UNM grad student Emily Hendrix awarded prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
August 2, 2023 - Steve Carr
Emily Hendrix, a second-year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at The University of New Mexico, was recently awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRF).
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is designed to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
NSF Fellows are anticipated to become knowledge experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in science and engineering. These individuals are crucial to maintaining and advancing the nation’s technological infrastructure and national security as well as contributing to the economic well-being of society at large.
“Receiving the GRFP was a tremendous achievement for myself and my research career,” said Hendrix. “The Fellowship will allow me to continue my outreach efforts to New Mexico high school students and ensure that my research with PICK1 will continue.”
Hendrix’s research aligns with UNM’s Substance Use Disorder Grand Challenge (SUD-GC) and examines the PICK1 protein, which has been implicated in these disorders. Her proposal, Computational tools for exploring the chemical diversity of AApeptides, aims to develop an algorithm capable of structurally matching synthetic peptides to natural peptides which would enable the design of synthetic peptides which could target PICK1.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
