{"id":27205,"date":"2019-04-28T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27205"},"modified":"2019-04-28T00:06:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T05:06:22","slug":"two-recent-apsu-graduates-win-national-science-foundation-fellowships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/04\/28\/two-recent-apsu-graduates-win-national-science-foundation-fellowships\/","title":{"rendered":"Two recent APSU graduates win National Science Foundation fellowships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-324279\" title=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Austin-Peay-State-University-APSU.jpg\" alt=\"Austin Peay State University - APSU\" width=\"250\" height=\"64\"\/><strong>Clarksville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; Two recently graduated Austin Peay State University (APSU) science students have earned National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_451089\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APSU-Deborah-Gulledge.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-451089\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-451089\" title=\"National Science Foundation fellow Deborah Gulledge inside Austin Peay State Univeristy's planetarium.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/APSU-Deborah-Gulledge-480x320.jpg\" alt=\"National Science Foundation fellow Deborah Gulledge inside Austin Peay State Univeristy's planetarium.\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\"\/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-451089\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">National Science Foundation fellow Deborah Gulledge inside Austin Peay State Univeristy&#8217;s planetarium.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics who are pursuing research-based master\u2019s and doctoral degrees, according to the program\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>The program provides three years of significant financial and tuition support.<\/p>\n<h3>The recipients are:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Josh Kraft<\/strong> \u2013 who graduated in 2017 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology and is pursuing his Ph.D. in plant ecology and evolution at Purdue University.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Deborah Gulledge<\/strong> \u2013 who graduated in 2018 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics and is pursuing her Ph.D. in astronomy at Georgia State University (GSU).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cOne of the best parts about being awarded the fellowship, though, was the confidence it\u2019s given me,\u201d Gulledge, who has dreamt of becoming an astronaut since she was a child, said. \u201cWinning this fellowship was the reassurance I didn\u2019t know I needed \u2013 I finally feel like I <em>belong<\/em> in science, like I am where I am meant to be in life, that I deserve to be here, and that maybe my dreams aren\u2019t so unrealistic after all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope that my research as an NSF Fellow will give me the best chance possible at one day making it to the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fellowships are difficult to win. NSF awards only 2,000 fellowships to more 12,000 applicants each year.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s more about Gulledge and Kraft:<\/p>\n<h3>Josh Kraft<\/h3>\n<p><strong>What was your reaction to getting the fellowship?<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u201cComplete shock. It took a couple of days for me to fully realize that I was awarded a fellowship and what it means for both my research and my future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[320right]<strong>What are you doing now?<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u201cI am currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Purdue University in the botany department studying plant ecology and evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your research.<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u201cAs an NSF graduate research fellow, I will be studying how epistasis, gene on gene interactions, influences local adaptation and the effects of epistasis on future adaptation to novel environments. My research has a focus on the historical effects of epistasis on adaptation as well as how global climate change will impact historically adapted populations in new environments, and if epistasis may be a way for these populations to persist in novel environments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s your APSU connection?<br \/>\n<\/strong>\u201cAPSU was like a second home to me. I loved the people I met and really began to grow my interests as a researcher there. I felt supported by the faculty and staff and am very much grateful for the time I spent there and the memories I made at APSU.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Deborah Gulledge<\/h3>\n<p><strong>What was your reaction to getting the fellowship?<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;I am still shocked! I have never been so excited about anything in my entire life. I am so honored to have been awarded the fellowship, and I&#8217;m incredibly thankful to all my professors at both APSU and GSU for helping me with my application and for always supporting and encouraging me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are you up to now?<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cI am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in astronomy at GSU, working with Dr. Stuart Jefferies. My primary interests are in planetary science and instrumentation, and I\u2019m so thankful to get the chance to work in both of these areas. I am especially excited because I landed a NASA internship this summer, where I get to develop my skills further during a 10-week internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory this summer, working on testing and characterization of a newly developed adaptive optics system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your research.<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cAs an NSF graduate research fellow, the title of my dissertation research is \u2018Taking the Pulse of Jupiter and Saturn from Antarctica.\u2019 I aim to answer the question \u201chow did our Solar System form?\u201d The only way to answer this is determining whether Jupiter and Saturn have solid cores or are gaseous all the way throughout. We are attempting to use seismology to map out their internal structure, similarly to how scientists previously mapped out the internal structure of the sun. This has been attempted before but everyone has been unsuccessful, so we are taking a giant leap to collect the best data possible \u2013 in addition to helping build our telescope and working on data reduction and analysis. I am going to winter-over at the South Pole in 2021 to observe Jupiter and Saturn over nine months in total darkness in the harshest, most isolated environment on planet Earth. We believe this will provide the highest quality data possible and will give us the best chance at being the very first to map out the internal structure of our Jovian planets!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[320right]<strong>What\u2019s your APSU connection?<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cMy first introduction to APSU was \u2026 when I attended APSU&#8217;s Governor\u2019s School for Computational Physics. I was unsure what I wanted to study before this, but Gov School sparked my interest in physics, so I applied to APSU to continue studying it. My time at APSU was so valuable, and I\u2019m thankful every day that Gov School inspired me to continue my education there! I had so many incredible research and observing opportunities, and those provided me with the skills I needed to thrive in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wrap wrap--narrow\">\n<div class=\"section text-center\">\n<blockquote><p><q> \u201cMy time at APSU was so valuable, and I\u2019m thankful every day that Gov School inspired me to continue my education there! I had so many incredible research and observing opportunities, and those provided me with the skills I needed to thrive in my career.\u201d <\/q><cite> Deborah Gulledge<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>To Learn More<\/h3>\n<p>For more about the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, go to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nsfgrfp.org\" >nsfgrfp.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To learn about the Austin Peay Department of Biology, go to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/biology\" >apsu.edu\/biology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To see more about the Austin Peay Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy, visit <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.apsu.edu\/physics\" >apsu.edu\/physics<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clarksville, TN &#8211; Two recently graduated Austin Peay State University (APSU) science students have earned National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[32818,23,6367,32241,262,512,825,29185,31666,33501,7860,22879,2584,33502,33503],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-74N","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27206,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27205\/revisions\/27206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}