Eight PhD students named 2025-26 Prize Teaching Fellows

Eight PhD students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) have been named Prize Teaching Fellows for the 2025-2026 academic year: Eason Cao (Cell Biology), Vincent Chang (Chemistry), Cedric Preston McCoy (Music and Black Studies), Kaidi Pan (Philosophy), Ella Starkman-Hynes (History), Henry Straughan (Philosophy), Beth Wang (Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations), and Kenny Yip (Chemical and Environmental Engineering). 

“Graduate students are at the heart of Yale's research and education mission. I am delighted to honor these eight graduate students who are exemplary scholars and teachers," said Lynn Cooley, dean of the Graduate School. 

The Graduate School has awarded the teaching prizes annually since 2000. Recipients are nominated by their undergraduate students and the faculty members they assist while serving as Teaching Fellows.

Biographies of the winners are included below.

Eason Cao (Cell Biology)

Eason Cao is a PhD candidate in Cell Biology at Yale University. His research combines biochemistry, biophysics, and DNA nanotechnology to build programmable nucleic acid systems that probe biomolecular interactions and the mechanical properties of macromolecular assemblies, including the HIV-1 capsid. He is more broadly interested in synthetic biology and the design of minimal, controllable systems that can recapitulate complex cellular behaviors, as well as astrobiology and the deep questions it raises about life's origins and its potential elsewhere in the universe. Outside the lab, Eason is an active musician and carillonneur at Yale. Trained in piano and carillon, he performs a wide-ranging repertoire and is drawn to the challenge of translating musical expression across instruments with fundamentally different sound worlds. As a Teaching Fellow for MB&B 3000 I, Eason has a gift for turning dense concepts into structured, visually intuitive lessons without sacrificing depth. He is honored to receive this award and grateful to his students for the curiosity, enthusiasm and trust they brought to the course.

Vincent Chang (Chemistry)

Vincent Chang is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry at Yale University, working under the guidance of Professor Stacy Malaker. His research focuses on developing mass spectrometry-based methods to investigate mucins, a class of proteins that are implicated in many diseases. In addition to his research, Vincent greatly enjoys teaching and interacting with students, especially in biochemistry and organic chemistry. His passion for teaching and mentorship is deeply inspired by the guidance, generosity, and lasting influence of his current and past mentors who have shaped his own academic journey.
 

Cedric Preston McCoy (Music and Black Studies)

Cedric Preston McCoy is a PhD student in the Music and Black Studies departments. He primarily writes about Black American popular music practices such as hip hop, funk, R&B, jazz, and fusion, but remains interested in other pop musics and musicians from the afro-diaspora. Broadly, Cedric is interested in questions of auditory culture, ontology, subjectivity, and performance/performativity; his dissertation work is interested in constructions of blackness and how subjectivities emerging from those constructions are performed sonically. Prior to coming to Yale, Cedric completed his BMus with High Honors in Music History at the University of Michigan.

Kaidi Pan (Philosophy)

Kaidi Pan is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy Department. His interests range across philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, and theoretical and practical reason, alongside the history of early modern and analytic philosophy, with an openness to other traditions. At the center of his work are two simple but stubborn questions: what it is for "things"—whatever they are—to make sense at all, and how we, as linguistic beings, explain, justify, and make sense of the world in the first place. His current research takes up “why”-questions, using formal semantic tools to investigate the structure of explanation. Known in seminar rooms for always having one more “why” to press, he treats that impulse not as a habit to outgrow but as a method to refine—an attempt to understand explanation by turning the question back on itself, and on the one who keeps asking it.

Ella Starkman-Hynes (History)

Ella Starkman-Hynes is a PhD candidate in History, studying historical memory and popular culture in the 19th and 20th century United States. Ella’s dissertation project examines the cultural and intellectual legacies of the American Civil War through counterfactuals (or “alternate histories”) that imagine what might have happened if the South had won. Ella is from Toronto, and her work is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Ella has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Philosophy from McGill University, and a Master’s degree in History from Yale. Her work has been published in Muster, the Journal of the Civil War Era’s blog. Ella is very grateful to her students for nominating her for this award.
 

Henry Straughan (Philosophy)

Henry Straughan is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Philosophy, working primarily on early modern thought. He is writing a dissertation on the role of harmony in G. W. Leibniz's metaphysics and ethics. Before joining Yale in 2022, Henry received a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford followed by a BPhil in Philosophy.


 

Beth Wang (Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations)

Beth Wang is a PhD student (ABD) studying Egyptology in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Her dissertation presents ancient Egyptian wigs and hair extensions as mediators of social identity, drawing on approaches from embodiment theory and studies of materiality. Her research bridges traditional Egyptological methods and contemporary art historical perspectives. As a teacher, Beth is committed to fostering a compassionate and cooperative classroom environment where students feel empowered to engage with ancient material on their own terms. She thanks her wonderful mentors, who all allowed her to do the same. Beth holds a BA with honors from Princeton University and an MA from the University of Chicago. 
 

Kenny Yip (Chemical and Environmental Engineering)

Kenny Yip is a PhD candidate in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. His research explores the removal of organic pollutants to produce ultrapure water, a grade of water with purity far exceeding that of drinking water. Kenny served as a TF for Environmental Physicochemical Processes, a course on water and wastewater treatment technologies. He enjoys connecting with students and learning from their unique perspectives and approaches to the course material. Outside of the lab and classroom, Kenny enjoys cooking and watching soccer.