DENTON (UNT), Texas - Students at the University of North Texas are leading the way in science and engineering, earning highly sought after national fellowships this year.

Jesse Lannette Stenlund and Willow Knight earned the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which funds full tuition for the recipient’s research-based graduate degree, includes an annual stipend for three years and provides access to networking and professional development from the NSF.

Meanwhile, Jacob Goralczyk received the Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, which funds a recipient’s full tuition and fees, provides a monthly stipend for three years, and offers a related conference where recipients can network with each other, research experts and DoD national leaders.

Both are highly competitive research awards for graduate students in the U.S., with thousands applying each year.

Jesse Lannette Stenlund

Jesse Stenlund is conducting her doctoral work in chemistry education research within the College of Science, mainly focusing on organic chemistry education. She hopes to improve the quality of no-cost STEM and chemistry education resources and lower the barrier to such resources.

“I know firsthand that not all educational media is created equal and that its presentation can significantly impact learning,” Stenlund said. “Even as a novice, I recognized that elements like visual cues and dynamic models could make the videos more engaging and more helpful in the process of sensemaking.”

In high school, Stenlund found herself captivated by chemistry, which opened a new world to her. Now she hopes to share that same feeling with others.

“For the first time in my life, every new topic I encountered felt completely novel and unlike anything I had learned before,” Stenlund said. “While I enjoyed other subjects, they were all things I had been learning as far back as I could remember. With chemistry, it was like being a kindergartener again, except instead of learning the ABC’s, I was learning about the periodic table.”

Stenlund, who previously graduated from Southern Utah University with a B.S. in Chemistry and a minor in Pure Mathematics, is wrapping up her second year as a graduate student. Her research work at UNT has involved designing and implementing laboratory experiments for undergrads and measuring their understanding of the material through quizzes and surveys before and after the labs. She’s also interested in examining digital education content.

“As a graduate researcher with hands-on experience in bench chemistry, undergraduate teaching, qualitative coding, and application of learning theories, I feel I am uniquely qualified to evaluate and assess the educational chemistry content shared online."

Stenlund has presented her research at conferences as both an undergrad and graduate student. After graduating, she hopes to become a science communicator, someone who can make complex scientific research more accessible to the general public or lawmakers.

“With the help of this fellowship, I will have time to begin building the necessary skills now rather than waiting until I graduate.  I cried when I learned I received this fellowship; it was incredibly validating to see that others see value in my work and potential in my ability to carry it out.”

Willow Knight

Willow Knight is pursuing her doctoral degree in the materials science and engineering department in the College of Engineering. Her focus is on shape memory alloys, elastocaloric materials, meaning they can release or take in heat when bent or unbent, respectively. They can also return to a set, or memorized, shape when heated, allowing them to bend on their own.

“These alloys could be used for cooling applications so you could replace compressed fluid cooling like Freon, which can have a negative impact on the environment,” Knight said.

Shape memory alloys for these applications are typically grown with a single crystal or few crystal microstructure. A crystal is a region in the alloy where the atoms are arranged in an orderly and repeating pattern. These crystals form grains that are distinguished by the direction of the crystals. Making a shape memory alloy monocrystalline gives it the best mechanical and thermal properties. However, this can be time consuming and require specializied equipment.

“I proposed a novel processing method that would cause abnormally large grain growth which is usually something you don’t want when processing materials.”

Knight will be using a process called Solid Stir Extrusion, where a material is strained rapidly to cause frictional heating. The material would then be hot enough to force through a die to create a long tube or rod, but not hot enough that it would melt.

“In previous studies, if you heat treat these materials afterward, you’ll get that abnormal growth, which can negatively impact the refined grain structure, which is what makes the material strong in the first place.”

The shape memory alloys Knight works with, however, are meant to be elastic. Larger grains mean the alloys would be able to bend and unbend for more cycles before stresses could build up to the point where the properties degrade. Her proposed process could achieve the desired large grains, without the intensive processing that is currently used to obtain single- or few-grain materials.

“I became aware of Solid Stir Extrusion during my senior design project here and now I work with shape memory alloys on my current research, so I decided to put the two pieces together for my proposal,” Knight said. “It was huge to me that I got the fellowship. I always put off applying because I never felt like I had a good enough idea. It was very fulfilling to put myself out there and actually receive it.”

Jacob Goralczyk

Doctoral student Jacob Goralczyk currently studies stainless steel embrittlement and corrosion with the materials science and engineering department in the College of Engineering. Initially earning a biochemistry degree, Goralczyk switched to computational materials science when he discovered he enjoyed the close connection to theoretical chemistry concepts. He now builds potentials, mathematical models that can inform on how stainless steel reacts to corrosives — such as hydrogen atoms — on the atomic scale.

“Corrosion is a common but subtle issue in most engineering sectors,” Goralczyk said. “Corrosion problems cost about 3% global GDP every year. By researching corrosion and stress corrosion cracking we can help reduce the substantial cost attributed to this materials degradation phenomenon.” 

For his fellowship, Goralczyk will be developing a machine learning potential, also known as a prediction model, based on first principles calculations. He’ll then perform targeted experiments to validate the model.

“One thing we’ll do is tension testing which basically means we’ll be pulling the specimen but in an environment that mimics a corrosive one,” Goralczyk said. “This may be in a salt solution or at elevated temperatures - something representative of coastal environments.”

This summer, Goralczyk is interning at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Sandia is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. He’ll be studying electrochemical properties and stress corrosion cracking of various metal alloys.

“It’s an extremely useful experience because I will be learning new methods and techniques as well as using unique facilities to improve and build upon my research. I’d love to have a continued collaboration here.”

The fellowship will last for three years. Creating the neural network potential could take up the first year alone. The potential will allow for simulated tests and predictions of mechanisms that are difficult or impossible to observe experimentally.

 “There’s a good amount of time before I would be able to produce results based on my neural network potential, which could dissuade some funding agencies,” Goralczyk said. “However, this fellowship supports basic science research of importance to the DoD’s long-term defense mission which gives me the freedom to do something unique during my PhD”

For other students considering applying to a fellowship, Goralczyk offers a simple piece of advice.

“Funding agencies will post their research gaps,” Goralczyk said. “That will give you direction when writing your proposal. After that, ask your PI for advice and prepare for multiple iterations.”

He also says students shouldn’t be intimidated when they see lists of past winners that come from larger or Ivy League schools.

“It looks disproportional, but these schools generally have 90 applicants submit proposals while other universities may have three to five at most. The biggest message I can tell anyone is to not worry about past winners and just apply.”