Civil Engineering Doctoral Student Awarded Department of Defense Fellowship

Civil and environmental engineering doctoral student Andrea Thorstensen has been awarded a 2013 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. Sponsored by the Department of Defense, the competitive fellowship covers Thorstensen’s tuition and provides an annual stipend for three years.

Thorstensen’s research involves using data assimilation techniques on soil moisture information captured by satellites. She intends to use a high resolution hydrologic model to provide a soil moisture profile, which could have applications for agriculture, flood forecasting and ground-based military operations.

“I am truly honored to receive this fellowship,” says Thorstensen, who works under the guidance of UCI Distinguished Professor Soroosh Sorooshian in the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing. “The support from the DOD means I am able to pursue the research activities that I find most interesting.”

Thorstensen was among 200 fellowship recipients chosen from more than 3,000 applications.