William Ferguson is an entering PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University’s Material Sciences and Engineering Department in the College of Engineering. He is serving as a graduate research assistant specializing in computational modeling of polymer systems. In addition to a 2023–25 ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar Award (The Fleischner-ARCS Pittsburgh Member Award Endowment), he also received the CMU Chemical Engineering Faculty Award (both in May 2023) He received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia (UVA) and served as an undergraduate research assistant gaining experience in experimental and computational R&D of materials. His focus and interests have been on the applications for polymers and composites. While at UVA, he also served as a teaching assistant in three different undergraduate classes and was recipient of the Robert Thomason Scholarship (May 2022), which recognizes chemical engineering students who have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement. In the same year, he received the Gregory J. Canty Research Award, which funds an outstanding undergraduate student who proposes a project to be carried out in the summer and subsequent academic year following application. The award recipient is a student who demonstrates creativity in translating knowledge and skills into practical engineering solutions or products and who is known for their caring and helpfulness towards others.