Rutgers Physics Student Wins Three National Graduate Fellowships

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., May 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rutgers physics major Jennifer Coulter struck academic gold three times this year, winning some of America's top science fellowships to study in graduate school.

They are a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.

Coulter, a senior honored with a prestigious Goldwater scholarship last year, chose the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. She will begin her studies in the applied physics program at Harvard University this fall and pursue a doctorate in physics.

"It would be very cool if I could someday become a physics professor at a university," said Coulter, 21, who is from Manasquan, New Jersey. "That's hard to achieve, so I'm going to give it everything I've got. If I can perform well enough to keep doing research, that would make me happiest."

Arthur D. Casciato, director of Rutgers' Office of Distinguished Fellowships, said Coulter stands out among her peers. "Considering her Goldwater scholarship last year, Jenny is probably one of the most nationally recognized students in Rutgers' history," he said.

A Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship provides many benefits, which include a $36,000 a year stipend and full tuition and fees for up to four years at an accredited U.S. university and 12 weeks at one of 21 Department of Energy national laboratories or sites, including access to DOE supercomputers.

"Essentially, I will be using computational methods to tackle physics problems," she said. "We take a class of very hard physics problems into problems that can be solved using supercomputers."

Coulter, who has a 3.99 GPA, lives at Douglass Residential College and is heavily involved in Rutgers research and is a part-time lecturer in the Analytical Physics II Lab in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences. She is also president and outreach coordinator in the Rutgers University Society of Physics Students and a mentor for the Douglass Project for Rutgers Women in Math, Science and Engineering.

"I never expected to accomplish this much in physics," said Coulter, who considered majoring in art before she took high school physics. "I'm going to continue to do the best possible physics and give it everything I've got. I think I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to do that."

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SOURCE Rutgers University