Three Engineering Graduate Students Named NSF Research Fellows
Aug. 19, 2025 - Three Samueli School students, Allison Tilzey, Azara Boschee and Gil Carpenter, have received National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards this year.
The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports graduate students who are working toward completing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in STEM or STEM education. The prestigious, highly competitive five-year program offers up to three years of financial support, covering tuition and fees.
Tilzey is a civil and environmental engineering graduate student who received a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering last year. She conducts research on how wildfires impact water quality under the advisement of Christopher Olivares Martinez, assistant professor of
civil and environmental engineering. Tilzey is currently studying the impacts of burnt plastic infrastructure and how that affects or endangers the public’s health. Her work aims to understand how fire-related contaminant pulses can reshape the drinking water microbiome.
“With support from the GRFP, I look forward to continuing my research and completing my Ph.D.,” Tilzey said. “I hope to then continue my research career in a faculty position where I can advance the body of scientific knowledge on water quality issues while mentoring others beginning their scientific research journeys as my adviser has mentored me.”
Boschee also is pursuing a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering and is expected to graduate in 2029. She is conducting research under the guidance of Chancellor’s Professor Amir AghaKouchak on wildfire influence on snowpack and spring snowmelt around different climates and ecological regions in the United States. Boschee’s research aims to determine if snowmelt-driven streamflow changes or leads to more extreme shifts between spring flooding and summer drought due to faster or earlier snowmelt.
“The NSF graduate research fellowship gives me the support to fully focus on my proposed research to provide information that can potentially improve hydrologic predictions and water resource management,” Boschee said.
Carpenter, a materials science and engineering graduate student researcher, studies the electrical properties of protein nanowires produced by electroactive bacteria under adviser Allon Hochbaum, associate professor of materials science and engineering. The GRFP funding allows Carpenter to apply his fundamental understanding of nanowires to find new biocompatible material for sensors and biomedical devices.
“I’m grateful to the NSF for awarding me the GRFP,” Carpenter said. “This funding gives me the opportunity to dedicate my time to research.”
– Cassandra Nava
