Hope College senior Katherine Drake of Rochester Hills has received a Graduate Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

          The highly-competitive fellowships are awarded to
  students pursuing doctorates in the sciences, and Drake
  received one of 766 awarded nationwide.  The fellowships pay
  tuition and fees of up to $9,500 and a stipend of $15,000
  each year for three years.
          Also receiving one of the fellowships was 1997
  Hope graduate Laura Listenberger, a chemistry major with a
  biochemistry emphasis currently doing graduate work at
  Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.  In addition, two
  Hope seniors received "Honorable Mentions" from the
  fellowship program:  Elayne Provost, a biology major from
  Allen Park, and Mike Van Opstall, a mathematics major from
  Hudsonville.
          Several graduating Hope seniors have received the
  fellowships through the years.  Those honored in the current
  decade include Joshua Levy in 1997, Rychard Bouwens in 1994,
  James Loats in 1991 and Thomas Prins in 1990.
          Drake is a chemistry, mathematics and physics
  triple major at Hope.
          Her primary academic and research interest is in
  the blending of chemistry and physics.  She has been working
  with other researchers in nuclear chemistry/nuclear physics
  at Hope since her freshman year.  She has conducted research
  on parallel plate avalanche counters at the National
  Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, in a collaboration
  between Hope College and Michigan State University.
          In February, Drake was named to the 1998 All-USA
  College Academic Team by "USA TODAY."  Drake, who was named
  to the publication's "Second Team," was one of only 115
  college and university students nationwide included in the
  listing, which named 20 students each to First, Second or
  Third teams, and 55 Honorable Mentions.  Those recognized
  were listed in the newspaper's Friday, Feb. 13, 1998, issue.
          In the early spring of 1997, she received a
  Goldwater Scholarship for the 1997-98 academic year, one of
  only 11 students native to Michigan and 282 nationwide to
  receive one.  In April of 1997, she was one of only 40
  students from around the nation to participate in a Council
  on Undergraduate Research (CUR) poster session research
  presentation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
          Recognition for her work has also included the
  college's freshman chemistry and physics awards, the John H.
  Kleinheksel Mathematics Award and the Junior Chemistry
  Journal Award.  She is a member of the college's chapter of Mortar
Board, as well as the campus mathematics and physics honorary
  societies.
          She is the daughter of Michael and Ann Drake of
  Rochester Hills.  She is a 1994 graduate of Rochester High
  School.