A Standout Year for Dartmouth NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Calista Adler '26 (left) and PhD student Maria Eduarda Torres Gouveia (right) are two of the eight Dartmouth Engineering students and recent alumni who received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship this year.

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which has operated for more than 75 years, provides three years of financial support over a five-year period to graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is among the most competitive fellowship programs in the country.

"Dartmouth's incredible success with the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program this year speaks to the strength and range of undergraduate research on campus," says Christie Harner, associate dean of undergraduate education for fellowships and scholars programs. "From students' early research beginnings, onwards to their senior projects and graduate school plans, it's wonderful to see how their intellectual work has developed."

Recipient Calista Adler '26, a biomedical engineering major, is also a Goldwater Scholar. She began working in the lab of Assistant Professor of Engineering Katherine Hixon as a first-year student, spending her early terms learning techniques and contributing to existing projects. By junior year she was leading her own research, developing sodium alginate nanoparticles to carry the antibiotic tobramycin into the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients—a disease in which abnormally thick, dehydrated mucus prevents antibiotics from reaching their bacterial targets. The project became her senior thesis.

"The start of my junior year was a major turning point for me when I transitioned to leading my own project," Adler says. "The project evolved through iterative experimentation and troubleshooting and eventually became my thesis."

Faculty mentors describe watching students move from early participation to independent inquiry as the defining feature of Dartmouth's undergraduate research model.

"What makes Dartmouth's research culture distinctive is that students aren't observers—they're working alongside faculty scholars who are genuinely invested in their development," says John Carey, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "That kind of close, sustained mentorship is what produces researchers who are ready to lead."

For doctoral students, that head start translates into unusual flexibility. The fellowship follows the student rather than the lab, freeing recipients to choose their research direction, take intellectual risks, and change course without losing funding.

The three new recipients—Thomas Ackleson, Matthew LaCapra, and Maria Eduarda Torres Gouveia—will join current NSF Graduate Research Fellows on campus this fall, as well as undergraduate recipient Yeel Lee '26 who has accepted admission to the PhD program in engineering sciences.

"These fellows are arriving with serious research experience already behind them," says F. Jon Kull '88, dean of the Guarini School and the Rodgers Professor of Chemistry. "That makes a real difference in how quickly they can contribute to their fields and to the graduate community here."

2026 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Recipients

Undergraduate Students and Alumni

• Calista Adler '26, biomedical engineering
• Yeel Lee '26, materials science and engineering
• Jeancarlos Llerena '26, materials science and engineering
• Lindsey Lu '26, environmental engineering 
• Matthew Timofeev '25, electrical engineering

Graduate Students

• Thomas Ackleson, biomedical engineering
• Matthew LaCapra, chemical engineering
• Maria Eduarda Torres Gouveia, biomedical engineering