UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions.
UW ECE is proud to announce that undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions. The fellowship provides a competitive annual stipend for three years, along with a cost-of-education allowance provided in partnership with the student’s institution.
Pearson is part of UW ECE’s Combined Bachelor of Science – Master of Science program, and is expected to earn his bachelor’s degree this spring before entering the Department’s master’s degree program in the fall.
“I am very honored to receive this award and thankful for those who helped me achieve it,” Pearson said. “I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity to explore ambitious research directions.”
Pearson is advised by UW ECE Professor Joshua Smith, who holds a joint appointment in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Smith leads several high-profile research efforts at the University, including work on wireless power transfer systems for lunar environments. In Smith’s Sensor Systems Laboratory, Pearson conducts research at the intersection of machine learning and wireless communication networks. This work is supported by Smith’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Early Stage Innovations grant, “Deep Contact Graph Routing for Lunar Operations.”
Specifically, Pearson is developing machine-learning-driven frameworks to model radio wave propagation in extreme environments, such as the surface of the moon. His research will support future NASA lunar surface missions and help enable more resilient wireless communication networks on Earth. He is lead author of an upcoming paper about this work and presented his research at the 2026 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP). As a graduate student under Smith’s supervision, Pearson plans to continue research related to 6G and non-terrestrial wireless communication networks.
“Anders is incredibly focused, productive, and creative,” Smith said. “The results he has already delivered as an undergraduate would be impressive for a doctoral student, so I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in graduate school.”
To view all 2026 NSF GRFP recipients nationwide, visit the NSF GRFP website.