For more information about the program, contact Ali Josephson (208-526-0940) or Michelle Thiel Bingham (208-526-7830) or visit inl.gov/education.
