Kohawk awarded prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship
“Complete shock” is how Kalina Eskew ’21 described their reaction when notified they were the recipient of a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award from the National Science Foundation.
“Honestly, I had practically forgotten that I had applied for the GRFP back in October, so I was not expecting to find out I had gotten it that morning. I read the email over and over until I decided to text my loved ones, then rushed to tell my advisor at Coe, Dr. Jesse Ellis,” they said.
The fellowship supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in a STEM field. Five other recent Coe alumni have been awarded the fellowship in recent years — Rebecca Welch and Annie Ruckman ’20, Nathan Dvorak ’19, Dahlia Baker ’18 and Emily Roberts ’16.
Eskew is a biology and environmental science major at Coe, and their graduate studies will focus on animal behavior. Which graduate school is still undecided, though. As a GRFP fellow, they will receive a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 and a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance along with opportunities for international research and professional development.
“I want to continue asking questions through research and support other underserved students to reach their goals. It can be difficult to find graduate advisors with funding in the area that you are most interested, but with the GRFP, essentially you bring funding from the NSF with you,” they said.
Achievement is nothing new to Eskew. They will be the first in their family to earn a bachelor’s degree and now also the first to earn a doctorate. The breadth of opportunities at Coe, coupled with the level of support Ellis was able to provide were catalysts for this accomplishment.
“Coe has given me a lot of opportunities to get field experience and know how to set up my own research projects. I spent two summers at the Wilderness Field Station, first taking a class and then working on both my own independent study and Dr. Ellis’s work on Ovenbirds. I have also had a lot of chances to practice writing proposals and lab reports in my science classes and then presenting my information to other students,” they said.
Ellis is the director of Coe’s Wilderness Field Station in the boundary waters of northern Minnesota. The station puts 2 million acres of pristine natural habitat at students’ fingertips, providing everything from serenity for contemplative creative writers to live island labs for biogeography study.
“Dr. Ellis was a huge help in preparing my materials. He understands the kind of work I am interested in and helped me make my application the best it could possibly be, right down to the deadline. I do not think I would have been nearly as successful without his help. I owe a lot to Dr. Ellis.”
This year, the NSF awarded 2,074 fellowships throughout the country. More than 12,000 typically submit applications.