BE Alumni Peter Jansen selected for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
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EmailSixteen exceptional undergraduate and graduate students and alumni from MSU were selected for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. BE alumni Peter Jansen is one recipient.
Sixteen exceptional undergraduate and graduate students and alumni, from Michigan State University, have been selected for the National Science Foundation (NSF)?Graduate Research Fellowship Program, along with 13 honorable mentions.
The program is the country's oldest graduate fellowship program that supports graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees.
NSF Graduate Research Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000, along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose.
One recipient is Peter Jansen, who graduated from Michigan State University in 2020 with bachelor's degrees in Biosystems Engineering and German. Peter is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The Ohio State University where his research is focused on ocular tissue engineering specifically 3D bioprinting acellular partial thickness corneal scaffolds. One of his research aims is to reduce the need for donor corneas.
(Peter Jansen)
This is a full-circle moment for Peter, since he is visually impaired. During his time at MSU, Peter worked with the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities in addition to faculty and staff to ensure his success in the classroom and lab. The Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) Department's small, close-knit community of faculty and students lent itself to helping him develop strategies for accomplishing his goals.
For Senior Design, Peter's team worked on a project that focused on tissue engineering, which strengthened his application to graduate programs. BAE taught me to think critically and look at problems from different viewpoints. Showing there are multiple ways to think about and solve a problem he said.
The NSF graduate fellowship is valuable to him because it allows him to focus on his Ph.D. project and find ways to make the lab more accessible. By creating an accessible lab, Peter hopes to encourage more visually impaired and blind students to go into STEM fields where lab work is involved. Peter gives credit to his co-advisors, Dr. Katelyn Swindle-Reilly from the Swindle-Reilly Lab for Biomimetic Polymeric Biomaterials and Dr. Cynthia Roberts from the Eye and Ear Institute at The Ohio State University. They were both very receptive to him and his project ideas. As well as supporting his academic career and NSF application.
