The University of Notre Dame’s Naughton Fellowship program has announced 22 student awardees in its 2025-2026 cohort.

Funded by a gift from the Naughton Family in 2008, the Naughton Fellowships foster leadership through international partnerships and stimulate collaborative research efforts. Fellows from Ireland have the opportunity to study and conduct research at the University of Notre Dame, while awardees from Notre Dame complete their fellowships at one of Ireland’s leading research universities.

This year’s student awardees once again represent the best and brightest from Notre Dame and the Irish partner universities. Speaking about the student awardees, Brian Baker, the Coleman Professor of Life Sciences at Notre Dame and Chair of the Naughton Fellowship Committee said, “Every year we see some of the brightest minds apply for our summer undergraduate and masters programs - and this year is no different. With wide-ranging interests and backgrounds, I am confident that our students will have impactful research experiences that inform them as they move forward with their advanced studies and future careers. We remain grateful to the Naughton Family for their generous support of these enriching international research experiences.”

The awardees represent the University of Notre Dame, Dublin City University, Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, University College Dublin, and the University of Galway.

Masters Students

Matthew Egan, a Notre Dame mechanical engineering student, will complete a master’s in energy science at Trinity College Dublin.

Pailyn Groene, a mechanical engineering major at Notre Dame, will attend Trinity College Dublin and complete a master’s in biomedical engineering.

Benjamin Hogan, a graduate of University College Dublin’s mechanical engineering bachelor’s and master’s programs, will complete a master's degree in the Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master's Program (ESTEEM) at Notre Dame.

Diana Hrisovescu, a computer science and business entrepreneurship student at Trinity College Dublin, will complete a master's degree in the Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master's Program (ESTEEM) at Notre Dame.

David Kavanagh, business economics and social studies graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a diploma in leadership, management, and defense studies from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, who also served in the Irish Defence Forces, will attend Notre Dame and complete a master's degree in the Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master's Program (ESTEEM) at Notre Dame.

Mark Kelly, a Dublin City University biotechnology graduate, will attend Notre Dame and complete a master's degree in the Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master's Program (ESTEEM) at Notre Dame.

Caroline Long, a Notre Dame civil engineering major with a concentration in structures, will complete a master’s degree at Trinity College Dublin in structural and geotechnical engineering.

Bennett Schmitt, a double major in environmental sciences and applied and computational mathematics and statistics at Notre Dame, will pursue a master’s in smart and sustainable cities at Trinity College Dublin. Schmitt is also this year’s Notre Dame salutatorian - the first Naughton Fellow to hold this honor.

Undergraduate Students

Baraa Khaled AlQawlaq, a University College Dublin mechanical engineering student, will complete research on manufacturing automation and controls at the University of Notre Dame.

Natalia Araujo do Carmo, a Notre Dame biology student, will complete her summer undergraduate research at the University of Galway in computational neuroscience.

Rachel Berwick, an environmental science and engineering student at Trinity College Dublin, will complete a research project entitled “Fire in the Arctic” at the University of Notre Dame.

Bryan Chan, a chemical physics student at University College Cork, will research the electrochemical sensing of drinking water at the University of Notre Dame.

Faith Groody, an environmental sciences major at Notre Dame, will complete research in the Applied Ecology Unit at the University of Galway’s Centre for Environmental Science.

Catherine Judson, a Notre Dame mechanical engineering student, will complete a structural health monitoring research project entitled “Bridge Twins” at University College Dublin for the summer.

Solbee Kang, an electrical engineering student at Notre Dame, will spend the summer at University College Cork completing research on surgical navigation using magnetic tracking technology for image-guided interventions.

Simran Khatri, a pharmacology student at University College Dublin, will complete research on the “development of electrochemical biosensors for continuous drug detection in 3D cell culture” at the University of Notre Dame.

Evan Lloyd, a mechanical engineering student at Notre Dame, will research soft tissue biomechanics at the University of Galway.

Luke Mulvaney, an immunology student at Trinity College Dublin, will undertake a project entitled “Exploring the role of fibroblasts in primary brain cancers” at the University of Notre Dame.

Méabh O’Grady, a physics student with a climate physics focus at the University of Galway, will research 2D, or van der Waals (vdW), materials at the University of Notre Dame.

Carter Powers, a Notre Dame environmental engineering student, will join the “Building in a Climate Emergency Research Group” at University College Dublin.

Grace Speicher, an environmental sciences student at Notre Dame, will work on a research project on “Geospatial mapping of sand volumes of a nature-based coastal protection feature, Booterstown, Dublin Bay” at Trinity College Dublin.

Robert Urquhart, a biomedical engineering student at the University of Galway, will undertake a research project entitled "modular, multi legged locomotion for robust locomotion” at the University of Notre Dame.

The 2025 awardees for the Naughton Fellowship Faculty Research Accelerator will be announced later this year. All applications for the 2026-2027 period, including undergraduate, masters, and faculty fellowships, will open for submissions in the fall of 2025. To learn more, please visit naughton.nd.edu.

Originally published by Joanne Fahey at naughton.nd.edu on May 14, 2025.