Chemistry alumna, students earn prestigious fellowships

Lydia Skolrood graduated from the University of North Georgia (UNG) nearly four years ago. She still reaps the benefits of the research skills she built as an undergraduate student. This month Skolrood has earned acceptance into the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).

The GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. The five-year fellowship consists of three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.

Skolrood, who earned a chemistry degree in 2018, is a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University. Before grad school, she spent 20 months as a post-bachelor's research intern with the Materials Chemistry Group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She pointed back to faculty like Dr. Royce Dansby-Sparks, now-retired Dr. Jerry Allison, and others in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UNG for their mentorship.

"They encouraged me to go for things I thought were out of my reach," Skolrood said. "Then to achieve it, I feel that I really owe it to them."

Dansby-Sparks wrote a letter of recommendation for Skolrood and was not surprised to see her earn the award.

"She was exceptionally skilled in quantitative analysis," he said. "And she would research statistical methods I didn't know about and tell me about them."

Skolrood is one of multiple students to come through the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry to earn extensive financial backing this spring for their graduate school efforts.

Dahlonega native Gina Diodati has received a five-year annual stipend of $31,000 to pursue a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Florida. Calvin Perdigao, of Lilburn, Georgia, garnered a renewable McNair Fellowship for his chemistry graduate work with Dr. Jack Dunkle at the University of Alabama that will cover about $50,000 between school expenses and a stipend during his first year. Emily Storck, a 2019 UNG graduate with a chemistry degree, was an honorable mention for the GRFP this year.

Our faculty pour themselves into working with undergraduate students in one-on-one faculty-mentored research. This high-impact teaching practice outside the classroom can be life-changing for the students because it engages them and develops skills at the lab bench.

Dr. Lori Wilson

UNG department head of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Dr. Greta Giles and Dr. Megan Foley have mentored Perdigao with his nanoparticle protein research.

"UNG has prepared me more than I could ever imagine," Perdigao said. "The class sizes and the direct relationships with professors, I don't know if I would have been able to have those elements at a larger university."

Dr. Lori Wilson, department head of Chemistry & Biochemistry, is grateful for the common thread of faculty investment in students.

"Our faculty pour themselves into working with undergraduate students in one-on-one faculty-mentored research," Wilson said. "This high-impact teaching practice outside the classroom can be life-changing for the students because it engages them and develops skills at the lab bench."