Graduate Student Adriana Zayia Awarded Prestigious NDSEG Fellowship

May 5, 2026

Adriana Zayia, a first-year graduate student in the University of Florida Department of Chemistry, has been awarded the prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, a highly competitive honor recognizing outstanding achievement and potential in science and engineering. Since joining the department in Fall 2025, she has conducted her Ph.D. research in the laboratory of Professor Kaibo Feng. Selected from a national pool of applicants, Adriana will receive three years of support to pursue doctoral research in areas critical to national defense. Her work focuses on developing synthetic methods to access pi-extended aromatic motifs, whose synthesis is often complex and costly. The ultimate goal of her research is to reduce manufacturing costs for organic photovoltaics containing fused rings and accelerate the commercialization of such materials. Following the completion of her Ph.D., Adriana plans to pursue an independent academic career.

The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship is part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s broader effort to strengthen the nation’s science and engineering workforce. Administered through its research and engineering offices and military branches, the NDSEG Fellowship supports U.S. citizens pursuing doctoral degrees in fields aligned with defense research priorities. The highly competitive program has awarded more than 4,400 fellowships from over 70,000 applications since its inception, and each year selects only 150 to 350 recipients for three years of support, helping cultivate the next generation of researchers in critical areas of national interest.