Morgantown, W.Va — Undergraduate physics major Samuel Stalnaker has been awarded the highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Beginning in Fall 2026, Stalnaker will attend the University of Maryland College Park, with a research project focused on advancing diagnostic techniques in electric propulsion systems.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for early-career scientists and engineers. The fellowship supports outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated the potential to make significant contributions to research, teaching, and innovation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This year’s recipients were selected from a pool of nearly 14,000 applicants nationwide, representing all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Stalnaker, originally from central California, was selected based on a rigorous review process that evaluates both academic merit and broader impacts. As an NSF Fellow, he will receive three years of financial support, including an annual stipend and a cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees.
During his time as a student, Stalnaker worked closely with Prof. Earl Scime and Prof. Thomas Steinberger in the Center for KINETIC Plasma Physics, an experience that helped shape his research path. “Sam is one of the top three undergrads I have had the pleasure of having in my research group over the last 30 years,” Prof. Scime said. “He is an outstanding and highly productive young scientist.”
In September, Stalnaker was the subject of a campus article on the power of mentorship (“Stronger than a locomotive, mentorship powers student’s krypton research”).
Prof. Steinberger mentored Stalnaker in a variety of capacities: first as a postdoctoral researcher, then as a research assistant professor, and now as an assistant professor. “Sam is nothing short of exceptional. It has been a true pleasure to work with and mentor him,” said Prof. Steinberger. "His NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is a well-deserved recognition of both his accomplishments to date and his tremendous potential moving forward.”
Stalnaker’s proposal focuses on a technique called Quantum Beat Spectroscopy (QBS), which uses lasers to measure magnetic fields. When an atom absorbs a photon – a discrete chunk of light – from a laser beam, an electron in the atom gets excited to a higher energy state. When the higher energy state decays naturally, another photon is emitted by the atom. If the atom is placed in a magnetic field, the higher energy state splits into two or more states. If the laser photons have a spread in energy comparable to the energy splitting of the excited states, it is possible for the electron to go into any of the possible split higher energy states.
Since the actual state of the electron is unknown, it is in a "superposition" of possible higher energy states. When the higher energy state decays to a lower energy state, the emitted photon could have two or more possible energies. These different energy photons interfere with each other and produce a beat pattern, like overlapping sound waves producing a rhythm. The frequency of this beat corresponds to how far apart the energy levels are, and thereby the magnetic field is measured.
Stalnaker proposes to use this method to measure the magnetic fields inside of a plasma rocket engine known as a Hall thruster.
The NSF GRFP was created in 1952 and has since supported over 70,000 graduate research fellows by recognizing academic achievement and emphasizing the importance of outreach, leadership, and service. This recognition places Stalnaker among an elite group of scholars who are shaping the future of scientific discovery and innovation.