UToledo Ph.D. Student Earns Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

UToledo Ph.D. Student Earns Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

University of Toledo doctoral student Hunter Brooks has been selected to receive a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award - one of the most competitive and prestigious honors available to graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Brooks conducts his research of the stars under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Cushing, a professor in the in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Brooks aims to discover and characterize tens of thousands of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Milky Way Galaxy using the next generation of space telescopes, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Euclid Space Telescope, and the SPHEREx, short forr NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.

What sets his research apart is that the specific stars and brown dwarfs he is studying are expected to be "metal-poor," meaning they contain far fewer heavy elements (anything other than hydrogen and helium) than the Sun or most nearby stars.

"By studying this metal-poor population, I hope to shed new light on how many low-mass stars and brown dwarfs formed at different points throughout the Milky Way's history," Brooks said.

The NSF GRFP fellowship provides three years of financial support over a five-year fellowship period, including a $37,000 annual stipend and a $16,000 cost-of-education allowance to cover tuition and mandatory fees.

"This award recognizes Hunter's publication record and promise as a young scientist and I look forward to working with him on this project for the next three years," said Cushing, who is also director of UToledo's Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory.

Since its founding in 1952, the NSF GRFP fellowship has helped ensure the vitality of the U.S. scientific and engineering workforce by recognizing graduate students with demonstrated potential to make significant contributions to STEM fields.

The UToledo College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics has celebrated a growing number of students earning nationally competitive fellowships in recent years. Brooks selection reflects the college's commitment to cultivating research excellence and preparing graduate students to become leaders in their fields.

The University of Toledo is recognized among the country's top-tier research universities with the prestigious R1 Classification. The University is only northwest Ohio university to earned the recognition for very high research activity.