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
Related Links
- Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study
- Mentoring and Inclusion Are Top Priority for 50 New Gilliam Fellows and Their Advisers (2021)
- HHMI Awards 45 Gilliam Fellowships to Support Diversity in Science (2020)
- 44 Gilliam Fellowships Awarded to Support Diversity and Inclusion in Science (2019)
- 45 Gilliam Fellowships Support Students and Advisers Committed to Increasing Diversity in Science (2018)