NSF fellowship supports doctoral candidates’ quests

Some elite researchers discover the topic they want to study early on. But three Binghamton scholars who won the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) award this year say their academic career paths have been less direct.

“I didn’t know what anthropology was until I was signing up for my first semester of classes as an undergraduate,” says Kailee Behunin, who studies biological anthropology. She ended up finding the topic interesting. During an osteology class senior year, she fell in love with bones as they relate to anthropology.

Today her research focuses on cross-population bone density. The project she proposed as a GRFP applicant seeks to compare activity and immune activation levels between people in The Gambia and a group of gymnasts in Syracuse, N.Y. Behunin aims to find reasons why bone density differs between populations and why osteoporosis rates are increasing worldwide.

The National Science Foundation’s GRFP, a highly competitive and coveted grant, provides funding and professional development opportunities. Winners receive a three-year annual stipend of $37,000, as well as a $16,000 allowance for tuition and fees. About 2,000 students nationwide were selected this year.

As a child, Ahshabibi Ahmed wanted to become Bob the Builder when he grew up. Fast forward many years later, he won the GRFP for his work in analytical chemistry.

Throughout high school and early in his college career, Ahmed pursued biology. But soon a different subject drew his attention.

“In my chemistry courses, I found that talking about how the physical world works was super interesting,” he says.

Understanding things like why a chunk of metal feels colder than a piece of wood at the same temperature inspired him to go into the field.

Ahmed’s research looks at the photo degradation pathways of tattoo pigments. He studies whether tattoos are making any harmful compounds in our bodies. Identifying whether certain inks are irritation-inducing, allergenic or even cancerous is the main objective of Ahmed’s work.

Like their two peers, Sage Sanders, who won the award for environmental biochemistry research, initially had a different career path in mind. Sanders, who attended Binghamton as an undergraduate, was set on becoming a veterinarian until their junior year of college. While taking classes for the environmental sciences minor, Sanders decided that was their calling.

Their main research goal is to develop field-deployable sensors for different pathogen targets in the environment. Down the road, Sanders wants these sensors to be widely available to the general public.

Sanders, unlike Ahmed and Behunin, spent their undergraduate years at Binghamton University. The First-year Research Immersion (FRI) program, which provides students with research experience in their first three semesters of college, was critical to Sanders’ success.

“I didn’t know that I wanted to go to grad school while I was doing the FRI program, but it really showed me how much I love science and the process of doing research,” they say. “I think without the FRI program, my research journey would have been very different.”

Sanders also pointed to the “research culture” at Binghamton that has made their experience enjoyable. They praised Assistant Professor Huiyuan Guo, who specializes in analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry and biochemistry and serves as Sanders’ advisor.

“Once I joined her lab and started doing research in that area, I realized that was absolutely what I wanted to do,” Sanders says.

Guo says she has been fortunate to work with Sanders. Guo describes them as motivated, passionate and inspiring. She admires Sanders’ growth over time, and their ability to overcome challenges.

Guo also hopes Sanders’ story can provide a model for future students.

“Most students think this is a very competitive award,” she says, “and they may be intimidated to try it. So, I think it is very encouraging for students at Binghamton University, whether that is a senior or graduate student, to see the example. Sage really sets a good example for them.”

Ahmed, who attended the University of Rochester as an undergraduate, says the award gives him the ability to pursue research with greater focus.

“I love teaching,” he says, “but the research is really what I’m here for.”

Ahmed says Assistant Professor John Swierk has been a huge influence. Swierk’s style as an advisor is personalized to each student. He’s more hands-on with Ahmed’s labmates who require that attention and takes a step back with Ahmed and his peers who prefer more distance.

“We, as grad students, can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to put out work. That may be because academia, historically, has been about just publishing. Publish, publish, publish; that’s all you need to do,” Ahmed says. “Although John wants us to publish, he understands that we’re also people and we’ll get our tasks done as soon as we can. He’s just supportive. That’s the big word that I can use to describe him.”

Behunin attended the University of Wyoming as an undergraduate. She chose Binghamton for graduate school because she believed Assistant Professor Laure Spake would be the best fit for her out of the potential advisors she researched.

The Binghamton area is different in many ways than where she grew up, Behunin says.

“Wyoming is a very rural place. So, the sort of suburban sprawl is new for me to navigate. Things just also work a little bit differently here,” she says. “The rhythm of going to the doctor or finding an apartment; all of those things are very different in Binghamton than they were in my college town before this.”

Behunin says her advisor and other graduate students helped her succeed with the GRFP application.

“Part of the reason I moved across the country for grad school was to find people interested in the same questions I am,” she says. “The people in Binghamton’s Anthropology Department are not only asking the same questions I am; they’re teaching me how to answer them.”