Eight students from the UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences received the prestigious 2025 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) award. The fellowship is a five-year program that provides full financial support for three years, and it recognizes outstanding students pursuing research in STEM graduate programs.

“Not only do they pursue research in innovative and impactful fields, but they also perform a broad range of mentorship and training efforts aimed at lifting up those around them. When the nation funds these students, they are investing in the hundreds of other people that these students engage with as well.”
– Franklin Dollar, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and professor in the UC Irvine Department of Physics & Astronomy

2025 UC IRVINE NSF GRFP RECIPIENTS

Massee Akbar – Physics & Astronomy

Massee Akbar graduated with his bachelor’s in physics from the UC Irvine Department of Physics & Astronomy this June and is beginning a Ph.D. this fall in the lab of Professor Howard Lee. With NSF support, Akbar is developing next-generation nanophotonic optical fibers—microscopes as thin as a human hair—by 3D-printing patterns onto fiber tips to control light without bulky lenses. The technology could one day make minimally invasive medical imaging possible.

Click here or visit https://heyzine.com/flip-book/2025SoPS#page/1 to read the full article in the 2025 UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences Deans Report.

Author: Gabrielle Comfort