Senior undergraduate student Shannon Dulz was recently awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. These competitive fellowships fund graduate student research and recipients represent a wide range of disciplines.

Dulz’s research centers on exoplanet systems and their properties.

“Exoplanets or extrasolar planets are planets not in our solar system,” said Dulz, a Kirkwood, Missouri native. “By gathering information on the types of systems in the universe we can build our understanding on how these systems formed and what they are like. Ultimately that helps us to understand how our own solar system formed, too.”

In order to receive the funding, Dulz had to write a “Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Statement” as well as a “Graduate Research Plan Statement.”

A double major in physics and mathematics, Dulz will graduate in May 2017. She will be joining the Physics Ph.D. program at the University of Notre Dame in the fall.