News & Announcements
Below you will find news stories from the Graduate School, as well as important messages for our community.
Stay in the know
Faculty honored for ‘superb’ teaching and mentorship to graduate students
| Each spring the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences recognizes professors from each of four divisions who provide “superb teaching, advising, and mentoring” to Yale students.
Reflecting on Our Shared Purpose
| Read Dean Cooley's message to the community at the close of the 2024-25 academic year.
Impact! project proposals due May 12
| In partnership with Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Yale Planetary Solutions (YPS) Impact! program provides funding that enables student engagement in faculty- and staff-coordinated projects that address complex problems related to planetary challenges. Projects are eligible for up to $10,000 in funding for non-stipend research or project expenses. Proposals for the next round of funding are due May 12.
PhD student named 2025 Schmidt Science Fellow
| Tomomi Yoshida, a sixth-year PhD candidate in Immunobiology, is one of 32 early career researchers named as a 2025 Schmidt Science Fellow to pursue innovative interdisciplinary science. As a 2025 Schmidt Science Fellow, Yoshida will pivot from immunology to neuroscience to investigate how different types of inflammation affect the engagement of CVO neural circuits that regulate physiology and behavior.
Nine PhD Students named 2024-25 Prize Teaching Fellows
| Nine PhD students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) have been named Prize Teaching Fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year: Nicholas Berrettini (Film & Media Studies), Ben Card (English), Emily Cox (History of Art), Ilhan Gokhan (Biomedical Engineering), Diana Martinez-Montes (History), Frances Moore (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology), Wulfstan Scouller (History), Amber Sheu (Chemistry), and Lan Wei (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology).
Summer Dissertation Working Group applications due April 25
| The Graduate School will select one cohort of 15 current PhD students from across the humanities and humanistic social science disciplines to participate in the summer dissertation writing group. The writing group seeks to develop students’ skills as writers and as managers of long-term academic projects, while counteracting the isolating work practices typical of the dissertation writing phase of the PhD program. Applications are due by April 25.
At the Yale University Art Gallery, elementary school children and Yale graduate students learn together
| A long-standing partnership between Yale and New Haven Public Schools brings third-grade students into the museum to view original works of art and learn from specially trained graduate student gallery teachers. In addition to serving the local community, the program helps Yale graduate students refine their communication skills and gain more teaching experience.
Seven ‘New Americans’ with Yale ties win Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships
| Two Yale PhD students are among the 30 individuals selected to receive the 2025 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, a merit-based program that supports graduate study for immigrants or children of immigrants. Incoming student Briseyda Barrientos Ariza will pursue a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese and current joint degree student Ibrahim Dagher is pursuing a JD and PhD.
Meet graduate student Rebecca Schelling
| Rebecca Schelling is in her second year as a Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) student in the Pharmacology Department. She does her research at Yale’s Institute of Biomolecular Design and Discovery (IBDD), which focuses on the discovery of new biological molecules and their application to problems in biology and medicine.
Graduate School hosts 21st annual Bouchet Conference on Graduate Education
| On April 4-5, nearly 250 attendees took part in the Graduate School’s annual Bouchet Conference on Graduate Education, now in its 21st year. The theme of this year’s conference was “Environmental Justice: The Intersection of Climate Change and Social Equity.”
PhD student awarded Jane Street Graduate Research Fellowship
| Joakim Faergeman, a PhD student in mathematics, is one of eight recipients of this year’s Jane Street Graduate Research Fellowship, which supports exceptional doctoral students currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, mathematics, physics, or statistics. Faergeman’s research focuses on the geometric Langlands program, which seeks to use techniques from algebraic geometry and representation theory to understand the connections between number theory and harmonic analysis.
Announcing the 3MT Competition winners
| On March 28, the Graduate School held its annual 3-Minute Thesis Competition, which invites Yale graduate students from across the disciplines present their research in a friendly competition to win recognition and cash prizes. This year's first-prize winner was Jiawen Zhang, a fourth-year PhD student in Cellular and Molecular Physiology who presented on "Cracking the Code of Seasonal Energy Saving.”
Supporting planetary solutions research
| In Fall 2025, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will establish a new doctoral fellowship to support a cohort of Ph.D. students engaged in planetary solutions research. The application deadline is April 14.
Celebrating YPS-Supported Impact! projects
| In partnership with Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Yale Planetary Solutions launched Impact! to provide support for small, dynamic teams of students, faculty, and staff to pursue small-scale projects focused on planetary solutions challenges. Selected projects are aimed at analyzing variation in local air quality; building a research network for sustainable fashion consumption; and documenting New Haven’s environmental history.
