VPR Graduate Fellowship Program

The Vice President for Research (VPR) Graduate Fellows Program at Colorado State University supports excellence in graduate student research and promotes interdisciplinary work by engaging the best and brightest students from graduate programs across the institution.

These VPR Graduate Fellows receive research funding, professional development, networking opportunities, and travel funding aimed at preparing them to become thought leaders.

The OVPR is pleased to announce the request for applications for the next 2026-2027 Graduate Fellows class is now open!

The submission deadline for all applications is Monday, March 2, 2026, with a letter of supporting reference due Monday, March 9, 2026. Please click “Application and Eligibility” for more information about this program and its application requirements.

 

If you have questions about the VPR Fellowship Program, please contact:

Meghan Suter, PhD: [email protected]

Assistant Vice President for Research, OVPR

Meet the 2025-26 VPR Graduate Fellows

  • Maricela Alaniz – Warner College of Natural Resources; Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
    Project: “Assessing the Combined Effects of Wildfire and Mining Stressors on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates.”
  • Ivy Glade – Walter Scott College of Engineering; Atmospheric Science
    Project: “Quantifying the Impact of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation on Hazardous Convective Weather Over the U.S.”
  • Emmaline Hamilton – College of Agricultural Sciences; Soil and Crop Sciences
    Project: “Enhancing the MEMS Model to Incorporate the Dynamics of Pyrogenic Organic Matter”
  • Vigor Lam – College of Health and Human Sciences; School of Education
    Project: “A Mixed Methods Approach to Investigating Student Success and Belonging in the Built Environment at Colorado State University”
  • Kamal Neupane – College of Agricultural Sciences; Agricultural Biology
    Project: “Unlocking Rice Resilience: How Tiny DNA Switches Help Protect Crops Against Stresses”
  • Leah Quiller – School of Music, Theater, and Dance; Music Therapy
    Project: “Music-Based Cueing for Movement Quality and Perceived Movement Experience in Adults with Parkinson’s Disease”
  • Travis Rainey – Warner College of Natural Resources; Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
    Project: “Climate Change Implications and Ecology of a Small, Hibernating Rodent at High Elevations”
  • Oshani Ratnayake – College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
    Project: “Understanding the Biochemical Aspects of Disease Transmission through the Mosquito Vector”
  • Allison Salamone – College of Natural Sciences; Chemistry
    Project: “Investigating Indoor Ozone Reactivity and Fate”
  • Jacob VanderRoest – College of Natural Sciences; Chemistry
    Project: “Analysis of Microbial Activity in Soil and Forest Recovery after Wildfire”
  • Kalani Williams – College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
    Project: “How Deforestation Leads to Spillover: Bat Foraging Behavior and Nutrition”
2024-25 VPR Fellows
2020-21 VPR Fellows
2016-17 VPR Fellows
2023-24 VPR Fellows
2019-20 VPR Fellows
2022-23 VPR Fellows
2018-19 VPR Fellows
2021-22 VPR Fellows
2017-18 VPR Fellows

“The interdisciplinary aspect of this program, in my opinion, is its greatest value. To have the opportunity to contribute to the melting pot of thought by people from different departments communicating their own perspectives on matters that affect us all, has been a truly rewarding experience.”

– Derek Newberger, VPR Fellow 2022-23