We are excited to announce that two ME graduate students have won prestigious 2023 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships!

- Anna Alvarez who is advised by Elliot Hawkes

Anna's research interests are in bio-inspired design and latch-mediated spring-actuated (LaMSA) systems. Her NSF GRFP fellowship will focus on the creation of a LaMSA glider with the capability of jumping on air. Doing so provides an alternate method of obstacle avoidance for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.

- Daniella Walter who is advised by Ryan Stowers

Daniella's research interests are at the intersection of mechanical engineering, materials science, and developmental biology. Her fellowship will focus on developing an in vitro platform to study how extracellular matrix mechanics direct mammary gland morphogenesis. She will then use this knowledge to sculpt tissue formation using phototunable hydrogels, enabling user-directed tissue patterns.