Justin Wheeler ’25 awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Justin Wheeler ’25 has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.
This fall, Justin plans to begin his PhD studies in aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. “I was actually accepted to Georgia Tech overnight after winning the GRF,” he says, “Before that, I was fully intent on a different graduate program.” At Georgia Tech, Justin plans to study low-gravity fluid dynamics and propellant management technologies.
Justin’s graduate studies will build on his experiences with Carthage’s Space Sciences Program, which he has been involved with since his first day on campus as a freshman. Coming to Carthage, he knew he wanted to pursue an engineering career in the space industry. “I came to Carthage because of the Space Sciences Program. Through the program, I’ve been able to experience the entire engineering process of designing and building payloads, as well as having flown on four parabolic flights with plans for a suborbital launch. That has been unbelievably special,” he says.
In the last two years, his focus has shifted from the nuts-and-bolts engineering to the science, studying how vibrations of a tank interact with the fluid inside in low-gravity environments. He hopes to continue this focus on the science of low-gravity fluids at Georgia Tech.
Graduate school was not on Justin’s radar until an internship at NASA Glenn Research Center the summer after his sophomore year. He says realized that he “needed the training in ways of thinking about new and novel research questions” that PhD studies naturally entail in order to do the type of engineering work that he saw firsthand at NASA.
However, the path to graduate school was sometimes daunting. “I doubted myself while writing the fellowship proposal, and I didn’t know if I actually had a shot at this fellowship,” he explains, “but winning this fellowship shows me that I have the ability to propose new research ideas that are respected by experts. It has opened my eyes to possibilities like becoming a research scientist or a professor in the future.”
We asked Justin if he had any advice for incoming students at Carthage, and he had this to say: “The best part of Carthage is that there are so many opportunities for a motivated student, and all you have to do is show up. The professors and labs are open for you, and they want you to join. Just show up and show interest: opportunities will present themselves to you. Also, an impactful experience for me was joining the fraternity Delta Upsilon. Having a group of friends just focused on being good friends allowed me to connect with people on a deeper level than shared work or studies allowed.”
If you are interested in graduate school in the natural sciences or engineering, consider attending an upcoming information session on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the associated workshops in the fall. For more information, contact Professor Joseph Anderson.
Sponsoring Department, Office, or Organization:
Physics and Astronomy Department