RIT Students Win National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships

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David Kelbe

Two Rochester Institute of Technology students have won awards from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

The NSF program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research in fields within the foundation’s mission. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship will provide three-year, $30,000 annual stipends to Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse and David Kelbe, graduate students in RIT’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

Artusio-Glimpse, from Phoenix, won support for her project, “Optical Lift: Innovating Devices that Fly by Light.” She was part of the team led by Grover Swartzlander, joint associate professor of imaging science and physics at RIT, that originally discovered optical lift. Their results were published in Nature Photonics in 2011.

“My work is a continuation of the project I started with Dr. Grover Swartzlander nearly two years ago,” she says. “My focus now is on the application of optical lift for steering solar sails—spacecrafts that accelerate solely due to radiation pressure from the sun.”

Kelbe was awarded a fellowship for his project, “Linking the Real and Simulation Environments of Airborne Small Footprint Waveform Lidar.” He is working closely with collaborators at the National Ecological Observatory Network.

“We are extremely proud of these young scientists,” says Hector Flores, dean of Graduate Studies at RIT. “These awards are a reflection of the high quality of Ph.D. students that are attracted to RIT.”

RIT in the News:

Henrietta Post — June 8, 2012

RIT students win science research fellowships

Alexandra Artusio-Glimpse