We would like to congratulate Connor Bain for receiving the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The NSF awarded the GRF to 2,000 individuals from among 16,500 applicants in 2015. The GRF provides three years of financial support within a five-year fellowship period ($34,000 annual stipend and $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate institution) for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in science or engineering. Update April 17, 2015, Connor Bain also wins USC Sullivan Award:

The University of South Carolina presented its top honors, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan and Steven N. Swanger awards, to four graduating seniors during the university’s annual Awards Day ceremony Thursday (April 16). Connor Patrick Bain, Adam Michael Mayer and Lindsay Nicole Richardson received Sullivan awards, the university’s highest honor for undergraduates. Sullivan awards are given each year to seniors for outstanding achievements, campus leadership, exemplary character and service to the community. The award, given at colleges and universities across the country, is named for the 19th-century New York lawyer and philanthropist. Bain of Columbia has maintained a 4.0 GPA while working toward dual degrees in computer science and mathematics. He is a Carolina Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a Goldwater Scholar in 2014, a Magellan Scholar and a Udall Scholar honorable mention in 2013. At Carolina, he is the co-founder and director of Carolina Science Outreach, interns with Sustainable Carolina and the Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs and he volunteers with Gamecock Connection. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honorary society and Upsilon Pi Epsilon computing honor society. This year, he is developing an iPad app for Cocky’s Reading Express. Bain was a summer research assistant for computer science at both Harvard University and Duke University, a teaching assistant for the Duke Talent Identification Program and a writer for the Association of Computing Machinery. He has been a member of UofSC’s percussion ensemble for four years, and during his junior year he was a percussionist with the USC Opera Pit Orchestra and a member of the USC Symphony. Connor we are extremely proud of your accomplishments.