Haley Hill, a mechanical engineering student at the University of South Alabama, is SURF’ing at a federal research laboratory this summer in Gaithersburg, Md., outside Washington, DC.

A rising senior, Hill was awarded a prestigious Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). She was chosen from students across the nation to work at one of the world’s leading innovation laboratories, home to four Nobel Prize winners.

Students are nominated for the SURF program by colleges or universities for nine or 11-week fellowships.  Approximately one out of every three students that apply is offered a fellowship which includes a stipend and housing.   Hill is working with Dr. Paul Witherell in NIST’s Life Cycle Engineering Group.   The title of her project is “Sustainable Thinking in the Design Environment.”

In nominating Hill for the SURF program, Dean of Engineering Dr. John Steadman described her as “an outstanding student earning nearly all A’s despite carrying unusually high course loads since transferring to South Alabama.”  Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Dr. David Nelson referred to Hill as “one of the most highly engaged and inquisitive students in his classes.”