NSF Awards Four Graduate Fellowships to Williams Student, Alumni

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The National Science Foundation has awarded research fellowships to four Williams College students and alumni. In addition, the NSF has awarded honorable mentions to eight other Williams students and alumni. The NSF fellowships support graduate study in the natural and social sciences.

The four Williams fellowship recipients are Teresa Yu '20, a mathematics student from Chandler, Ariz.; Gabriela Suarez '17, who studies psychology at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; Katherine Newcomer '14, a biological science technician at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; and Daniel Maes '18, who studies mathematics at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Honorable mentions went to Christine Seeger '16, Sophia Robert '18, Ashay Patel '18, Dong Moon '16, Ben Logsdon '20, Eli Hoenig '17, Laura Elmendorf '17, and John Ahn '18.

With support from the NSF Fellowship, Yu plans to pursue a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Michigan. Yu has participated in the 2018 SMALL REU in the Tropical Geometry group with Assistant Professor of Mathematics Ralph Morrison, and also in the REU at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2019. At Williams, she has conducted research with Assistant Professor of Mathematics Pamela Harris, worked with the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA), and served as a teaching assistant with the mathematics department. In addition, she has performed on violin with the Berkshire Symphony. 

"I'm honored to have received this fellowship, and grateful to have been a part of the Williams math community," Yu said. "Without the many professors, mentors, and friends in this community, I would not be where I am today." She is currently writing a senior thesis with Professor of Mathematics Susan Loepp on commutative algebra.

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency, was founded in 1950 to further U.S. leadership in the sciences. Since its inception it has supported graduate research and awards more than 1,000 research fellowships each year.


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Williamstown Fin Comm OKs Budget with Tax Hike, Lower Non-Profit Allotment

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Finance Committee on Wednesday voted to send town meeting a fiscal year 2026 spending plan that would raise property taxes by more than 7 percent in the year that begins on July 1.
 
The operating budget for town government is slated to go up by 6.1 percent, to just more than $10.6 million, and the bill for the town's public schools (the preK-12 Mount Greylock Regional School District and the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District) is up by 8 percent, to a combined $15,243,392.
 
The main driver for all those increases is a 16 percent cost in health insurance for the labor-intensive business of providing town services and educating young people.
 
Both school officials and town staff presented budgets this winter that amounted to "level services" spending plans with minimal hikes in discretionary spending.
 
Over the last month, the nine-member town Finance Committee picked through the town budget proposed by Town Manager Robert Menicocci, inquiring about any line items that did see increases and looking for ways to trim at the margins.
 
In May, registered voters who attend town meeting will have the final say on whether to commit to the FY26 appropriations that the Fin Comm moved forward on Wednesday night.
 
Those votes will determine how much Williamstown has to raise from property taxes in the next fiscal year, but the tax rate it needs to set to bring in that revenue will not be determined until late summer. That is when the town assessor's office will complete the work of setting a valuation for the taxable properties in town.
 
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