Southern Miss Students, Alumni Earn National Science Foundation Funding, Recognition

Mon, 07/07/2025 - 10:23am | By: Dr. David Tisdale

Two graduate students and two alumni from The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) have received funding and recognition for their research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through its highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).

The prestigious NSF GRFP provides students with an annual stipend of $37,000 for three years and $16,000 for tuition and fees, following a competitive application process. Students may apply as seniors, first-year graduate students, or second-year graduate students.

The competition for the fellowship was particularly intense this year, with only 1,000 recipients, a significant decrease from the more than 2,000 awarded last year.

“This award is a major honor that makes many new opportunities available for each awardee,” said Mary Beard, Southern Miss’s Director for Nationally Competitive Programs and Awards. “Students must show they have the potential to advance knowledge and benefit society through their research in STEM, and that’s a tall order. I applaud our awardees and honorable mention recipients.” 

Award recipients and their research initiatives include:

Kayla McCulloch, Geosciences-Marine Biology: McCulloch is a first-year biological sciences Ph.D. student at Southern Miss. The Punta Gorda, Fla., native earned an undergraduate degree in marine biology and ecology from the University of Miami.

McCulloch said earning the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship “is an incredible honor,” allowing her to focus on research full-time, the flexibility to pursue fieldwork opportunities, collaborate with international partners, and strengthen her lab skills.

At Southern Miss, McCulloch works under the advisement of Dr. Nicole Phillips, whose extensive experience with sharks, rays, and environmental DNA (eDNA) has been instrumental in shaping the direction and depth of McCulloch’s research, which focuses on developing novel eDNA tools to assess the occurrence and status of critically endangered rhino rays, including the clown Wedgefish in Indonesia, the false shark ray in Mauritania, and sawfish in Guinea-Bissau. By detecting trace amounts of DNA in water samples, McCulloch aims to map their contemporary ranges and identify key habitat preferences - critical information that can guide conservation strategies for these elusive and highly threatened species.

“Ultimately, this [NSF] fellowship supports my scientific growth and long-term goal of contributing to global marine conservation efforts,” she said.

Zoe Gunter, Materials Research-Polymers: Gunter was a student in the Southern Miss Honors program as an undergraduate and is a proud graduate of the Hattiesburg Public School District. Being an NSF GRFP recipient, she said, is “an astonishing opportunity” and she is grateful to be awarded such a prestigious fellowship.

“Among the thousands of students that applied this cycle, I was one of the lucky few to receive an award, and I hope to honor this achievement by working diligently to become a scientist who makes advancements in my field for the betterment of not only the scientific community, but the world,” she said.

Gunter’s current research involves developing a novel post-processing method to improve the interlayer adhesion of materials created using conventional material extrusion 3D printing. She says the award will allow her to continue developing current and future projects, and for funding that would have originally been used for her stipend to be allocated to other projects or graduate students.

Gunter also expressed gratitude to her Southern Miss undergraduate and graduate school faculty mentors, including Dr. Zhe Qiang, Dr. Heather Broadhead, and Dr. Monica Tisack, as well as to family, friends, and her boyfriend. “Without their support, I would not be where I am today,” she said.

NSF GRFP Honorable Mentions

Alycia Johnson, a doctoral student in the University of Rochester Department of Biology, and Andrew “Drew” Rowell, a May 2025 Southern Miss graduate with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry (chemical catalysis).

A native of Ocean Springs, Miss., Johnson graduated from Southern Miss in 2023, and said her time at the university “made me into the person I am today. “I worked in Dr. Kaitlin Baudier’s lab on thermal physiology of paper wasps, which I continued to do in my graduate studies,” Johnson said.

“She (Dr. Baudier) is the kindest person I know, and I still look to her for advice.” Johnson also studied in Puerto Rico while at Southern Miss as a research assistant working with Dr. Don Yee, saying “without that experience, I never would’ve published my first paper or gained the skills I needed to succeed [in my field].”

For Johnson, earning an NSF GRFP honorable mention is a major accomplishment, further noting, “I hope it opens new doors for me by showing my capabilities as a grant writer and researcher.”

A native of Mobile, Ala., Rowell grew up in the town of Flora, located just outside Jackson, Miss. His current research is on the synthesis of Multisubstituted Pyrroles from N-Sulfonyl Enamines. The pyrrole is a five-membered nitrogen-containing heterocycle found in many FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, such as Lipitor (a statin) and Ketorolac (an NSAID). Rowell’s research aims to provide synthetic chemists with a roadmap to access different substitution patterns of the pyrrole in ambient conditions from commercially available starting materials. The research was supported over this past summer by the MS INBRE, and Rowell has given presentations at Rice University's GCURS, the ACS National Conference in Denver, SERMACS, SURC, and the Southern Miss Undergraduate Research Symposium, among others. After completing his graduate studies at Southern Miss, he plans to attend Colorado State University to pursue a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry.

Rowell said his decision to pursue study in his current field was sparked by Dr. Douglas Masterson's freshman seminar course, where Rowell was encouraged to begin early as a researcher. He completed the ACS-certified chemistry degree in just two years, making participation in laboratory research early on essential to be competitive for graduate school. Rowell also took Dr. Matthew Donahue's organic chemistry course that same semester, where he quickly realized he had an aptitude for organic chemistry, achieving the top score in the ACS Organic I and Organic II standardized exams. Rowell eventually approached Donahue about working in his lab and has been a member of the Donahue Research Group since November 2023.

The following semester, encouraged by Donahue, Rowell enrolled in Dr. Julie Pigza's Spectral Elucidation course, where he developed the ability to be a proficient organic researcher by being able to determine the structure of reaction products. He also gained critical laboratory skills from Tina Masterson, necessary for him to take his research to the next level.

Rowell also points to his mother, a retired high school band director who came out of retirement to pick up a job to help him with his expenses and make his journey possible.  “She not only supported me financially but also continued pushing me to be the best student I could be,” he said. “I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now without her.”