Michael Foley has been selected to receive a 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. The fellowship provides a five-year stipend for Foley to attend graduate school. He will pursue a PhD in astrophysics at Harvard University. At Notre Dame, he is a senior physics (astrophysics concentration) and math major and a Glynn Family Honors Program minor. He has been mentored by Profs. Peter Garnavich, Grant Mathews, Justin Crepp. He has also been active in research collaborations with people outside of Notre Dame, including Daniel Scolnic (University of Chicago), Richard Kessler (University of Chicago), Ryan Foley (UC Santa Cruz), and Joshua Tan (Chile). Foley is also the recipient of a 2017-18 Goldwater Scholarship, and in January 2017 he received the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award medal for his presentation at the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
Selection for the NSF GRFP fellowship is based on demonstrated potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. It is a significant accomplishment.
Two other Notre Dame physics graduates were also recognized in this year’s GRFP selection process. Daniel Barabasi, class of 2017, received an Honorable mention. He will be joining Harvard’s Biophysics PhD program this summer. Tesia Janicki, class of 2016, received a GRFP fellowship. She is pursuing her PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.