Fargo, N.D. – Three students will be attending NDSU as recipients of Graduate Student Research Assistantship Awards from North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR).

Awardees, alma maters and areas of graduate studies at NDSU are: Jesse Martin, Valley City State University, chemistry-biochemistry; Fakira Soumalia Borkovec, Valley City State University, cereal and food sciences; and Thomas Shanandore, NDSU and an ND EPSCoR NATURE participant, civil engineering.

The Graduate Student Research Assistantship program provides North Dakota University System baccalaureate universities and tribal colleges/NATURE program graduates an opportunity to obtain master's or doctoral degrees in science, engineering and mathematics at North Dakota's two research universities, NDSU and University of North Dakota. Award stipend is $18,000 per student annually for two years.

North Dakota EPSCoR is a federally and state funded program designed to improve the ability of university researchers to compete more effectively for federal, regional and private research grants in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. For more information on the Graduate Student Research Assistantship program, visit www.ndepscor.nodak.edu/programs.