A Whitefish woman is one of six graduate students affiliated with Montana State University to have received a 2014 National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship worth at least $32,000 a year for three years.

Tiffany Hensley-McBain of Whitefish graduated from MSU in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in cell biology and neuroscience.

She then worked through June 2013 as a research technician in the HIV Vaccine Trials Network in Seattle. She is now pursuing her doctorate at the University of Washington, where she is studying the immune response to acute HIV infection and how HIV disrupts the gastrointestinal tract in infected individuals.

After graduate school, Hensley-McBain plans to pursue a teaching career and increase access for students in rural Montana schools to scientific research and career exploration.

“Receiving my own funding for my graduate education allowed me to select a thesis lab based on my passion for the research rather than the lab’s ability to support me financially,” Hensley-McBain said.

“This opened up many opportunities and ultimately contributed to my ability to join a newer and smaller lab with research goals that perfectly align with my interests.”

Also winning fellowships were Julie Muretta of Floweree; Nate Looker of Des Moines, Iowa; Justin Martin of Arcata, Calif.; Flynn Murray of Moorhead, Minn.; and Kelly Spendlove of Helena.