National Science Foundation Awards Prestigious Fellowships to 9 Woodruff School Students

June 29, 2026
By Tracie Troha

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded graduate research fellowships to nine students from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Graduate students Avi Balakirsky, Aidan Billings, Alison Brei, Emmett Freeman, Payal Patel, and Kaleb Washington, along with undergraduates Matthew Fernandez, Aastha Singh, and Tarun Vinodkumar, are among this year’s recipients.

The NSF awarded fellowships to 2,500 graduate students nationwide from a highly competitive pool of nearly 14,000 applicants. Recipients were selected based on intellectual merit and their potential to contribute to scientific innovation.

The NSF also awarded an honorable mention to Woodruff School graduate student Claire Borden. This designation recognizes the student’s potential for success in future graduate studies and research.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing full-time research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including STEM education. The fellowship provides a three-year annual stipend of $37,000 and a $16,000 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees.

Since 1952, the GRFP has supported over 70,000 graduate research fellows, many of whom have become leaders in research and innovation. Past fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners and members of the National Academy of Sciences.

Meet the Woodruff School’s NSF Graduate Research Fellowship recipients for 2026:

Avi Balakirsky

Second-year Ph.D. student in robotics
Advisors: Tony Chen and Shreyas Kousik
Area of research: Deformable object manipulation; member of the Mechanical Intelligence Robotics Lab and Safe Robotics Lab
What this fellowship means to me: “Getting this fellowship means a lot to me. It gives me the freedom to research an area I'm truly passionate about and follow paths that I may not have otherwise had the chance to explore.”

Aidan Billings

First-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
Advisors: Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb and Micah Ziegler
Area of research: Supercritical treatment of household waste, with plans to transition to plastic waste research; affiliated with the Advanced Research Institute
What this fellowship means to me: “Receiving the fellowship is very important to me in this time of funding uncertainty. It provides security for my current Ph.D. pursuits, as well as a vote of confidence in my future. It will allow me to transition my research focus from the topic funded in my group to a new area where we have less opportunity but high interest.”

Alison Brei

First-year Ph.D. student in robotics
Advisor: Tony Chen
Area of research: Mechanical design and controls for grasping and manipulation
What this fellowship means to me: “It is incredibly rewarding to be selected for such a prestigious scholarship; I consider it a great honor. I wrote my proposal on research I am very excited about, and I am grateful to receive this support. Beyond that, this fellowship is given to those judged to have high potential as future researchers, and with that complement comes responsibility. I hope to live up to this by learning as much as I can from my advisor, my lab mates, and the Georgia Tech community.”

Matthew Fernandez

Earned with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in December 2025; will pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT
Advisor: Dan Goldman
Area of research: Underwater limbless robotics in the Complex Rheology and Biomechanics Lab; plans to study aquatic and aerial robotic locomotion and manipulation at MIT
What this fellowship means to me: “It gives me the support to dictate my own future research topic in real-world, field-deployable robotic systems for extreme environments on Earth and extraterrestrially. With three years of funding, I have tremendous flexibility in the scope, implementation, and field testing of these robots, allowing me to pursue the systems I am most passionate about.”

Emmett Freeman

First-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Azadeh Ansari
Area of research: Microrobotics
What this fellowship means to me: “It gives me the freedom to pursue my research in a wider lens and explore more avenues and leads than I could before.”

Payal Patel

First-year Ph.D. student in robotics
Advisor: Tony Chen
Area of research: Underwater and soft robotics
What this fellowship means to me: “Receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship gives me the freedom to pursue the research that I'm interested in doing. I'm also happy that it means the lab has more resources to support other Ph.D. students.”

Aastha Singh

Earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in May; will pursue a Ph.D. in civil engineering at Johns Hopkins University
Advisors: Aaron Stebner and Satish Kumar
Area of research: Mechanical testing and materials and convective heat transfer; plans to study renewable energy and equitable decarbonization at Johns Hopkins
What this fellowship means to me: “Receiving the NSF award is a tremendous honor that will allow me to pursue research at the intersection of engineering and public policy to work towards a more clean, resilient, and equitable planet.”

Tarun Vinodkumar

Earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in May; will pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, focusing on surgical robotics
Advisor: Jun Ueda
Area of research: Medical device development in the Biorobotics and Human Modeling Lab; plans to study intelligent surgical robotics at Johns Hopkins
What this fellowship means to me: “Receiving this fellowship is more than an incredible honor. It is fuel and validation for me to pursue research I find most meaningful: advancing intelligent surgical robotics to make medical interventions safer, more accessible, and more effective for patients.”

Kaleb Washington

Second-year Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering
Advisor: Carolyn Seepersad
Area of research: Digital Design and Manufacturing Lab
What this fellowship means to me: “Receiving this fellowship is a blessing. It signifies the NSF’s commitment to improving the quality of education for our country’s youth. In my application, I wrote about my life’s purpose and dream to provide quality STEM education to underprivileged American children. The selection of my application illustrates the foundation’s trust in me to make this vision a reality. I am extremely grateful to have the funding to complete my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech and continue serving my community.”

About NSF GRFP

The NSF GRFP is the country’s oldest fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in different STEM areas. Established in 1951, the program was the first in the NSF to encourage individuals to pursue graduate education in science. Since 1952, it has funded over 60,000 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants. Currently, 42 Fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences.

George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering

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