On June 22 The Graduate School (TGS) of Northwestern University announced CIERA Graduate Student Elena González Prieto as one of only six awarded the Presidential Fellowship for 2026. It is the most prestigious fellowship awarded to graduate students at Northwestern University. Awardees, according to the website, are those “who promise to combine outstanding intellectual or creative ability with the capacity to play an important leadership role” in the fellowship cohort and their own academic field. The award, funded by the President of the University, includes stipend, tuition, research and travel funds. Elena will also get to participate in Society of Fellows functions, a group which includes former winners and distinguished faculty members.
Elena develops computational models of star clusters—groups of stars containing hundreds of thousands to millions of stars—where collisions between stars are frequent. To capture these events more accurately, she has developed artificial intelligence models that predict the outcome of stellar collisions, dramatically improving the fidelity of star cluster simulations. These advances are key to understanding how star clusters evolve, which can provide insight into how our own galaxy formed and evolved through time.
“This fellowship is a great honor, because it provides critical support for the sciences, as well as early career researchers,” said Elena. “On a personal note, this recognition belongs in part to my family, who taught me the meaning of perseverance, and especially to my parents, who made an enormous sacrifice when they immigrated to the U.S. 13 years ago.”
After receiving her Bachelor of Science in astrophysics from the University of Florida in 2021, Elena was issued a Northwestern Data Science Fellowship in 2021 and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2022.
“I am very thankful for the support from CIERA, my family, Yuxin Dong, and particularly Nabeel Rehemtulla,” said Elena. “Nabeel is currently also a Presidential Fellow and his advice and time were crucial during the application process.”
Elena is an astronomy Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, a member of SkAI, and a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics (CIERA). She is advised by Professor Fred Rasio.