ESED Spotlight

Catherine McGough

Catherine McGough, a graduate student in engineering and science education who is working with Dr. Lisa Benson, has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRF). The NSF GRF program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions. For the 2016 competition, NSF received close to 17,000 applications and made 2,000 award offers. Catherine was awarded a NSF GRF for her proposal titled, “How Do Engineering Students’ Perceptions of the Future Affect Their Problem Solving Processes?” Catherine’s research seeks to identify how undergraduate engineering students’ future time perspectives and cognitive processes during problem solving, especially when working on ill-defined problems, are related.

"I am very honored to have been selected as a National Science Foundation grant recipient,” McGough said. “I am grateful for this opportunity, and for all of the support the Department of Engineering and Science Education has given me. Thanks to the NSF and the amazing ESED staff and faculty, I have the opportunity to further my professional aspirations in engineering education. I hope that through my work the field of engineering and science education will continue to grow and have a positive impact on the quality of education we can provide."