Blackwood Resident, Drexel Student Chosen as National Science Foundation Fellow

Blackwood resident Brian Dolhansky, a Drexel University electrical and computer engineering student, has been selected for the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Dolhansky, a graduate of Triton Regional High School, is a enrolled in Drexel's bachelor of science and master of science accelerated program.

The NSF fellowship program recognizes outstanding graduate students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the United States.

As an NSF fellow, Dolhansky will receive three years of support, a $30,000 annual stipend, $10,500 cost-of-education allowance to the institution, international research and professional development opportunities, and access to the TeraGrid Supercomputer to utilize for research purposes, according to Drexel.

Dolhansky's current research involves the development of a system that can automatically determine the musical ensemble that produces an input song. His research has applications in personal and commercial media organization, and aims to significantly shorten the time it takes to catalog new and existing songs.

After completing his accelerated degree program, Dolhansky plans to pursue a doctoral degree in machine learning.

Past NSF fellows have made transformative breakthroughs in the science and engineering community. Students selected for this prestigious fellowship are projected to become knowledgeable experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching and innovations in science and engineering.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is the oldest graduate fellowship program in the country that directly supports graduate students in various STEM fields. Founded in 1952, the program has provided more than 46,500 graduate research fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants in 60 years. The fellowships provided to students are aimed at helping to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforce its diversity.