HHMI Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study – for student/advisor pairs in the biomedical & life sciences
Deadline: December 7, 2024
URL: Gilliam Fellows Program | HHMI
Description:
Offered by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the Gilliam Fellows Program aspires to build a more inclusive scientific ecosystem by supporting scientists at two levels: graduate students and their faculty advisers. The program invests in graduate students who are committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science and empowers them as future science leaders. The Fellowship also provides support for thesis advisers to enhance their mentorship skills and act as change-makers to develop more inclusive and healthy scientific training environments. Over the long-term, HHMI aims for its Gilliam fellowship alumni to achieve leadership roles throughout the scientific landscape including academia, industry, and government and that biomedical research institutions across the country demonstrate advances in equity, inclusiveness, and promotion of healthy training environments.
Fellowships offer up to three years of support, typically years 3-5 of a doctoral program.
Eligibility
Gilliam Fellowships are open to eligible pairs comprising a thesis advisor and a PhD student (“advisor-student pair”).
- Advisor/Student pairs must:
- be studying scientific problems in biomedical sciences, life sciences, or biological questions in related disciplines. This includes basic research on a variety of biological systems and at all scales including at the molecular, cellular, organismal, ecological, and behavioral levels.
- be committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science.
- Advisors must:
- If selected for a Gilliam, the advisor must be willing and able to complete the year-long, 30-hour mentorship skills development course offered by HHMI. The advisor must participate in all of the course’s activities, including online interactive webinars and two in-person workshops.
- Students must:
- be US citizens, US permanent residents, undocumented childhood arrivals, or DACA participants.
- be in either the 2nd or 3rd year of a PhD program at the time of application and have at least two full years remaining as of September 1, 2024.
- be studying scientific problems in biomedical sciences or life sciences, or biological questions in related disciplines. This includes basic research on a variety of biological systems and at all scales including at the molecular, cellular, organismal, ecological, and behavioral levels. Fellowships do not support social science research.
- be committed to advancing equity and inclusion in science.
- Students in MD/PhD or other dual-degree programs are not eligible.
Award Amount: $53,000 total per year, as follows:
- Student’s stipend: $36,000.
- Discretionary allowance for the student: $4,000 (to support the Fellow’s professional, career and personal development, including mental and emotional health and well-being).
- Advisor fund: $3,000 (to be used by the advisor to promote diversity and inclusion, e.g., professional development activities for the lab group and/or graduate program).
- Cost-of-education allowance for the institution: $10,000 (paid directly to the institution and used in lieu of tuition and fees).
Conditions of the Award:
- As part of the Gilliam award, the adviser is required to complete a year-long course in scientific professional development that focuses on developing mentorship skills that support persons from all backgrounds. The mentorship course is developed and taught by the HHMI Scientific Mentorship Initiative in collaboration with the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). The adviser is required to participate in all activities, including monthly online interactive webinars from October 2024 through March 2025 and two in-person workshops—the first in Spring 2025 and the second in Fall 2025. The mentorship skills development activities will be arranged and paid for by HHMI.
- During the fellowship period, the Fellow is required to participate in the Gilliam Annual Meeting at which the Fellow will present their research and participate in leadership development activities. In addition, in the second and third years of the fellowship term, the Fellow is encouraged to attend one HHMI Science Meeting per year where they will have the opportunity to present their research in a poster session and participate in career-oriented discussion sessions with senior scientists. Travel and accommodations for these meetings will be arranged and paid for by HHMI.
- Recipients of HHMI’s Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study may begin the fellowship no earlier than September 1, 2023.
- The degree program may include a reasonable amount of teaching or similar professional development activities. Scholarly development of the Fellow, and not service to the institution, should govern the participation of the Fellow in such activities.
Evaluation Criteria:
Gilliam Fellowships are awarded on the basis of:
- the demonstrated ability of the student to formulate and creatively pursue interesting scientific problem(s), and their ability to clearly communicate these ideas;
- the commitment of the student to advancing equity and inclusion in science as demonstrated by their activities and/or their unique experiences that have shaped their leadership philosophy on equity and inclusion, and communication of how they plan to contribute to equity and inclusion in science in their future career;
- the demonstrated commitment of the thesis adviser to develop as an effective mentor; and
- the demonstrated commitment of the adviser to advancing equity and inclusion in science and their role in helping to foster a healthy academic scientific ecosystem for all constituencies (e.g., students, postdocs, early career faculty) at their institution.
Advisor’s Role in the Application Process:
The advisor serves as Lead Applicant and Project Director of the application. For details on the many components of the application that are required from the advisor (e.g., mentoring plan, equity & inclusion statement, biosketch etc.), read the Program Announcement.
If this information is out of date, please email bret.career.development@vanderbilt.edu to let us know.