Endowment helps launch doctoral graduate’s career
Nicholas Gregorich Ph.D. ’23 has come a long way since his deli counter job a decade ago. He is now known as Dr. Gregorich after completing his Ph.D. at Clemson University last year. The chemical engineering graduate currently serves as a postdoctoral researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Laboratory in Tennessee, where he is developing advanced materials for addressing global climate change.
Gregorich’s meteoric academic journey is even more impressive, considering that he was born with sensorineural hearing loss, which primarily impacts his ability to hear high-frequency sounds. He is a fluent lipreader and uses the assistance of hearing aids. While at Clemson, he took full advantage of the University’s Student Accessibility Services, where he was able to use an online captioning service to aid him during class lectures, giving him equal access to information.
Gregorich excelled at Clemson, winning the R.C. Edwards Outstanding Graduate Student Award for high academic achievement and community service. He was also selected to address fellow graduates during his hooding ceremony in May 2023.
These opportunities were made possible through the Earl C. Ray ’38 Student Assistance Endowment in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, awarded to an outstanding chemistry or chemical engineering student. Endowments like Ray’s address the University’s strategic goal of doubling research expenditures by 2035 and give promising graduate students like Gregorich the opportunity to become successful researchers who make a difference in the world.
MADISON AKERS ’24
