DGP-Sponsored Awards

The Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Training Program in Life Sciences (DGP) will provide a travel grant to all students in years four and beyond. This can be taken as a one-time $1,000 grant or two $500 grants for separate meetings. Eligible students must be first author on the abstract and must be presenting primarily their own work (oral or poster). Students can only receive $1,000 total while at Northwestern. Apply here (PDF).

Note that travel awards for DGP students are also available from The Graduate School, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Center for Genetic Medicine. All students conducting relevant research are eligible for and encouraged to apply to these travel awards regardless of their application for a DGP travel grant.

Driskill Scholar Award

Two students each year will each receive a $750 award to recognize outstanding research achievement. Nominees can be drawn from students currently in their fourth years (PhD), third years (MSTP) and beyond. Students must be active (not yet graduated) on the date of the award. Students are nominated by their faculty advisers.

Recent Driskill Scholar Awards:

• 2023:  Ted Ling Hu and Khyati Meghani
• 2022:  Juan Wang and Jocelynda Salvador
• 2021:  Jay Daniels and Elena Montauti
• 2020:  Colleen Furey and Patrick Woida
• 2019: Madeline Rollins and Christie Sze
• 2018: Virginia Chu and Priscilla Yeung
• 2017: Hannah Gavin and Yuanming Xu
• 2016: Michael Winding and Samuel Weinberg
• 2015: Lauren Albrecht and John Brooks

Driskill Alumni Award

Two recent graduates will each receive a $750 award in recognition of their outstanding research achievements. Nominees can be drawn from students who graduated between March of the previous year and June of the current year. To be nominated, a student must have published at least one first author, highly impactful and influential paper that largely formed the basis of the dissertation. Nominating letters should make reference to any additional commentary (e.g., News & Views) that resulted from the paper. However, commentary is not a requirement. Alumni can be nominated by either their former faculty adviser or by any member of their thesis committee.

Recent Driskill Alumni Awards:

• 2023:  Guangyuan Zhao and Hannah Happ
• 2022:  Triet Bui and Isabella Salamone
• 2021:  Prathana Dalal and Anthony Gacita
• 2020:  Lan Chu and Daniel Levine
• 2019: William Putzbach and Teerawat Wiwatpanit
• 2018: Jonathan Anker and Fei Chen
• 2017: Kaylin McMahon and Douglas Wilcox
• 2016: Benjamin Smith-Goldenson and Kyle O'Hagan
• 2015: Stephanie Rangel and Michael Schieber

Student Service Award

Each year, the DGP awards one student a $500 prize for exceptional service for the benefit of the program and other students.

Recent Student Service Awards:

• 2023:  Annmarie Dominguez
• 2022:  Tanvi Potluri
• 2021:  Ashley Fetterman and Eva Morgun
• 2020:  Tony Copeland-Hardin
• 2019: Daniel Giraldo Perez
• 2018: Tess Pottinger
• 2017: Ashlee Bell-Cohn
• 2016: Megan Wood
• 2015: Lizath Aguiniga

DGP provides a bonus to students who secure funding through an individual fellowship from outside Northwestern. The bonus consists of a one-time payment of 10 percent of the first year's stipend. Eligible awards include, but may not be limited to, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, NIH NRSA awards, American Heart Association fellowship, American Cancer Society fellowships, HHMI International fellowship and other similar individual fellowships.

Fellowship Award Winners 2023-2024

• Nikolay Markov, AHA
• Rosie Bauer, Androgen Excess and PCOS Society
• Dalton Huey, NIH NRSA
• Tzui-Chia, Taiwan PhD Scholarship Program
• Jesus Ortega, NIH NRSA

Fellowship Award Winners, 2022-2023

• Jocelynda Salvador, NIH NRSA
• Lourdes Brea, NIH NRSA
• Jiexi Chen, NIH NRSA
• Cydney Martell, Pharma
• Aishwarya Ramamurthy, American Epilepsy Society
• Kameron Walker, NSF GFRP
• Claire Phoumyvong, NIH NRSA

Fellowship Award Winners, 2021-2022

• Mallory Filipp, NIH NRSA
• Shweta Dipali, NIH NRSA
• Connor Lantz, AHA
• Celeste Rosencrance, NSF GFRP
• Calvin Law, NIH NRSA

Fellowship Award Winners 2020-2021

• Marihan Hegazy, NIH NRSA
• Hannah Mubarak, Saudia Arabian Cultural Mission
• Yara Rodriguez, American Association of University Women
• Ashley Fetterman, NIH NRSA
• Vanessa Hayashi, American Heart Association
• Carly Weddle, NIH NRSA
• Mallory Filipp, NIH NRSA
• Nathan Waldeck, NIH NRSA
• Milagros Pereira Luppi, NIH NRSA

Fellowship Award Winners 2019-2020

• Megan Nas, NIH NRSA
• Maggie Clevenger, NIH NRSA
• Julie Fischer, American Heart Association
• Timothy Kountz, NIH NRSA
• Jennifer Cheng, American Epilepsy Society
• Madeline Rollins, NIH NRSA
• Triet Bui, Department of Defense