Substantial funding increase to benefit science and engineering graduate students
| With the announcement of new investments to support expanded class sizes at Yale College, the university will also be committing additional resources to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
December doctoral students graduate with distinction
| In December 2024, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences conferred 184 graduate degrees. Of those, 39 doctoral graduates were awarded distinction for their dissertations, an honor given when all readers unanimously recognize the work as outstanding scholarship. The distinguished graduates represent programs across the Graduate School, with projects ranging from neuroscience to English literature.
From Yale PhD to Nobel laureate in economics
| After learning that he had been awarded the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences this week, the first person James A. Robinson ’93 PhD texted was Truman Bewley, who was his thesis advisor at Yale more than 30 years ago.
Yale researchers create gecko-inspired robot that can self-amputate its limbs to survive
| Bilige Yang, a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, discusses his research on soft robotics and a gecko-inspired robot that amputates its own limbs to survive.
Beyond Tolstoy: New translation revives a forgotten Russian novel
| In a newly published book, Yale PhD candidate Fiona Bell introduces Avdotya Panaeva’s once-banned novel — and a gritty perspective on imperial Russia — to western readers.
Four distinguished alumni awarded Wilbur Cross Medals
| On October 7, four alumni of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences were awarded Wilbur Lucius Cross Medals during a ceremony at Yale. The four honorees are Anne Ferguson-Smith ’89 PhD (Biology), Kai Li '86 PhD (Computer Science), and John Guillory ’79 PhD (English Language and Literature). James C. Scott, '67, PhD (Political Science), was honored posthumously.
‘Changing our world’: Conversations with women in data science
| In a Q&A, Yale PhD student Ruixiao Wang (Statistics & Data Science) discusses a campus colloquium series she organized that aims to bring Yale alumnae who are prominent data scientists — including Columbia’s Cynthia Rush (’16 PhD, Statistics) and AT&T’s Elena Khusainova (’20 PhD, Statistics & Data Science) — in conversation with students.
Four Graduate School alumni awarded 2024 Wilbur Cross Medals
| Four alumni of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) will be honored with Wilbur Cross Medals in recognition of their exceptional scholarship, teaching, and public service. The awards are the highest honor the school bestows on alumni. This year’s honorees include the James Scott (’67 PhD, Political Science), Anne Ferguson-Smith (’86 PhD, Biology), John Guillory (’79 PhD, English Language and Literature), and Kai Li (’86 PhD, Computer Science).
NHHI Spotlight -Lisbeth Chamba, Accounting & Financial Aid Advisor
| The Graduate School's newest staff member, Lisbeth Chamba, was recently featured by the New Haven Hiring Initiative. Lisbeth was born and raised in New Haven, CT, and is a New Haven Promise Scholar and a proud first-generation college graduate.
Expectations for faculty and teaching fellows
| This message outlines the responsibilities that all faculty members and Teaching Fellows (TFs), now part of the Local 33-UNITE HERE union, are expected to fulfill when they collaborate to teach. This memo contains new information as of September 2024; please read through the materials below so you are aware of current policies. You will find details on (1) in-person instruction, (2) responsibility for instruction, (3) course materials, (4) grading and examinations, and (5) professional development for TFs; there is also information about (6) part-time acting instructors.
Welcoming in the 2024-25 Academic Year
| As we start a new academic year, it is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to continuing and new students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Yale is a special place to pursue graduate education, offering you exceptional faculty, collections, and facilities to develop your intellectual pursuits. Yale graduate students are scholars in training of the highest caliber – you will produce unique discoveries and have innovative ideas to improve the world.
Philosophy and Black Studies pioneer Robert Gooding-Williams returning to Yale to foster a new generation of scholars
| Gooding-Williams, who was an undergraduate (’75) and PhD (’82) student at Yale, joins the Department of Philosophy as Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Philosophy.
Collections in the Classroom: Students in a new certificate program share what they’ve discovered
| Yale University’s new graduate certificate program—Material Histories of the Human Record—opens up the classroom walls and invites students into Yale Library Special Collections.
‘This shared community’: McInnis welcomes Yale’s newest students
| In her first formal addresses as Yale’s President, Maurie McInnis addressed students entering Yale College and the Graduate School.
House call: A new study rethinks early Christian landmark
| An ancient building in modern day Syria has long been considered an example of what is known as a domestic “house church.” But a new study challenges this idea. A careful comparison of the building’s later architectural features with those of other domestic structures in Dura-Europos — and an analysis of the way renovations impacted natural light flow within the building — provide considerable evidence that it was not a house church at all, said Camille Leon Angelo, a PhD candidate in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and one of the researchers.
Three Yale students named 2024 Quad Fellows in STEM fields
| This year’s Quad Fellows, a scholarship program that sponsors master’s and doctoral students in STEM fields, includes a trio of Yalies.
