Montana State University (MSU) graduate student Alex Ballow recently received the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.
Ballow, among just 30 national recipients of the program, will be provided with tuition, a yearly stipend and an annual allowance to support academic endeavors as she pursues a master’s and doctorate at MSU, an MSU news release said. The program educates potential leaders in computational science and also helps those pursuing an advanced degree in applied mathematics, statistics or computer science.
“The DOE Computational Sciences Graduate Fellowship program is a true honor for Alex,” Beth Burroughs, head of the MSU Department of Mathematical Sciences, said in the release. “In addition to the funding support it provides, it designates her as one of the top scholars nationwide studying algebra and quantum mechanics. Alex is Montana State’s first fellow in this prestigious program, and we’re very proud that she chose to earn her doctorate with us.”
Ballow graduated last spring with bachelor’s degrees in both mathematics and physics from Youngstown State University (YSU) in Ohio and was also a Goldwater Scholar for YSU in 2020, the release said. She chose to attend MSU because of its reputation in the field of algebraic topology, a field of mathematics that utilizes abstract algebra to “study objects in small sections from very localized viewpoint.”
She said she plans to attend MSU for another four to six years as she completes graduate school with the ultimate goal of becoming a professor.
“I decided I want be a professor so I can continue to learn as my job,” Ballow said in the release. “I can’t think of anything better.”
