[Speaker: Elizabeth Colucci] The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship is one of the most prestigious fellowships in the country for students pursuing a research based master’s or PhD. [Speaker: Andrea Martinez] NSF took me from a second-year master student with an idea of what I kind of wanted to do with my career, to a national lab that was leading the world in what I was working on. [Speaker: Elizabeth Colucci] The fellowship provides students with a stipend of $34,000 and tuition for three years. [Speaker: Elizabeth Thomas] When you're granted the fellowship there are no teaching responsibilities and so that frees up a lot of your time to devote only to research. [Speaker: Andrea Martinez] The unique thing about NSF as a fellowship is it follows you wherever you go. So you're not necessarily attached to a graduate school or a graduate program. [Speaker: Elizabeth Colucci] Our office helps students both through our developmental programs and on an individual basis. Our new emphasis is really trying to work to make sure that graduate students are aware of this award and applying at the earliest opportunity. [Speaker: Elizabeth Thomas] Faculty should really encourage their students to apply for this type of external funding because it opens opportunities both for the students and also for the faculty. [Speaker: Andrea Martinez] When you come to the field attached to NSF there's something that it says about you that you can't say about yourself.