Kyrillos Abdallah (’27 PhD, MB&B) Awarded Prestigious HHMI Gilliam Fellowship
| The Graduate School is proud to announce that Kyrillos Abdallah, a PhD candidate in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, has been selected as a recipient of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowship. This fellowship recognizes exceptional achievements in scientific research and acknowledges student potential as a future leader in their respective field. Abdallah has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to scientific integrity and excellence, as well as dedication to improving the scientific community.
What shapes a virus’s pandemic potential? SARS-CoV-2 relatives yield clues
| Two close relatives of SARS-CoV-2 have reduced transmission potential, a new study finds. Understanding why could help identify future pandemic threats. Mario Peña-Hernández, a Yale PhD student in the labs of Akiko Iwasaki and Craig Wilen, is lead author of the study.
A new explanation for Jupiter’s great, shrinking ‘Spot’
| A steady diet of smaller storms may be what fuels Jupiter’s Great Red Spot — and a decline in small storms may be causing it to shrink. Caleb Keaveney, a PhD student in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and lead author of a new study in the journal Icarus, and his co-authors focused on the influence of smaller, transient storms on the Great Red Spot.
More than 1 trillion microbes live inside the average tree trunk
| The wood inside the average tree might seem barren, but it’s home to an incredibly diverse array of life. According to a new study by Yale PhD students Jonathan Gewirtzman and Wyatt Arnold, more than 1 trillion fungi, bacteria, and other microbes live inside the average trunk, according to the most comprehensive survey yet conducted, comprising unique communities specialized to various tree species.
In memoriam: Jerome Pollitt, erudite scholar, admired teacher, university citizen
| Jerome Pollitt ‘57, a distinguished historian of Greek art and archaeology, who made ancient artifacts come alive by weaving them into their historical and literary contexts, died on April 24 after a long illness. He was 89.
Immunobiology PhD student, Kenneth Zhou, receives F31 funding
| Kenneth Zhou, an Immunobiology graduate student in the Wang Lab, has been awarded the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Awards (F31) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). F31 funding awards from the NIH are designed to help promising predoctoral students develop into productive, independent research scientists through mentored research training while conducting dissertation research.
Celebrating the Graduate School's Class of 2024!
| The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) proudly celebrated its Class of 2024 at a memorable Commencement Ceremony held on May 20th. This year, the Graduate School awarded a total of 1,430 degrees, comprising 217 Master of Arts (MA), 378 Master of Science (MS), 416 Master of Philosophy (MPhil), and 419 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.
Reflecting on the Purpose of Graduate Education
| Read Dean Cooley's message to the community at the close of the 2023-24 academic year.
Aishwarya Iyer ('24 PhD) Focuses on Underrepresented Voices in Energy Usage
| When Aishwarya Iyer ’24 PhD was in the eighth grade in Maharashtra, India, she performed a home energy audit for a science competition that involved assessing residents’ energy usage and making suggestions for maximizing energy efficiency. This was the first time Iyer had delved into the broader environmental impacts of residents’ choices about energy use and she was struck by how small adjustments could avert carbon emissions.
10 PhD Students Named 2023-24 Prize Teaching Fellows
| Ten PhD students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) have been named Prize Teaching Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year: Camille Angelo (Religious Studies), Carissa Chan (Microbiology), Grayson Hoy (Chemistry), Nghiem Huynh (Economics), Kimberly Lifton (Medieval Studies), Benjamin Schafer (History), Jillian Stallman (Economics), Audrey Tjahjadi (Anthropology), Alexa Williams (Chemistry), and Novak Yang (Immunobiology).
Amos Espinosa Wins American Society of Hematology Minority Hematology Graduate Award
| Amos S. Espinosa, a PhD Candidate in Experimental Pathology, was recently named a winner of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Minority Hematology Graduate Award (MHGA). Amos is a member of the Krause Lab and a Medical Research Scholar.
Pandemic proved to be a revelatory time for PhD student
| Shannon Whittaker, who is graduating from the Yale School of Public Health this spring with a PhD in social and behavioral sciences and public health, started her dissertation while COVID-19 had shut down most of the world. She calls it the most revelatory point of her time at YSPH. It was as much a self-revelation as a scholarly one.
Four faculty members honored for commitment to graduate student mentorship
| Sreeganga Chandra, Jennifer Allen, Marynel Vázquez, and Grace Kao were recognized with Graduate Mentor Awards from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Five Things to Know About… the Three-Minute Thesis Competition
| The annual competition allows PhD students an opportunity to hone their public speaking skills — and better understand their research.
Two Yale students named 2024 Soros Fellows
| Yale PhD student Kristine Guillaume and incoming Yale Law School student Ananya Agustin Malhotra are among this year’s Soros fellows.
