Aerospace Engineering Student Wins NDSEG Fellowship

Aerospace Engineering senior Patrick Washington was selected for a National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. The NDSEG Fellowship is part of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) commitment to increasing the number and quality of our nation's scientists and engineers.

The DoD awarded only 150 NDSEG Fellowships nationwide for 2017.

Washington is part of the Aerospace Engineering Honors Program, and has been pursuing undergraduate research during his time at Maryland. He has been focused on the area of soft robotics, and worked in both the Collective Dynamics and Control Laboratory with Professor Derek Paley and the Composites Research Laboratory with Department Chair and Minta Martin Professor of Aerospace Engineering Norman Wereley.

Next year, Washington will attend Stanford University to pursue his Ph.D. in Autonomous Systems and Controls in their Aeronautics & Astronautics Department.

“The NDSEG Fellowship will help me work toward this goal by giving me the freedom to focus on projects that interest me instead of searching for funding,” Washington said.

Outside of academics, he has served as the secretary of the UMD student chapter of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Vice President of Sigma Gamma Tau, the aerospace engineering honor society.

NDSEG Fellowships are highly competitive, portable awards granted to U.S. citizens and nationals who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in one of fifteen supported disciplines, including aerospace and aeronautical engineering.

The NDSEG confers high honors upon its recipients, and allows them to attend whichever U.S. institution they choose. NDSEG Fellowships last for three years and pay for full tuition and all mandatory fees along with a monthly stipend and medical insurance support.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded nearly 3,400 NDSEG fellowships since the program began in 1989.

Published April 21, 2017