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Congratulations to two Carthage students who have been named Honorable Mentions in the highly competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship program. The NSF fellowship supports students pursuing research-based graduate degrees in the sciences, mathematics, and technology fields.

Laura Krings ’17, majoring in chemistry and biology, has been involved in laboratory research since arriving on campus as a freshman. Beginning in the biology department’s immersive research experience Phage Hunters, and continuing in mentored research with Profs. Deborah Tobiason, Deanna Byrnes, Dan Choffnes, and David Brownholland, Laura honed her skills for a career in scientific discovery. She also participated in off-campus summer research programs at Texas A&M University and the Danforth Plant Science Center. In her free time, Laura practices taekwondo and enjoys the “Great Outdoors.” A native of Nekoosa, Wisconsin, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biochemistry after graduation, ultimately finding a full-time academic research position in the bioenergy field.

Sabrina Lato ’17, of Warrenville, Illinois, is a mathematics and French major with a Japanese minor, and plans to pursue graduate research in graph theory and combinatorics. She counts among her mathematics mentors Profs. Mark Snavely and Sara Jensen, with whom she had specially arranged courses. Sabrina participated in intensive summer research projects at Miami University of Ohio and Fairfield University, and also studied in Rabat, Morocco, Osaka, Japan, and Paris, France. In France, she took classes alongside some of the most talented French students in topics such as the history of mathematics, measure theory, and topology. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys reading, knitting, playing the harp, and board games. Sabrina is active with SOAR, a youth tutoring program in Racine, and plans to continue mentoring children in mathematics as a Ph.D. student.

These students’ candidacies were reviewed by discipline-specific academic panelists convened by the NSF. Only the top tier of candidates, among the more than 13,000 applications submitted, are recommended for recognition as awardees or Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to Laura and Sabrina on their NSF Honorable Mentions!