Two materials graduate students, Joshua Baston and Griffin Tong (pictured left to right), have won a significant national award to pursue their respective doctoral research projects.

“This is a very competitive award, so we are proud of these students,” said Leila J. Rupp, Interim Anne and Michael Towbes Graduate Dean. “We also applaud their faculty advisors, who do the important work of mentoring them as researchers who will go on to make original contributions in academia or industry.”

Joshua will kick off his graduate school journey at UCSB this fall. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in materials engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He plans to expand his undergraduate research on alloy design and metallurgical processing for high-temperature aerospace applications with his UCSB advisor, materials professor Tresa Pollock.

Tong studies the fundamental properties of compound semiconductors and devices. He is advised by materials professor James Speck. Tong arrived at UCSB after completing his bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin.

Over 4,400 NDSEG fellowships have been awarded since 1989.