On March 31, 2020, the National Science Foundation (NSF) contacted graduate student Devan Nisson to convey that she is a recipient of a 2020 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.  This program recognizes and supports graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or in STEM education.  The highlighted benefit for graduate students is a five-year fellowship period with three years of financial support.

Nisson received her fellowship in the category of Geosciences - Geobiology.  She is a member of Dr. T. C. Onstott’s Geomicrobiology laboratory located on the B-level of Guyot Hall.  Their mission is to study subsurface microbial life in places such as deep in the mines of North America or South Africa, as well as in the shallow permafrost in Siberia.  Nisson’s research opportunity has considered the origins and habitability of deep subsurface hypersaline brine in South Africa.  Her particular focus is on understanding the extent to which abiotic geochemical processes may influence the metabolic networks of any inhabiting microbial communities.

The department would like to take this time to congratulate Devan Nisson at her time of prestigious recognition.  We look forward to supporting her during this fellowship program and beyond her time at Princeton.