Three Carnegie Mellon University students have been awarded prestigious fellowships, highlighting the value of early career research in areas such as civil engineering, public policy and political science.
Those selected for opportunities this year include Engineering and Public Policy(opens in new window) (EPP) and Civil and Environmental Engineering(opens in new window) (CEE) Ph.D. candidate Stacy Godfreey-Igwe; senior Ethics, History and Public Policy(opens in new window) and International Relations and Political Science(opens in new window) major Aleksaundra Handrinos; and CEE Ph.D. candidate Kenedy Sánchez.
“The selection of Aleksaundra, Kenedy and Stacy to their respective fellowships indicates just how impactful Carnegie Mellon students are across research domains, and at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,” said Richelle Bernazzoli, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholar Development(opens in new window). The office assists students with finding and applying for fellowships, scholarships, grants and research programs.
“From international relations and political science to civil and environmental engineering to public policy, this impressive trio of awardees has been making waves in their fields and strengthening the ties between the scholarly and public realms. The fellowships they will now embark on will deepen the ways in which they advance their research areas and translate those advancements into accessible public knowledge and needed policy outcomes,” Bernazzoli said.
Stacy Godfreey-Igwe
Stacy Godfreey-Igwe, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon University’s Engineering and Public Policy and Civil and Environmental Engineering joint doctoral program, has received the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans(opens in new window). This year she is among 30 students selected from a record pool of more than 3,000 applicants nationwide. The P.D. Soros Fellowship supports outstanding immigrants and the children of immigrants pursuing graduate study in the United States. Fellows receive up to $90,000 in financial support over two years.
Raised in Richardson, Texas by Nigerian parents, Godfreey-Igwe said her upbringing as a second-generation Nigerian-American gave her a unique perspective on energy insecurity, which ultimately shaped her research at CMU’s College of Engineering(opens in new window).
“I’ve had my academic journey in what are often described as technically oriented institutions,” Godfreey-Igwe said. “But it’s really neat that at CMU I’m in spaces that bring together people who have these broader questions about how the technologies that we develop, and hope to implement, actually work in society.”
As a Rales Fellow(opens in new window) under the mentorship of adviser Destenie Nock, Godfreey-Igwe researches how extreme heat impacts household energy demand and through P.D. Soros aims to continue work informing more equitable and resilient energy systems.
Aleksaundra Handrinos
Senior Ethics, History & Public Policy and International Relations & Political Science major Aleksaundra Handrinos has been selected for the James C. Gaither Junior Fellows program. The annual award, overseen by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is given to 15 graduating seniors and recent graduates around the country for 10-12 month fellowships.
As an undergraduate within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window), Handrinos has engaged in research nearly every year of her enrollment. She started working as a research assistant in her first year, and would take further opportunities to explore her interests in political science and international relations: conducting research with Associate Professor of the Practice Haleigh Bartos(opens in new window) and Assistant Teaching Professor John Chin(opens in new window) in the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology and helping to publish research on issues such as democratic backsliding.
“The fact that research is such a strong part of being at CMU is something that’s added tremendously to my experience here, taking the skills that I’ve learned in the classroom and applying them more broadly,” she said.
She said all of these experiences set the stage for her to receive the Carnegie Endowment’s fellowship as she graduates in May. The application process is extremely competitive, with several hundred universities and colleges participating, and Handrinos is the second Carnegie Mellon University student to ever receive the award, following Jacob Feldgoise in 2021.
“It’s been a gift to really become ingrained in the CMU community and to feel so well supported by everyone around me,” Handrinos said. “Taking the leap — to show up to that first Pre-Law Society meeting or to walk into office hours of a professor as a first year — might seem a little intimidating, but then you sit down and you start talking and you realize what a wonderful space you’ve entered.”
Kenedy Sánchez
Kenedy Sánchez, a Ph.D. student in CEE, has been awarded the Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellowship(opens in new window) by the American Association for the Advancement of Science(opens in new window) (AAAS). The 10-week program places science, engineering, and mathematics students at newsrooms across America to help communicate complex issues to general audiences.
Originally from Denton, Texas, Sánchez earned an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering at the University of Texas at Austin before coming to Carnegie Mellon. Her dissertational focus is on nanoparticle transport in agricultural systems. “We apply a lot of nutrients and chemicals on agricultural fields to increase crop growth rate and prevent pests from eating our food. But the vast majority, 70%-90% of these agrochemicals end up in the air, water or soil — places that we refer to as non-target areas,” she said.
Agricultural laborers often encounter such chemicals without realizing it. Her own grandmother picked produce as a child, and was affected by them. “She was unknowingly exposed to unsafe agrochemicals like pesticides,” she said. “Pesticides are especially dangerous for pregnant women and children. I want to do something to make these environments safer, to prevent excessive chemical exposure from ever happening.”
Disinterest and distrust often keep the public from getting critical information, and bridging this gap through science communication has always been one of her priorities. While at CMU, she has made time to address issues in agriculture(opens in new window), aquaculture(opens in new window), and urban planning(opens in new window) through advocacy and independent research. Her writing was previously published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette(opens in new window), helping to shed light on local efforts to remediate lead contaminated soil in Allegheny County’s urban farms. Through the AAAS fellowship, she’ll travel to Washington state and research and report critical news stories for Cascadia Daily News from an environmental and engineering perspective.
“Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The institution was originally established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical School. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology and began granting four-year degrees.”
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