15 Georgia Tech Ph.D. Students Awarded Fellowship to Propel STEM Research

ARCS Foundation Atlanta awarded a total of $117,500 to 15 Ph.D. students who show exceptional promise of making a significant contribution to the worldwide advancement of science and technology. Eight first-year ARCS Scholars will join seven returning scholars who were recognized as outstanding doctoral students.

Faculty may nominate candidates pursuing doctoral studies for the prestigious fellowship. The Graduate Education Fellowships Selection Committee, established by the Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, reviews the candidates for final selection.

This year, each Georgia Tech scholar will receive $7,500 and two will receive the Global Impact Award of $10,000. The Foundation grants the Global Impact Awards to students working on research problems having a broader global context or addressing global issues.

A scholars award ceremony will be held in November to honor the Atlanta chapter’s recipients.  

Congratulations to the following Georgia Tech 2024-25 ARCS Scholars: 

Returning Scholars

• Noam Altman-Kurosaki is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Herz Global Impact Award. Altman-Kurosaki is a Ph.D. candidate in biology with a research interest in understanding the processes that drive coral reef decline and recovery.
   
• Anjana Dissanayaka is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Northside Hospital Award. Dissanayaka is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering with a research interest in leveraging and applying microfluidic techniques to develop low-cost diagnostic devices.
   
• Emily Hughes is a second-year ARCS Scholar who received the Lim Award. Hughes is a Ph.D. candidate in earth and atmospheric sciences with a research interest in the geologic history of the planet Mars, specifically how spectroscopy, field analogue studies, and in situ Martian data can be coupled to reconstruct ancient environments.
   
• Tawfik Hussein is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Boice/Reid Award. Hussein is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering with a research interest in the mechanics of the heart, specifically, simulating computationally the mechanical changes in the heart of patients with heart failure to help predict early stages of heart failure.
   
• KC Jacobson is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Herz Global Impact Award. Jacobson is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering, chemical and biochemical engineering, with a research interest in the neural mechanisms of impaired sensory processing in a human-relevant mouse model of autism spectrum disorder.
   
• Cassandra Shriver is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Chambers/Jones Award. Shriver is a Ph.D. student in quantitative biosciences, biological sciences, with a research interest in comparative biomechanics, specifically mammalian climbing mechanics with an emphasis on conservation applications.
   
• Naoki Yokoyama is a third-year ARCS Scholar who received the Dodson Award. Yokoyama is a Ph.D. candidate in robotics, electrical and computer engineering, with a research interest in developing intelligent robots that can assist the elderly and disabled in home environments.  

New Scholars

• Alivia Eng is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the David, Helen and Marian Woodward Award. Eng is a Ph.D. student in earth and atmospheric sciences with a research interest in planetary science, specifically the geologic history of Mars.
   
• Kierra Franklin is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the Burke Award. Franklin is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering with a research interest in combining synthetic biology and epigenetics to study chromatin biology and disease pathology.
   
• Marrissa Izykowicz is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the Roche Award. Izykowicz is a Ph.D. student in chemical biology with a research interest in designing and synthesizing nanohydrogels for targeted drug delivery in metastatic cancers.
   
• Zachary Mobille is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the HA (Gus) Peed Award. Mobille is a Ph.D. candidate in quantitative biosciences with a research interest in how anatomical structure and precisely-timed dynamics are interrelated in networks of biological neurons.
   
• Heriberto Nieves is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the Wahlen Award. Nieves is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, robotics, with a research interest in applying deep learning to automate the quality control and measurement processes for staging liver fibrosis with magnetic resonance elastography.
   
• John Pederson is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the Joslin/Mary Jo Peed Award. Pederson is a Ph.D. student in chemistry with a research interest in multi-scale modeling of complex chemical systems to study reactions at solid/liquid interfaces.
   
• Theodore St. Francis is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the ARCS Atlanta Century Award. St. Francis is a Ph.D. student in aerospace engineering with a research interest in electrolysis for both oxygen generation for astronauts and hydrogen production on Earth.
   
• Gianna Slusher is a first-year ARCS Scholar who received the Swensson/ARCS Atlanta Award. Slusher is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering, mechanical engineering, with a research interest in developing innovative nano-scale technologies to enhance the manufacturing and monitoring of cell-based therapeutics.

The ARCS fellowship is made possible each year by way of fundraising and the continued generous support of the ARCS-Atlanta Foundation.

The mission of the ARCS Foundation is to advance science and technology in the United States by providing financial rewards to academically outstanding U.S. citizens studying to complete degrees in science, engineering, and medical research.

Since its inception in 1992, the ARCS Foundation Atlanta has awarded more than $4.5 million to over 400 science scholars at Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, and the University of Georgia. 

For more information about the 2024-25 ARCS Atlanta Scholars, please visit atlanta.arcsfoundation.org/current-scholars-2024-25.