Sloan Scholars Gavin Gonzales and Adriana Stohn are among 15 Duke Ph.D. students who have received prestigious awards from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) for 2020.
Gonzales is a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering with a concentration in biomaterials. He is pursuing research with Professors Shyni Varghese and Stefan Zauscher, focusing on understanding the relationship between molecular structure and function of lubricants that can protect cartilage from wear such as occurs in osteoarthritis.
Stohn is a Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering with a concentration in imaging and optics. She is conducting research in Associate Professor Michael Gehm’s group, and her work focuses on understanding how using computational methods can help address a longstanding challenge in optical engineering — how to image objects through barriers that scatter light, such as fog, atmospheric turbulence, or thin layers of biological tissue.
Gonzales and Stohn, both of whom recently completed their first year at Duke, are also passionate mentors for students in STEM. Gonzles has been a volunteer and mentor for students from underrepresented minorities through his work in STEM teaching and mentoring programs, while Stohn works to encourage young women to pursue careers in science and technology and has implemented her ideas through volunteering with Girls Who Code clubs.
