Christopher Boyd awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Christopher Boyd has been awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support his studies as an Electrical and Computer Engineering student at the University of Michigan.

Christopher received his undergraduate degree at U-M in 2012, and now works with Prof. Khalil Najafi in the area of MEMS inertial sensors. More specifically, he is developing new control architectures for these sensors, including rate-integrating gyroscopes and resonant accelerometers. He also designs chips and the algorithms that control them.

His research is contributing to the overall project goal of enabling navigation in GPS denied zones through the use of specialized sensors. Other potential applications of the technology include detecting if a patient has fallen, environmental sensing, tracking people, advancing the field of robotics, or even sensing the vibrations of an earthquake.

Christopher serves as the vice president of SMESG (Society of Minority Engineers and Scientists – Graduate Component). He grew up in Detroit, and as an undergraduate student mentored high school students at U-M’s Detroit Center.

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The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.