Industrial and systems doctoral student earns competitive STEM fellowship

Published: Jun 16, 2020 2:48 PM

By Cassie Montgomery

Auburn University doctoral student Ashley Yarbrough has been awarded a fellowship from the Graduate Fellowships for STEM Diversity (GFSD), a partnership between government agencies and laboratories, industry and higher education. With one of the most diverse applicant pools of any national STEM fellowship program, the organization aims to “increase the number of American citizens with graduate degrees in STEM fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool.”

As part of her fellowship, Yarbrough, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in collaboration with associate professor Gregory Harris in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will be working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate the role of information in advanced manufacturing as industry moves toward Industry 4.0 technologies. She will be researching information flows within advanced manufacturing operations, identifying and developing best practices for manufacturing information systems.

“I am very honored to receive this highly competitive fellowship, and I look forward to assisting NIST in efforts to improve the productivity of the U.S. industrial base,” she said.

NIST is one of five GFSD employer-partners, joining the National Security Agency, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Sandia National Laboratory, in supporting the advancement of women and underrepresented minorities pursuing doctorate degrees in STEM fields.

Media Contact: Cassie Montgomery, cmontgomery@auburn.edu, 334.844.3668

Recent Headlines