Kelly Harman and her family had all but given up.

It had been three months since Harman submitted an application for the United States Department of Homeland Security Fellowship, but still she waited.

Harman was expecting to be notified before her graduation last May, but graduation came and went without any such luck.

“When she didn’t hear by graduation, I don’t think we even gave it a whole lot of thought,” said Kelly’s mother, Kathy.

But in late June, while interning at an engineering consulting firm in her hometown of Quincy, Harman received a call notifying her that she had been awarded the DHS Fellowship to pursue her master’s degree while studying the area of progressive building collapse.

“I was actually pretty happy my boss was not in that morning because I was so shocked I don’t think I did any work,” Harman said. “They e-mailed me a bunch of stuff after they had spoken to me, so I think I was reading the paperwork all morning and walking around the office with the news I had just gotten.”

Harman, who has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from SIU, was one of 50 students chosen nationally out of 500 applicants, due mainly to a 3.7 GPA and strong graduate test scores.

“I never actually thought that I would get it,” Harman said. “I was pretty surprised when I found out.”

The Department of Homeland Security Fellowship pays for tuition and fees and provides a $2,300 stipend for up to three years. The Fellowship is intended for pursuing basic science and technology innovations. Applicants were required to carry a minimum GPA of 3.3 as an undergrad or graduate student.

Harman had no prior knowledge of the Fellowship until Dr. Lizette Chevalier, Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering at SIU, selected her among a group of students who she thought would have a shot.

Harman was a five-year member of the SIU volleyball team after redshirting her freshman year. She led the team in kills in 2003 with 273.

“I think, obviously, hard work is being rewarded,” said SIU head volleyball coach Sonya Locke. “She was an exceptional student-athlete when she was in her playing years, and I’m just glad people like her get rewarded for their hard work because she definitely was awesome in the classroom.”

All awardees must complete an eight to 10-week research internship next summer at a DHS facility and can only work for DHS during the Fellowship.

Harman has not yet decided where she will complete her internship but said she hopes a job within the Department of Homeland Security is in her future.

“She worked very hard to get where she is, there’s no doubt about that,” Kathy said. “Her parents are very, very proud of what’s she done and what she’s accomplished already.”