June 27th, 2019. I had this date marked in my calendar that applicants to NASA’s 2019 FINESST call (Future Investigator of NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology) may be notified about the program selections. However, after experiencing the extreme disappointment of applying the year before and not being selected, I tried to put the date out of my mind.
This was not hard to do as our Planetary Research group from NC State was visiting the Smithsonian Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) and giving presentations to their research staff. We were graciously hosted by Dr. Bob Craddock. While finishing our lunches and preparing to give our short talks in a conference room, one of my lab mates told me that I should probably check the NSPIRES website, eluding to the fact that I might discover some good news. After anxiously pulling up the website and opening the document that announced the 2019 FINESST selections for Planetary Science, I scrolled down to the list of Future Investigators (this program’s version of a ‘fellow’) and funded projects. I saw my name and project and just about burst into happy tears while the whole room cheered and congratulated me. Being surrounded by my supportive lab group and other planetary scientists who understood what an honor it is to be one of the 29 graduate students selected out of 294 submitted proposals to the Planetary Science Division (that’s a 9.86% selection rate!) made it that much better!
This is probably one of my biggest academic accomplishments to date and will open so many doors for advancing my research and career over the next few years. It will not only provide full funding (tuition, fees and health insurance), but it will also provide funds to attend conferences where I can present my work and network with other scientists. Conference funding would have otherwise come completely out of pocket for me, so this is an opportunity that I would not have without this fellowship.
I am extremely excited to be a 2019 NASA Future Investigator and I can’t wait to share with you all my research and career progress that follows as a result!