Great Valley

MALVERN, Pa. — Penn State Great Valley graduate students Venkata Sai Renusree (Renu) Bandaru and Faizan Raza both said they had to read the emails more than once before it sank in that they had received Penn State’s prestigious Fox Scholar awards, which celebrate graduate students for their exceptional academic achievement, research and professional impact.

“It took a couple of reads for the news to feel real, but what stuck with me most was how much this reflects the support of the people around me, not just my own effort,” said Bandaru. She received a $10,000 J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School Fox Scholarly and Professional Impact Award to assist her as she pursues her master of artificial intelligence (AI).

Once she grasped the good news, Bandaru said, “Then came a wave of relief, happiness and gratitude all at once. I called my family right away to share the news.”

Faizan Raza, who recently completed his master of science in data analytics, also said he was grateful to be selected for the $10,000 Fox Degree Completion Award. He knew his adviser had nominated him, but “receiving the final award notification was still a genuine surprise because of how selective and meaningful this recognition is,” he said.

Penn State’s prestigious Fox Scholar award celebrates graduate students for their exceptional academic achievement, research and professional impact. Bandaru and Raza are two of the 36 Penn State graduate students who received scholarships this year from the endowment established by Jeff and Ann Marie Fox’s $20 million naming gift to Penn State’s J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School.

“Beyond the financial support, it felt like validation for the path I'd chosen to pursue in AI and machine learning at Penn State,” said Bandaru. “It's motivated me to keep pushing forward with my research while juggling coursework, internship work and job applications all at once.”

Bandaru said she plans to use the funds to attend AI research conferences or workshops where she can present her work and engage with the broader AI community. She also intends to use the money for professional development, such as pursuing certifications or training in areas like machine learning operations and cloud-based AI deployment.

“Ultimately, this support allows me to focus more fully on scholarly and professional growth,” she said.

Raza said he looks forward to using the funds to complete, disseminate and build upon his graduate research on developing AI systems that remain fast, current, factually reliable and capable of improving after deployment. He has contributed to four scholarly publications so far, and he said the award would help him present his accepted work at AI research conferences, support publication-related expenses and enable him to continue his research.

In Raza’s letter to the Foxes, he wrote that their award “gives me time and intellectual space, two of the most valuable resources a young researcher can receive, to continue developing the ideas that began at Penn State.”

Donors like the Foxes advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.