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CITY (NewsDakota.com) Two students from Valley City State University Christine Gilbertson, from Valley City, and Jessica Halvorson, from Milnor, have been selected to receive Graduate Student Research Assistant awards through the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program.

The awards recognize the academic achievement of these students and provide significant financial support as they pursue M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in science, engineering, and mathematics at the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.

Statewide, only three other students were selected to receive with these prestigious awards. Christine is graduating this semester with majors in Health Science and Biology Education and minors in Chemistry and Office Management. She plans to conduct her research within the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at NDSU.

Jessica, is graduating Magna Cum Laude with majors in Biology and Health Science and a minor in Music, will be conducting research under Dr. Julie Pasche in the Department of Plant Pathology at NDSU. Jessica was also named the Outstanding Biology Student.

Each student’s award provides an $18,000 per year stipend for up to 24 months. Students who complete the program can be eligible for a ND EPSCOR Doctoral Dissertation Award that provides support to complete their doctoral research upon completion of their course work and written examinations.

Christine and Jessica join six other VCSU graduates from recent years who received EPSCOR awards: Fakira (Soumaila) Borkovec (Rome, Italy), Jesse Martin (Valley City, ND), Jacob Mertes (Omaha, NE), Michael Tomlinson (Rolla), Ryan McCulloch (Valley City), and Steven Fasching (Mandan).