Fellowships and Awards
More than half of UVA’s BME PhD students will graduate with a prestigious named fellowship from the National Science Foundation, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, the University of Virginia or a private foundation.
National Fellowships from the NIH, AHA and NSF
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
2021 | Mackenzie Grubb, Joseph Ficarrotta, Anna Debski, Leilani Astrab, Bryana Harris, Emma Glass
2020 | Wisam Fares, Megan Haase
2019 | Honorable Mention: Grace Bingham
2018 | Taylor Marohl; Honorable mentions: Corey Williams and Derek Bivona
2017 | Amanda Meppelink, Michaela Rikard and Bonnie Dougherty; Honorable mentions: Samantha Perez, Elizabeth Herbst and Kristen Fread
2016 | Laura Dunphy; Tom Moutinho; Natasha Sheybani; Honorable Mention: Katie Gorick; Katie Knaus; Greg Medlock; TK Phung
2015 | Kelley Virgilio; Kathryn Kingsmore Honorable Mention: Anna Blazier
2014 | H. Clifton Ray, III; Katie Pelland
American Heart Association Fellowship
2021 | Delaney Fischer, Samuel Sklar, Mukti Chowkwale, Yu Wang, Oom Pattarabanjird, Bryana Harris
2020 | Elizabeth Herbst
2018 | Katie Gorick
2017 | Christopher Waters, Ana Estrada, Rob Rickel, Xiaoying Cai and Sophia Cui
2016 | Ana Estrada, Rob Rickel, Xiaoying Cai and Sophia Cui
2015 | Millie Shah and Alyssa Becker
2014 | Brittany Earnest; Bhairav Mehta
National Institites of Health NRSA F30
2020 | Alex Mathew
2018 | Jeffrey Xing
2017 | Bryan Chun
2016 | Angela Ziegler and Bryan Chun
National Institites of Health NRSA F31
2021 | Lauren Pruett
2020 | Lauren Pruett
2018 | Liz Pereia
2017 | Bert Cortina
2016 | Brian Mead and Bert Cortina
National Institites of Health K99/K00 Pathway to Independence Award
2021 | Grace Bingham
2018 | Natasha Sheybani
National Science Foundation INTERN Award
2020 | Nate Sallada
Other National Fellowships
American Thoracic Society Student Scholar
2020 | Julie Leonard-Duke
Blue Waters Graduate Fellowship
2017 | Jennifer Hayes
Children's Heart Foundation Fellowship
2016 | Xiaoying Cai
CDC Steven Teutsch Prevention Effectiveness Postdoc Research Fellowship
2020 | Michaela Rikard
Imaging the Pancreas in Diabetes Annula Meeting
2020 | Jessica Hung (Travel Award)
MolSSI Software Fellowship
2018 | Jennifer Hayes
MRF Student Research Award
2020 | Alex Mathew
Sharif Horizons Scholarship Award
2020 | Niloufar Zakariaei
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
2020 | Sam Perez (Dissertation Award)
Whitaker International Fellowship
2017 | Kyle Martin
2016 | Katie Pelland
2015 | Geoff Handsfield; Jennifer Bartell
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars
2017 | Samantha Perez
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS)
2020 | Michaela Rikard
2020 | Samantha Perez
2017 | Jennifer Hays
Micron Fellowship
2014 | Bruce Corliss
UVA Named Fellowships
BME Chair's Fellowships in Community Health
2021 | Aidan Houser, Abigail McNulty, Krista Nelsn, Elisa Nelton, Haritha Sasikumar
Jefferson Scholars Graduate Fellowship
Class of 2021 | Elizabeth Herbst
Class of 2020 | Catherine Gorick
Class of 2018 | Molly Kelly-Goss, John Miller
Presidential Fellow in Data Science
2020 | Eli Draizen
Presidential Fellowship for Collaborative Neuroscience
2016 | Colleen Curley
UVA Engineering Houston Fellowship
2017 | Areli Rodriguez Ayala
UVA Engineering Deans Scholars
2021 | Katherine Crump, Allison McCrady, Reagan Portelance
2020 | Oyin Adenekan, Sam Crowl, Anna Debski, Remziye Erdogan, Megan Haase, Sami Felton, Joe Ficarrota, Jonathan Florian, Mark Schwartz, Sydney Shriver, Juliana Trujillo
UVA Engineering Distinguished Fellowship
2021 | Christian Tessman, Logan Campbell
2020 | Leilani Astrab, Luisa Quesada
2017 | Ivan Batsurto, Yekaterina Gilbo, Blaise Pfaff
UVA Engineering Teaching Fellowship
2019 | Katie Knaus
2018 | Natasha Sheybani and TK Phung
Sture G. Olsson Graduate Fellowship (School of Medicine)
2020 | Grace Bingham, John Lawson, Tom Moutinho, Michaela Rikard, Andrew Sweatt
2019 | Kristen Fread, Bonnie Dougherty, Adrienne Williams, Michaela Rikard
2018 | Anna Blazier
2014 | Philip Tan and Millie Shah
Virginia Engineering Foundation Graduate Fellowship
2018 | Ahmed Alshareef
Voight Teaching Fellowship
2014 | Lindsey Brinton
Wagner Fellowship (School of Medicine)
2021 | Julie Leonard-Duke, Grace Bingham
2020 | Delaney Fisher, Elizabeth Herbst
2018 | Laura Dunphy, Greg Medlock, Michaela Rikard
2017 | Natasha Sheybani, Shamghavi Singh, Anna Blazier
2016 | Brian Mead and Molly Kelly-Goss
