After a college career of working toward sustainability, fourth-year marine science student Riley Brady has been named a winner of the Department of Energy and Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.
Brady is one of only about a dozen students in the U.S. to receive the grant this year. This grant awards graduate students with financial aid, including tuition and an annual allowance of $36,000 for living expenses, for up to four years. The program picks students who plan to pursue graduate study in the fields of science, engineering, computer science or applied mathematics.
Brady is an Honors college student and has received a variety of notable scholarships, including the McNair in 2012, the Magellan in 2014 and the Goldwater in 2015. He has also worked closely under Dr. Ryan Rykaczewski in his climate change lab for the duration of his time at Carolina and completed an internship with the fisheries ecology lab at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Science as a rising sophomore. Brady became invested in sustainability while studying abroad in Bamberg, Germany.
Upon returning to Columbia, Brady became director of education and training for the Green Greeks, a program sponsored by Sustainable Carolina. After graduating from USC, Brady plans to use the grant to study atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He intends to focus his research on Earth's climate and environment and eventually become a professor.
“This June, I'll start working toward becoming a researcher, teacher, and communicator to the public and Congress about climate science," Brady said. "I'm stoked for the opportunity, and am thankful for the DOE grant and support from USC that has made this possible.”
The University of South Carolina’s Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs offers support for grant applicants. For more information about other fellowship and competition opportunities, visit www.sc.edu/ofsp.