Buffalo, NY – Trevor Tumiel ’17 and Anthony Berardi ’19, Canisius University chemistry majors, received prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowships in chemistry.
NSF Graduate Fellowships provide three years of financial support to individuals early in their graduate training in STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics) fields and are among the most competitive and prestigious fellowships available to graduate students pursuing research in STEM fields.
In the last application cycle, only 16 percent of applicants received awards. Of the 2,051 awards given in this cycle, Tumiel and Berardi were among only 154 chemistry majors to receive the honor. Canisius was the only college in the Buffalo-Niagara area represented by students winning an NSF Graduate Fellowships in chemistry.
In the past six years, four Canisius chemistry and biochemistry majors have been awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships.
Tumiel received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry (American Chemical Society (ACS) Certified track) from Canisius in 2017. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he conducted research for three summers alongside Steven Szczepankiewicz, PhD, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Tumiel is currently in his second year as a graduate student in the doctoral program in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Rochester where he conducts research in the laboratory of Todd Krauss, PhD, professor of chemistry. Tumiel’s fellowship proposal was titled “Exploiting Defects in Carbon Nanotubes for Photo-generated Charge Transport.”
Berardi will receive his bachelor’s degree in chemistry (ACS Certified track) from Canisius in May, 2019. He conducted research for three summers under the direction of Jeremy Steinbacher, PhD, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Canisius. Berardi will enter the doctoral program at the University of Michigan in the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program this fall. His fellowship proposal was titled “Amphiphilic, Bottlebrush Polymers for Simultaneous 19F MRI and Drug Delivery.”
For additional information, please contact the College Communications Office at (716) 888-2790. For information about the college’s chemistry and biochemistry major, click here.
Canisius University is one of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.
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