2015 | Anna Blazier; Molly Kelly-Goss
National Research Awards
American Society of Biomechanics
2021 | Katie Knaus (Journal of Biomechanics Award Oral Presentation)
2018 | Katie Knaus (PhD Competition)
2017 | Evan Terrell (Runner up, Journal of Biomechanics Award)
2014 | Kyle Martin (Best Poster)
American Society for Matrix Biology
2021 | Grace Bingham (Travel Award)
American Thoracic Society
2021 | Julie Leonard-Duke (Student Scholar Award)
Controlled Release Society
2018 | Natasha Sheybani (student poster award)
European Symposium on Ultrasound Contrast Imaging
2020 | Elizabeth Herbst (best oral presentation)
International Congress on Pseudomonas
2021 | Joseph Ficarrotta (Travel Award)
Interational FUS Symposium
2018 | Katie Gorick, Alex Mathew, and Natasha Sheybani (travel award)
IFATS International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science
2016 | Howard C. Ray (Best Paper Award)
International Society of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Medicine
2020 | Soham Shah (Magna Cum Laude Award)
Image-Based Biomedical Modeling Summer Course Fellowship
2018 | Vi Tran and Derek Bivona
2015 | Ana Estrada
2014 | Kyle Martin
ITSU International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound Best Platform Talk Award
2018 | Natasha Sheybani
Jorge Heller Journal of Controlled Release Outstanding Paper of the Year Award
2015 | Kelsie Timbie
Melanoma Research Foundation
2020 | Alex Mathew
MITRE’s Hack2Reacht First Place
2018 | Jeffrey Xing and Greg Medlock
Nature Biomedical Engineering Poster Award
2016 | Brian Mead
Novo Nordisk Foundation Biotechnology Conference Best Poster Award
2016 | Greg Medlock (2nd Place)
Radiology Society of North America Award
2014 | Nivedita Naresh
Society Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) Early Career Award for Basic Science
2016 | Sophia Cui
Southern Regional Educational Board Doctoral Scholars
2021 | Bryana Harris, Natasha Claxton
VSGC Virginia Space Grant Consortium
2014 | Ali Dhanaliwala and Adam Dixon
World Congress Biomechanics Diversity Travel Award
2018 | Laura Caggiano and Ana Estrada
UVA Teaching Awards
All University Graduate Teaching Award
2020 | Laura Dunphy
2019 | Katie Knaus
2017 | Molly Kelly-Goss
2015 | Lindsey Taylor Brinton
All-University Distinguished Graduate Teaching Award in STEM
2020 | Kristen Fread
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
2014 | Eric Greenwald
UVA Outstanding Student Awards
BME Outstanding Graduate Student
2021 | Shambhavi Singh
2020 | Katie Gorick
2019 | Greg Medlock
2018 | Molly Kelly-Goss
2017 | Joshua Heuslein
2016 | Sameer Bajikar
2015 | Adam Dixon
2014 | Karen Ryall
BME Master of Engineering Leadership Award
2020 | James Bonaffini
Hungerford Award
2021 | Shambhavi Singh
2019 | Greg Medlock
2018 | Molly Kelly-Goss
2015 | Adam Dixon
Mary and Otis Updike Award
2021 | Taylor Marohl
2020 | Kristen Fread, Katie Knaus
2018 | TK Phung
2017 | Kellen Chen
2016 | Anna Blazier
2015 | Philip Tan
2014 | Sameer Bajikar
UVA Research Awards
Big Data Awards
2014 | Kelley Mitchell Virgilio; Matt Biggs
Double Hoo Research Award
2020 | Lauren Pruett
2018 | Corey Williams
2017 | Jessica Yuan
2016 | Angela Zeigler
2015 | Philip Tan
Engineering-in-Medicine Seed Grant
2020 | Vi Tran, Allison McCrady
Jefferson Scholar Foundation Grant
2017 | Michaela Rikard
Graduate Biosciences Society Symposium
2014 | Sophia Cui 1st place poster
GBMES Symposium
2016 | Oral Presentation 1st place Colleen Curley, 2nd place Ahmed Alshareef, 3rd place Colleen Witzenburg
2016 | Poster 1st place Chase Cornelison 2nd place Joshua Heuslein
2015 | Oral Presentation 1st place Philip Tan; 2nd place Brian Mead
2015 | Poster 1st place Kathryn Kingsmore
2014 | Oral Presentation – Josh Heuslein, 2nd place Anna Blazier, 3rd place Eric Greenwald
Huskey Research Exhibition (Various Divisions)
2017 | Ana Estrada (Oral Presentation)
2016 | Brittany Earnest 1st place (Oral Presentation), Phil Yen 1st place (Oral Presentation)
2015 | 2nd place Lindsey Brinton (Oral Presentation); 1st place Laura Woo (Poster); 2nd place Matthew Biggs (Poster), 3rd place Philip Tan (Oral Presentation)
2014 | Geoff Handsfield (Oral Presentation)
John T. Casteen Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award
2020 | Samantha Perez
Raven Society Scholarship
2020 Samantha Perez
University of Virginia Engineering Research Symposium (UVERS)
2017 | Kellen Chen 1st Place Poster
*For additions, corrections, or updates please email the Graduate Program Coordinator at bmegrad@virginia.edu.