June 10, 2016

Congratulations to our 2016 Fellowships Office Award Recipients! 

2016 Fellowships Graduation Award:

Ivy Koberlein (BS Biomedical Engineering '16, Honors)

During her time at Drexel, Ivy Koberlein has distinguished herself not only through her academic achievements, but also her sincere passion for engineering solutions to improve the lives of people worldwide.  

She has demonstrated resilience and resourcefulness in the pursuit of her goals – in addition to co-ops at Merck and Teleflex, Ivy completed internships with the Implant Research Center, and was an active member of Drexel’s Engineers without Borders and Student Global Advisory Board. She has put in the hard work of competitive applications - receiving a Whitaker Undergraduate Scholarship to work as an engineer with Power Up Gambia.

Even when results were disappointing, she was able to see the bigger picture and found value in the application process – which helped her dig deep to truly consider fundamental questions, like “Who am I? Why am I this person? And who do I want to be?”
 
Along the way, Ivy has been generous in lending support to others – in her department, through extracurricular activities, and as a Fellowships Ambassador with our office. Despite her full schedule of courses, labs, and engagement, she has consistently made time to reach out, offer advice, and encourage other students to pursue their ambition through fellowships. The Fellowships Office feels privileged to have had the opportunity to work closely with Ivy as an applicant and peer mentor.

Ivy recently completed a senior design project designing a Drop Foot Brace for use in developing countries and will soon be starting a position as a New Product Development Engineer with Terumo Medical Corporation. We are incredibly happy for her. For her advocacy of all aspects of fellowships culture, we celebrate her with our Fellowships Graduation Award.

2016 Fellowships Faculty Mentor:

Dr. Caroline Schauer, Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

The Fellowships Faculty Mentor Award recognizes the efforts and critical role of a faculty member who consistently goes the extra mile to cultivate, prepare, and guide students in their applications to nationally-competitive fellowships. Through her role as a graduate advisor and associate professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering, as well as her active outreach and involvement in student research and fellowships, Dr. Caroline Schauer shows a sincere and active interest in supporting student achievement and helping foster a broader culture of fellowships at Drexel.

In addition to mentoring students in her Natural Polymers and Photonics Research Group, Dr. Schauer also participates actively in campus-wide activities that directly and indirectly support the broader cause of fellowships: campus evaluation committees, faculty panels, outreach events, and career development and mentoring activities.  She not only encourages students to apply for fellowship opportunities, but provides crucial feedback and support to help applicants persist through to the end of the process. As a result, students she’s advised have gone on to win some of the most prestigious awards we work with, including the Goldwater Scholarship, Fulbright Student Grants, NDSEG and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.

Over the past eight years, Dr. Schauer has reviewed dozens of internal applications and served on evaluation panels and awards committees for a variety of graduate and undergraduate awards. She believes that applying for – and receiving – fellowships is an important aspect of professional development. And she sees faculty as playing a crucial role in the review process – helping students understand “what does or doesn’t resonate with reviewers” so they can benefit from new and different perspectives on their work. We agree.

For these contributions and her consistent commitment to the encouragement, mentorship, and support of fellowships applicants, we are delighted to present Dr. Schauer with our 2016 Faculty Mentor Award.