From Prospect Street to the ‘path of totality,’ Yalies have eclipse covered
| Next week, when a total solar eclipse traces a narrow path across the United States, Christopher Lindsay, a fourth year PhD candidate in astronomy and Gruber Science Fellow in Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, won’t be chasing its “path of totality.” He’ll follow another lofty calling instead — helping to conduct a scientific symphony of telescopes, sunspotters, pinhole projectors, and kitchen colanders at a public viewing event at Yale’s Leitner Family Observatory and Planetarium.
Lynn Cooley reappointed dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
| Lynn Cooley, the C. N. H. Long Professor of Genetics and Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, has been reappointed to a third term as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), Yale President Peter Salovey announced this week. Her third five-year term will begin July 1.
With teaching program, students put a new spin on music education
| A power trio of new undergraduate courses — on modern opera, heavy metal, and Latin jazz — demonstrates how Yale’s Associates in Teaching program helps faculty members and PhD students partner to fine-tune their teaching chops.
Five Things to Know About… Sylvia Ryerson’s ‘Calls from Home’
| A graduate student’s film examines a radio station that broadcasts messages of support to incarcerated people across Appalachia — and takes aim at mass incarceration.
Yale chemists synthesize unique anticancer molecules using novel approach
| Yale researchers have developed a novel approach to synthesize a highly complex group of molecules found in marine invertebrates. A team of Yale chemists, writing in the journal Science, has succeeded in synthesizing eight of the compounds for the first time using an approach that combines inventive chemical strategy with the latest technology in small molecule structure determination. Co-first authors of the new study are Yale chemistry graduate students Brandon Alexander and Noah Bartfield.
For women in prison, degree program creates new life pathways
| A Yale and University of New Haven collaboration offers the only four-year college degree program at any federal prison for women in the United States. Student teachers from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offer courses through a professional development opportunity.
Introducing Emotional Wellbeing Solutions
| Eligible Local 33 graduate workers pursuing PhD degrees, their spouses, dependents, and household members are now eligible for up to six free counseling sessions provided through Optum Emotional Wellbeing Solutions.
Environmental Humanities highlights importance of interdisciplinary studies in welcome back panel
| The Yale Environmental Humanities program hosted a panel with graduate students and a faculty member who presented their projects; they each highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to studying the environment.
Budding political scientists find their niche
| For students considering a PhD in political science, a new Yale graduate fellowship program offers practical guidance and a meaningful confidence boost through faculty mentorship, educational workshops, and peer networking.
Updates to PhD Student Support
| Read Dean Cooley's message regarding increased compensation and benefits for PhD students.
Four graduate alumni receive 2023 Wilbur Cross Medals
| The award honors alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for exceptional work in scholarship, public service, teaching, or academic administration.
Reaching across the centuries, these seminal science books speak volumes
| At a recent “pop-up” exhibit, Yale physics students took a closer look at more than a dozen trailblazing tomes by Galileo, Newton, Kepler, and others.
PhD Candidate Rebecca Kuang (East Asian Languages & Literatures) named one of Time Magazine’s “TIME100 Next"
| Rebecca Kuang, a PhD candidate in Yale’s Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, was recently named one of Time Magazine’s “TIME100 Next,” a list that recognizes rising leaders across a host of professions.
Mental Health Awareness Week at the Graduate School
| Read Dean Cooley's message about Mental Health Awareness Week that features mental health resources on campus.
A Warm Welcome to the New Academic Year
| Read Dean Cooley's start of semester message to the GSAS community.
Two Yale PhD Students Awarded Prestigious HHMI Gilliam Fellowships
| Two PhD students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have been selected as recipients of the esteemed Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowships. This distinction recognizes exceptional achievements in scientific research and acknowledges student potential as future leaders in their respective fields.
Cost-of-living stipend increases and student funding enhancements
| Update on graduate student support: cost-of-living stipend increases for all graduate students; expansion of the Dean’s Emergency Fund to include medical leave hardship awards; increases to the family subsidy and GSA Conference Travel Fellowship budgets.
Graduate student financial well-being
| My years in academia have taught me to greet every autumn with a special sense of expectation and excitement. This fall semester feels especially joyful as our beautiful Yale campus comes alive again after the disruptions and uncertainties of the past eighteen pandemic months.
Sharing the Report of the Humanities Doctoral Education Advisory Working Group
| One of Yale’s principal areas of excellence is humanistic study at all levels, and as Dean of the Graduate School, I am honored to support that tradition through the training of doctoral students. The humanities are vital to our mission to improve the world today and for future generations.
Funding extensions for FAS PhD students
| I hope this message finds you as well as can be in the midst of the abrupt changes to our lives caused by the pandemic. I have heard from many of you about the impact of COVID-19 on your work, including the closure of libraries, collections and laboratories on our campus, suspension of travel for field work, and concern about family members. I have received many requests for extensions of funding to replace lost time since we closed in March. I am glad to be able to share our current plan for extensions to assist you in resuming your progress toward the goals you came to Yale to accomplish.