U of S Students Achieve an 80% Success Rate in the 2010 NSERC PGS Competition

Thirty-six University of Saskatchewan (U of S) students have been awarded NSERC scholarships for graduate studies at the masters and doctorate levels. The total funding amount awarded to these students exceeds $1,088,400.00 and represents an 80% applicant success rate, a significant increase over previous years.

There are 14 NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS) awardees and 20 Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) awardees. In addition, two U of S students were awarded a prestigious Julie Payette-NSERC Research Scholarship. This scholarship was named in honour of Canadian Astronaut Julie Payette and is bestowed to 24 most outstanding PGS master student applicants from across Canada, as determined by NSERC's selection committee. Biology student Lauren Bortolotti and chemistry student Michael Gaultois will each receive $25,000 for one year.

Although the award winners come from a cross-section of disciplines across campus, it is noteworthy that four students under the supervision of Professor Alexander Moews, a Canada Research Chair in Physics and Engineering Physics, all received PGS doctoral scholarships. The success of the Beamteam Research Group speaks to the top-notch students currently being trained at the U of S and bodes well for future undergraduates seeking graduate programs with a future.