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 2025-2026 Graduate Fellows class is now open!

The submission deadline for all applications is Monday, March 3, 2025, with a letter of supporting reference due Monday, March 10, 2025. 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 2024-25 VPR Graduate Fellows

  • Chika Agha, doctoral candidate
    Walter Scott College of Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering
    Project: “Early-Career Engineers’ Experience with Equity and Ethics in Workplace”
  • Lamya Alsubaie, doctoral candidate
    College of Health and Human Sciences; Occupational Therapy
    Project: “Exploring the Role of Culture in Cognitive Rehabilitation”
  • Taylor Bacon, doctoral candidate
    College of Agricultural Sciences; Soil and Crop Sciences
    Project: “Sharing Sunlight: Ecological Impacts of Co-Locating Regenerative Livestock Grazing and Solar Energy Generation”
  • Somayeh Baghersad, doctoral candidate
    Walter Scott College of Engineering; Biomedical Engineering
    Project: “Sustainable Biopolymers as the Future of Hemocompatible Medical Device Engineering”
  • Lauren Buisker, doctoral candidate
    College of Liberal Arts; Communication Studies
    Project: “Rhetoric of Sexual Violence”
  • Meghan Cosgrove, doctoral candidate
    College of Liberal Arts; Communication Studies
    Project: “Connected Through Community: An Engaged Approach to Justice-involved Community Reentry”
  • Carolyn Coyle, doctoral candidate
    Warner College of Natural Resources; Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
    Project: “Songbirds as Pollinators: Mapping Bird-Flower Interactions for North American Passerines”
  • Jebrail Dempsey, doctoral candidate
    College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
    Project: “Investigating Community Transmission Dynamics of Plasmodium falciparum in a West African Cohort Study”
  • Alina Galyon, doctoral candidate
    College of Natural Resources; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
    Project: “Damage Control at the Extremes: Playing with Fire without Getting Burned”
  • Elena Lian, doctoral candidate
    College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
    Project: “Evaluating a New Biomarker for Mycobacterium Abscessus Infection”
  • Diana Lowe, doctoral candidate
    College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Cell and Molecular Biology
    Project: “When Proteins Join the “Dark Side”: the Prion Disease Paradox and an American Wildlife Epidemic Gone Global”
  • Dani Lustig, doctoral candidate
    College of Natural Sciences; Chemistry
    Project: “United in Discovery: The push for Carbon Neutrality through Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Research”
  • Laura Moore, doctoral candidate
    College of Agricultural Sciences; Soil and Crop Sciences
    Project: “Microbial Architects: Exploring the Microbial Contributions to Mineral-Associated Organic Matter Storage Across Grazing Regimes”
  • Kylie Pearce, doctoral candidate
    College of Natural Sciences; Chemistry
    Project: “Investigating the Permeation of Cryoprotectant Molecules into Plant Cells”
  • Megan Podolinsky, doctoral candidate
    Warner College of Natural Resources; Ecosystem Science and Sustainability
    Project: “Assessing Surface Water Dynamics in Depressional Wetlands of the US High Plains and Beyond”
  • Anjali Tiwari, doctoral candidate
    College of Health and Human Sciences; Health and Exercise Science
    Project: “Fluctuations in Cognitive Processing Speed Predict Vascular Cognitive Impairment After Stroke”
2023-24 VPR Fellows
2022-23 VPR Fellows
2021-22 VPR Fellows
2020-21 VPR Fellows
2019-20 VPR Fellows
2018-19 VPR Fellows
2017-18 VPR Fellows
2016-17 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