Raleigh Linville, second-year PhD candidate at INBT and the Biomedical Engineering Department, is one of 2,000 awardees of the 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The GRFP supports graduate research training and provides recipients three years of financial support, which includes a $34,000 annual stipend and a $12,000 education allowance.

Linville’s research focuses on tissue engineering models of the human blood-brain barrier. He integrates microvascular tissue engineering techniques and stem cell technology to create models of human brain microvessels. He is interested in collaborating with clinicians to improve drug delivery techniques for treating central nervous system diseases.

The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports STEM graduate students that show outstanding performance in their field. It is one of the oldest fellowships established by the NSF and is an extremely competitive award with well-over 10,000 applications received every year.

“I am incredibly grateful to be a recipient of the GRFP and I would like to thank Michele Schaefer at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Joe Tien at Boston University, and Peter Searson at Johns Hopkins University. Their mentorship and training prepared me with the skills and experiences I need to tackle biological challenges from an engineer’s perspective,” said Linville.