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UAB graduates selected for National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships

  • March 31, 2021
Courtney Severino, Jasmin Revanna and Retta El Sayed will receive up to three years of support for graduate education, including a $34,000 annual stipend plus $12,000 per year toward the cost of graduate work.
Written by: Karen Templeton
Media contact: Brianna Hoge


Discussion in front of a large information device about universal detection of genes in a specific biological sample.University of Alabama at Birmingham master’s student and two recent alumni have been awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

The full fellowships provide up to three years of support for graduate education, including a $34,000 annual stipend plus $12,000 per year toward the cost of their graduate work. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program receives more than 12,000 applications each year and selects about 2,000 students.

Awardees include:

  • Courtney Severino, currently pursuing a master of science in engineering management from the UAB School of Engineering. Severino completed her bachelor of science in materials engineering at UAB in 2020.
  • Jasmin Revanna, currently pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at University of California, San Diego. A student in the UAB Honors College, Revanna graduated in 2019 from the UAB College of Arts and Sciences with a bachelor of science in neuroscience.
  • Retta El Sayed, currently pursuing a doctorate in biomedical engineering at Emory University. El Sayed graduated from UAB in 2019 with a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from the School of Engineering.

Bria Gresham, who received an honorable mention from NSF, is pursuing a doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Gresham completed her bachelor of science in psychology at UAB in 2019.

“We are so proud that the National Science Foundation has chosen to invest in these students,” said Michelle Cook, Ph.D., interim director of UAB National and International Fellowships and Scholarships. “Winning this very competitive award speaks highly not only of their potential, but also of the training they received at the undergraduate level.”

As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. The reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become lifelong leaders who contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, including former United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Google founder Sergey Brin and “Freakonomics” co-author Steven Levitt.