Seven students with ties to the department receive one of the nation’s most prestigious fellowships.
Four current first-year PhD students, two incoming PhD students, and one undergraduate researcher connected to UC Santa Barbara’s Materials Department are among the nearly thirty students affiliated with The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering (COE) to receive the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, one of the most competitive honors in STEM.
The NSF awarded more than 2,500 fellowships for the 2026-27 academic year from nearly 14,000 applicants. The program provides three years of financial support over a five-year period, including a $37,000 annual stipend and a $16,000 cost-of-education annual allowance, totaling $159,000.
“The NSF GRFP is one of the clearest indicators of future leadership in science and engineering,” said Umesh Mishra, dean of The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering. “Seeing so many of our students recognized at this level speaks to the culture of innovation, rigor, and collaboration that drives discovery at UC Santa Barbara, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and impacts the global economy.”
This year’s recipients from COE include fifteen current students, at least eight incoming PhD students, including two who will join the Materials Department, and six alumni who are now pursuing graduate degrees at other institutions, including Aaron Huang, who worked as an undergraduate researcher in materials professor and chair Omar Saleh’s lab before entering graduate school at the University of Chicago.
Hear what the NSF Fellowship means to the four current materials PhD students, Ethan Chen, Keyes Eames, Trevor Hagan, and Roenigk Straub, as well as Conor Puglsey, an undergraduate researcher below.
Ethan Chen, Materials PhD student
First-year PhD student, Ethan Chen studies the complex supercurrent behavior of hybrid Josephson junctions based on thin-film cadmium arsenide, a two-dimensional topological insulator. His research is aimed at advancing fault-tolerant qubits, a key step toward more efficient quantum computing systems.
Advised by materials professor Susanne Stemmer, Chen says the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship provides both validation and opportunity. “The fellowship affirms the confidence I have in my scientific proficiency and highlights the impact of my research support system,” he said, adding that it enables him to pursue more curiosity-driven research into quantum materials.
Keyes Eames, Materials PhD student
Advised by Steven DenBaars, Keyes Eames is a first-year PhD student broadly focused on gallium nitride (GaN) optoelectronics, with potential applications ranging from energy-efficient data communication to ultraviolet sterilization technologies.
For Eames, the fellowship’s greatest impact is the flexibility it provides. “The most important professional impact of the award will be academic freedom,” he said. “The flexibility enables me to choose the most impactful research and career path. On the personal side, the incredible research opportunity and implied career trajectory provided by this fellowship feel like an incredibly exciting and weighty responsibility.”
Trevor Hagan, Materials PhD student
First-year PhD student Trevor Hagan, who is co-advised by Rachel Segalman and Craig Hawker, is developing electrostatically crosslinked polymer networks with applications in plastic waste recycling. His research focuses on enabling more efficient reuse and repurposing of polymers, advancing sustainable materials solutions.
Raised in rural southern Indiana, Hagan credits his parents for nurturing his early interest in science, often traveling long distances to support his curiosity. Receiving the fellowship marks both a personal and academic milestone.
“I am the first in my family ever to attain an academic degree, and thus also the first to pursue a Ph.D.,” he said. “Having received an NSF Fellowship is both personally and academically affirming that multiple blind reviewers found my background, training, and research ideas compelling enough to invest in.”
Roenigk Straub, Materials PhD student
Roenigk Straub, a first-year PhD student advised by Daniel Oropeza, studies parameter-induced porosity in additively manufactured metals, with specific applications in aerospace, electronics cooling, and catalysis.
The fellowship has increased Straub’s confidence as he transitions into academic research. “Prior to coming to UCSB, I had been focused on working in industry, so receiving this fellowship has increased my belief in myself as a researcher,” Straub said. “Learning that others see potential in my work further motivates me to make the scientific breakthroughs I outlined in my proposal a reality.”
Straub says the fellowship will allow him to broaden the number of alloys and functional properties that he can examine, expanding the potential impact of his work to a wider range of next-generation technologies.
Conor Puglsey, Undergraduate student
A fourth-year undergraduate triple-majoring in chemistry and biochemistry, pharmacology, and statistics and data science, Conor Pugsley has conducted research in the Materials Department since his first day on campus. Working with materials associate professor Angela Pitenis, he has investigated how polymer architecture influences mechanical performance, with the goal of designing more effective materials for biomedical implants. A Beckman Scholar and active participant in Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP), Pugsley has built a strong foundation at the intersection of chemistry, materials science, and data-driven research.
He will pursue a PhD in bioengineering, where he plans to study the chemistry of biomaterials to enable precision drug delivery of complex macromolecular therapeutics. His proposed research focuses on using supramolecular chemistry to control hydrogel mesh structures, allowing for more precise encapsulation and release of therapeutics, an approach with potential to reduce overdose risks and improve automated dosing in medical treatments.
“Receiving this fellowship reflects positively on my drive to pursue research and highlights the excellent mentorship I have received along the way,” Pugsley said. “It enables me to pursue my own work in graduate school and focus on the intellectual curiosity that initially brought me to biomaterials research, while laying the foundation for securing future research support as I work toward becoming a professor.”
