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Three Hendrix Alumni Receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Prestigious awards go to Leah Crenshaw ’20, Rebecca Parham ’21, Tristian Wiles ’21

CONWAY, Arkansas (May 3, 2023) — Three recent Hendrix College graduates have been awarded five-year fellowships from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). Leah Crenshaw ’20, Rebecca Parham ’21, and Tristian Wiles ’21 will use these fellowships to continue their graduate-level research.

According to the NSF website, “The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. GRFP seeks to broaden participation in science and engineering of underrepresented groups, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and veterans. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000.”

Crenshaw’s fellowship, awarded in Life Sciences - Ecology, will give her the opportunity to research how bird communities use habitat across the full annual cycle in a patch of conservation land, a project she hopes will help land managers target specific habitat types to benefit as many species as possible and increase scientists’ understanding of how to improve resident bird winter survival. Crenshaw, a native of Texarkana, Arkansas, who just completed her Master of Science at the University of Northern Colorado, will join the Rodewald Lab at Cornell University, which she has followed since she first began researching birds with Dr. Maureen McClung as an undergraduate at Hendrix.

“This fellowship is fundamentally life-changing to me,” said Crenshaw, who will now move straight into pursuing her Ph.D. thanks to the fellowship’s financial support. “I will be able to work in the field year-round without work conflicts and expand my monitoring into the understudied winter season. Personally, this fellowship is enabling me to follow the research dreams I have held for the last five years. I cannot overstate what a head-spinning experience it is to have my dream of performing research at Cornell come true. The folks I look up to in the conservation community are suddenly real people I can work with.”

Parham, who came from Alma, Arkansas, to Hendrix and began her research under Dr. Courtney Hatch, is currently at the University of Michigan pursuing a Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry. Her NSF GRFP award in Geosciences - Atmospheric Chemistry will enable her to focus on research quantifying chemical and physical changes in lake spray aerosol due to aging by nitric acid. She will use a mix of samples collected from the Great Lakes as well as lake water standard and seawater standard, then will generate parameters from her results and apply them to a model to see how they impact climate and air quality in the Great Lakes geographic region.

“One component of the NSF GRFP that I am most excited about is having more time to focus on other career development opportunities,” Parham said. “For me, my research is only as meaningful as its community impact, so improving my proficiency at scientific communication, mentorship, and inclusivity is imperative for my success as a researcher. Not only will my research thrive with this fellowship, but my community engagement will as well.”

Wiles is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Columbia University. Originally from Ash Flat, Arkansas, Wiles graduated from Hendrix in 2021 with a degree in biochemistry & molecular biology. His work with Dr. Andrew Schurko led to Wiles getting his choice of three summer research opportunities before his senior year at Hendrix. His NSF GRFP award for 2023 is in the Life Sciences - Cell Biology category. Wiles’s research currently focuses on genes and proteins involved in cytokinesis, the physical division of one cell into two.

“My work aims to better understand the mechanisms underlying cell-type-specific differences in cytokinesis, using the early embryo of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model,” Wiles said. “The fellowship will support my investigation of proteins that seem to provide special protection to cells in the germline to ensure they divide correctly. Besides the implications for basic biological research and human health, this fellowship is great validation for myself as a first-generation college student and scientist.”

About Hendrix College

A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu