Andrea Barrett, a May graduate of the School of Biomedical Engineering (BME), has been awarded a Hertz Fellowship to support her graduate studies. Barrett was one of 15 students selected and the only one from the Southeast to receive the fellowship this year.

During her undergraduate tenure at Georgia Tech, Barrett had received a Goldwater Scholarship and a President’s Scholarship, the highest merit award given at Georgia Tech.  Barrett plans to pursue a Ph.D. in bioinformatics and computational biology. She performed undergraduate research work in labs at Georgia Tech, Harvard Medical School, Osaka University in Japan, and the National Cancer Institute. Her research projects included studying chromosome structure using genomic sequencing techniques and measuring the effects of a potential skin cancer drug. Barrett also helped found the Presidents’ Scholar Mentoring program, played with the Georgia Tech Symphony Orchestra, was vice chair of the Presidents’ Council Governing Board, and was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society.

The Hertz fellowships allow exceptional applied scientists and engineers the freedom to innovate. The awards provide support lasting up to five years for graduate studies and are considered the nation’s most generous Ph.D. fellowships with a value of more than $250,000. The fellowships are supported by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.