Summary
Fifty-one graduate students and their advisers are joining the thriving community supported by the HHMI Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study.
At the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the waning days of July have become synonymous with one of the Institute’s most popular announcements – what some have come to call “Gilliam Day.” It’s the day when a cadre of graduate students and their advisers from universities dotting the country join the thriving community supported by the HHMI Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study.
Today, HHMI is announcing the largest-ever group of Gilliam Fellows – 51 graduate students conducting outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and their advisers who are committed to building a more inclusive scientific ecosystem. Each adviser-student pair will receive an annual award totaling $53,000 for up to three years.
The Gilliam Program invests in graduate students from populations historically excluded and underrepresented in science so that they are prepared to become scientific leaders. "To support the development of these students as future scientific leaders, it’s crucial to provide high-quality mentoring, financial support, an inclusive lab environment, and a supportive community," says David Asai, senior director for science education. “True change will not happen on campuses without the support and commitment of faculty and institutional leaders,” Asai says.
HHMI recognizes that the advisers of Gilliam Fellows play an important role in helping the students realize their high potential. Since 2015, more than 200 Gilliam advisers have successfully completed a year-long course in culturally aware mentorship, developed and led by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). Through the CIMER mentorship development course, advisers engage in activities that emphasize cultural awareness, including monthly online interactive webinars and two in-person workshops. The activities help advisers learn how to listen and engage with their students. These efforts are paying off – the advisers report significant gains in their understanding and practice of culturally aware mentorship, according to a recently published article by Pfund et al. in the journal CBE-Life Sciences Education.
Now, HHMI and CIMER have partnered to create the Scientific Mentorship Initiative which will design and deliver mentorship development opportunities to all HHMI scientists, including Investigators, Janelia Research Campus Group Leaders, Hanna Gray Fellows, and awardees of the recently announced Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program. By encouraging scientists to learn how to be better mentors, the Gilliam Program aims to make the academic environment more inclusive so that students see themselves in science.
Eventually, Asai hopes, these intertwined efforts will help increase the diversity of scientists at the faculty level. “Diversity in science should be the norm,” he says. “We should expect to see talented students and scientists from underrepresented groups on college campuses and across all of science.”
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HHMI created the Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study in 2004 in honor of the late James H. Gilliam, Jr. A charter Trustee of HHMI, Gilliam was a respected business and civic leader who spent his life nurturing excellence and diversity in science and education.
2022 Gilliam Fellows and Advisers
Karim Abdelaal
Duke University
Thesis Adviser: Kafui Dzirasa
Jaquesta Adams
University of California, Berkeley
Thesis Adviser: Markita Landry
Joseph Aguilera
Brown University
Thesis Adviser: Erica Larschan
Ifé Akano
Weill Cornell Medicine
Thesis Adviser: Yael David
Aura Alonso-Rodriguez
University of Vermont
Thesis Adviser: Taylor Ricketts
Natasha Baas-Thomas
Brandeis University
Thesis Adviser: Donald Katz
Laymon Ball
Louisiana State University
Thesis Adviser: Laura Lagomarsino
Myles Bartholomew
Brown University
Thesis Adviser: Richard Freiman
Albit Caban
Boston University
Thesis Adviser: Steve Ramirez
Jose Campos Duran
University of Pennsylvania
Thesis Adviser: Sarah Henrickson
Alexis Carey
The Johns Hopkins University
Thesis Adviser: Ashani Weeraratna
Jesus Castor-Macias
University of Michigan
Thesis Adviser: Carlos Aguilar
Lennice Castro
University of California, San Diego
Thesis Adviser: Matthew Daugherty
Carlene Chinn
University of California, Irvine
Thesis Adviser: Marcelo Wood
Elaida Dimwamwa
Georgia Institute of Technology
Thesis Adviser: Garrett Stanley
Ryan Elbashir
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis Adviser: Matthew Vander Heiden
Yesenia Garcia
Emory University
Thesis Adviser: Shannon Gourley
Melanie Gil
Vanderbilt University
Thesis Adviser: Vivian Gama
Tania Gonzalez-Robles
New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Thesis Adviser: Kelly Ruggles
Billie Goolsby
Stanford University
Thesis Adviser: Lauren O'Connell
Ayress Grinage
Cornell University
Thesis Adviser: Chelsea Specht
Miguel Guardado
University of California, San Francisco
Thesis Adviser: Ryan Hernandez
Nadia Holness
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Thesis Adviser: Sarah Ewald
Yanabah Jaques
University of California, Berkeley
Thesis Adviser: Daniela Kaufer
Jarildy Javier
Emory University
Thesis Advisers: Larry Young and Malavika Murugan
Jessica Jones
University of Washington
Thesis Adviser: John Tuthill
Krisangel López
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Thesis Adviser: Albert Auguste
Maya Lopez-Ichikawa
University of California, San Francisco
Thesis Adviser: Matthew Spitzer
Peter Lotfy
Harvard Medical School
Thesis Adviser: Jose Ordovas-Montanes
Ricardo Lozoya
University of California, San Diego
Thesis Adviser: Richard Daneman
Kimberly Lukasik
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Thesis Adviser: Stephanie Gupton
Ahmed Mahmoud
Weill Cornell Medicine
Thesis Adviser: Karuna Ganesh
Vanessa Mariscal
University of California, Santa Cruz
Thesis Advisers: Fitnat Yildiz and Seth Rubin
Reo Maynard
University of California, Merced
Thesis Adviser: Gordon Bennett
Daniel Mendez
University of Minnesota Medical School
Thesis Advisers: Thomas Bastian and Michael Georgieff
Katherine Morillo
Princeton University
Thesis Adviser: Coleen Murphy
Lauren Neal
The Rockefeller University
Thesis Adviser: Leslie B. Vosshall
Katia Niño
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Thesis Adviser: Eric Pietras
Maria Ortiz-Juza
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Thesis Adviser: Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera
Alexander Paredes
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Thesis Adviser: Aaron Smith
Leila May Pascual
Emory University
Thesis Adviser: Sam Sober
Zeena Rivera
University of California, Los Angeles
Thesis Advisers: Alicia Izquierdo and Andrew Wikenheiser
Cristina Rivera Quiles
Michigan State University
Thesis Adviser: Michelle Mazei-Robison
Leeza Santiago Millan
Harvard Medical School
Thesis Adviser: Fred Winston
Franklin Staback Rodriguez
University of Pennsylvania
Thesis Adviser: Janis Burkhardt
Eric Stokes
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Thesis Adviser: Jason Aoto
Héctor Torres Vera
University of California, Berkeley
Thesis Adviser: Alanna Schepartz
Axel Vera
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis Adviser: Ronald Raines
Jillian Walton
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Thesis Adviser: Alison Buchan
Franceine Welcome
Stony Brook University
Thesis Adviser: Michael Airola
Maya Woolfolk
Harvard University
Thesis Adviser: Hopi E. Hoekstra