The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Graduate Research Fellowships to five students and recent graduates from UT San Antonio.
The students and alumni selected are Leah Alvarado ’26, Emily Holder ’25, Dylan Moran ’25, Theodore Pabst ’26 and Jacob Pike ’26. Alvarado, Moran and Pike are UT San Antonio Honors College students.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions in the United States.
The fellowships from the federal agency provide valuable support as the students advance their graduate research education.
Leah Alvarado
Alvarado graduated from UT San Antonio this spring with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. She worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Advanced Biophotonics and Nanotechnology Laboratory led by Professor Jing Yong Ye. Alvarado will be entering a PhD program in biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Emily Holder
Holder, who was a 2025 Goldwater scholar, earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in Fall 2025. Since then, she has been working as a research assistant with Associate Professor Lindsey Macpherson. In the fall, she will attend UT Southwestern for a PhD program in neuroscience.
Dylan Moran
Moran, who was also a 2025 Goldwater scholar, graduated from UT San Antonio with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He worked as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Professor Oleg Larionov. Moran is currently studying organic chemistry in a PhD program at the University of California, Berkeley.
Theodore Pabst
Pabst, who worked as an undergraduate research intern in the lab of Assistant Professor Christopher Rathbone, earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering this spring. Pabst will be continuing his research career as a PhD student at the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Jacob Pike
Pike earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry this spring. He spent time at UT San Antonio working as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of Professor John C.-G. Zhao and will be entering a PhD program in organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This year, the agency selected 2,597 students nationwide for the highly competitive award. The fellowships provide students with a three-year annual stipend of $37,000, an education allowance of $16,000 and access to opportunities for professional development.
The NSF also presented honorable mention awards to four UT San Antonio students and alumni: Lauren Malesky ’24, Carolina Gonzalez ’25, Diego Cabello ’25 and Briaunna Zamarripa ’25.
In all, 87 UT San Antonio students have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowship awards.
Students and recent graduates who are interested in applying for the NSF award should contact the UTSA Office of Nationally Competitive Awards, which helps students from across the university prepare and apply for dozens of national awards and scholarships that help fund study abroad, research, service learning and graduate education. First-year graduate students can also reach out to The Graduate School, which runs the Graduate School Fellowship Incentive Program.
