(Lander, WY)—Lander Valley High School Class of 2018 Valedictorian Kailee Behunin has become part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), a prestigious selection for those studying in the STEM field.
“The purpose of the NSF GRFP is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States,” its website says.
Upon graduating from LVHS, Kailee attended the University of Wyoming, where she received the school’s premier scholarship, the Trustees’ Scholars Award. The award provided a four-year scholarship for an undergraduate degree.
While at UW, she majored in anthropology and held down two minors, Chinese and honors. She also continued her Nordic skiing career, and studied abroad in Spain for a very short period before COVID hit.
She completed her undergraduate work at UW in 2022. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and received a top Scholar Award from UW.
Kailee is now doing graduate work at Binghamton University in New York, where she received a full ride to complete her master’s and PhD. She continues to study anthropology.
Her mom, Bralli Clifford, shared that, ultimately, the fellowship provides Kailee with an annual stipend.
“What it will do is it will allow for her not to have to work so much through her graduate studies. Currently, she’s a teacher’s assistant and a research assistant, both while going to school full-time, and so this will give her some extra buffer to not have to do all of that.”
It also provides a cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees if Kailee were to decide to leave Binghamton.
Learn more about NSF GRFP by clicking here.