Myhrvold '11, Ousterhout '11 win Hertz

The award is regarded as the most prestigious fellowship in the applied sciences and provides funding for up to five years of doctoral study. Only 15 awards are given each year.

The field of applicants numbered over 500 nationwide this year and included both graduate students and A.B. students planning to pursue a Ph.D. program in an eligible field.

Myhrvold is a senior in the molecular biology department and is earning a certificate in quantitative and computational biology.

“I’m particularly interested in synthetic biology, signaling and the origins of life” Myhrvold said in an email. “The Hertz fellowship will give me independence and flexibility in choosing what projects I will work on. I’m interested in Harvard Systems Biology and MIT Biology (still deciding between the two). I’m not entirely sure what I will be working on yet, but probably relating to signaling, synthetic biology or the origins of life.”

Ousterhout, a computer science major, said in an email that she would likely study distributed systems and networking in the future.

“Today’s services (e.g., Gmail, Facebook, Twitter) typically operate on hundreds of thousands of servers, often in geographically diverse locations,” she explained. “Managing the systems and networking infrastructure that holds these systems together is a challenging problem, and developing new solutions can have broad impact.”

“I was shocked but thrilled when I read the acceptance email,” Ousterhout added. “The last interview was extremely challenging and I left feeling pretty defeated, so it was hugely exciting and an honor to hear I had gotten it.”

Both students said that the Hertz Fellowship will not only directly fund their research in these areas, but also facilitate greater creativity.

“The Hertz Fellowship will allow me much more freedom in choosing an adviser in graduate school, since it covers five years of funding,” Ousterhout said. “It will also provide me with more freedom in deciding what I want to research, since I won’t be tied to the research of a particular grant my adviser is using to fund me.”

Both recipients noted how both Deirdre Moloney, the director of fellowship advising, and their personal faculty advisors were especially helpful in the early stages of the application.

The application process requires four brief essays, two longer ones and four letters of recommendation, as well as two interviews in the next stage of selection.

“Each interview was with two Hertz Fellows and lasted for about an hour, during which I was asked about my goals for graduate school, previous research and a wide variety of other technical subjects,” Ousterhout said.

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“The application form asks lots of open-ended questions and then the interviews really put you on the spot,” Myhrvold said. “The interviewers keep asking tougher and tougher questions, and really make you think about the big questions in your field and in other fields. My adviser helped by writing me a letter of recommendation, and giving me advice, feedback and encouragement throughout the process.”

Both recipients expressed a surprise tempered with relief now that the drawn-out, intensely competitive process has come to a close with such favorable results.

“I’m thrilled, and really excited,” Myhrvold said.