Physics student gets NSF fellowship

Katelyn Goetz

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded physics graduate student Katelyn Goetz (’11) one of its prestigious summer travel fellowships.

Originally from West Des Moines, Iowa, Goetz studies organic semiconductors and plastic-based flexible electronics in the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials with assistant professor of physics Oana Jurchescu. The NSF fellowship will enable her to grow crystals using new materials and methods in the lab of research collaborator Christian Kloc at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“Because of Dr. Kloc’s expertise in the field of organic electronics, I am most looking forward to being a part of his lab group for a few months,” said Goetz. “I also am looking forward to experiencing a new culture. In the past few weeks several people have told me they’ve lived or worked in Singapore before, and all of their experiences make me very excited.”

Her growing to do list includes trying new foods at the hawker stands, going to see the country’s signature Merlion statue, and traveling around Southeast Asia.

Jurchescu, who has mentored Goetz in both her undergraduate and graduate studies, recently told Wake Forest Magazine, “There’s no greater reward than to see them growing from curious students into independent researchers.”

Read more about the close mentoring relationship between Jurchescu and Goetz in Wake Forest Magazine.

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