Limited Submission – HHMI – 2023 Gilliam Fellowships

We are pleased to announce the launch of Limited Submission – HHMI – 2023 Gilliam Fellowships. Click on the link below to view more information. Thank you!

• Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, September 19, 2022
• Cycle: 2023
• Discipline/Subject Area: Biomedical or Biological Sciences Research
• Foundation Name: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• Foundation Program Name: 2023 Gilliam Fellowships
• Funding: $53,000 per year for up to 3 years
• Description:

A joint announcement from the Office of Research and the Office Foundation Relations

Call for Nominations

Howard Hughes Medical Institute – 2023 Gilliam Fellowship
Internal Submission Deadline: September 19, 2022
Funder: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Opportunity: Gilliam Fellowships 2023
UCSC Contacts: Karen Ottemann, Official HHMI Nominator, ottemann@ucsc.edu, Caroline Rodriguez, Foundation Relations, caroline@ucsc.edu, Heather Bell, Office of Research, hmbell@ucsc.edu
Award Amount and Terms: $ 53,000 per year (towards stipend, tuition/fees, and trainee support) to support students for up to three years, typically in years 3–5 of their PhD studies.

Overview

UC Santa Cruz has been invited by HHMI to nominate two graduate student/faculty pairs to apply for 2023 HHMI Gilliam fellowships. This fellowship supports students from historically underrepresented groups doing Biomedical or Biological Sciences research, and requires commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from both the student and advisor. Please share this call for nominations broadly and refer to the attached guidelines for further information.

UC Santa Cruz has been very successful with nominations, and we have been awarded several 3-year Gilliam fellowships.

2022: 1 fellowship: Vanessa Mariscal/Fitnat Yildiz and Seth Rubin
2019: 2 fellowships: Apple Vollmers/Susan Carpenter and Donna Poscablo/Camilla Forsberg
2018: 2 fellowships: Stefany Rubio/Lindsay Hinck and Gian Carlo Parico/Carrie Partch
2015: 1 fellowship: Jessie Perez (Forsberg lab)

Eligibility

Adviser-student pairs must be nominated by the institution.

• Adviser-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, and ecological levels. This initiative does not support social science research.
• Students must be U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, undocumented childhood arrivals, or undocumented individuals who have been granted temporary permission to stay in the US (DACA).
• Students must be from populations excluded from and/or underrepresented in science because of ethnicity, race, or disability status, or alumni of the HHMI EXROP program, and be at the appropriate stage of their PhD training. International students are not eligible.
  • For the purpose of this initiative, HHMI defines excluded ethnic or racial groups to be persons who identify as Black or African American, Latino/a or Hispanic American, American Indian, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native, and from groups indigenous to the Pacific Island territories of the United States. Persons with disabilities—defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities—are also significantly underrepresented in U.S. science. The disability must be officially recognized by the institution’s disability office and the student must be receiving services and/or accommodations from the institution for the disability. It is recognized that underrepresentation can vary from setting to setting. As such, individuals from racial or ethnic groups other than the groups listed above who can be convincingly demonstrated by the nominator to be historically marginalized or underrepresented at the graduate may be considered.
• Students must be in their second or third year of a PhD program, and/or have at least two full years of study remaining as of September 1, 2023.
• Students who are enrolled in or affiliated with a funded MD/PhD or other dual-degree program are not eligible (e.g., MSTP or institutionally funded program).
• Advisors must be able to demonstrate a commitment to graduate student diversity, equity and inclusion.

If selected by the campus, the Advisor-Student pair will need to prepare multiple documents by early December. They include (in addition to the usual things like CV and funding information):

From the advisor:

1. A letter of support for the student that details evidence of their promise as a scientific investigator; and potential for leadership in science, including but not limited to academic science.
2. A mentoring plan that is tailored to the student applicant including a discussion of strengths and areas to be further developed; reflects on the importance of diversity and inclusion in science and the adviser’s role in helping to foster a healthy academic scientific ecosystem for all constituencies (e.g., students, postdocs, early career faculty); includes a description of the mental health/well-being resources on campus; includes a conflict resolution strategy; and includes a narrative on what the adviser hopes to get out of the HHMI mentorship course and how they will assess the effectiveness of the course.
3. A description of challenges to diversity and inclusion at the graduate level, how the adviser proposes to address the challenges using funds from the adviser’s diversity and inclusion allowance, and how the effects of the activities will be evaluated.
4. A description of how the adviser has engaged in diversity and inclusion efforts during their career and ways they anticipate leveraging the mentorship course and diversity and inclusion allowance to improve diversity and inclusion within their department and institution.

From the student:

1. A dissertation research plan that can be understood by a scientist that is a non-expert in the field with relevant literature cited;
2. A career statement that describes the applicant’s professional and personal goals and how the Gilliam Fellowship will help the student explore or achieve those goals;
3. A leadership statement that describes the applicant’s leadership approach, previous
4. and current leadership experiences, and the significance/impact of this approach and these experiences on the science they do and their future scientific leadership plans;
5. A description of the mental health/well-being resources available to the student on campus; and
6. A conflict resolution strategy.

To nominate a candidate:

Please submit your nominations via InfoReady by September 19, 2022.
Select “Nominate” from the menu on the right-hand side and upload the following materials:

1. The PI’s CV, including grant support and information about students mentored
2. The student’s CV
3. Student Project Description:
   1. Research Project Title
   2. Brief abstract
   3. The year the student is in
4. A nomination letter (2 page maximum) that includes the following, which are major components of the nomination: (1) a description of how the student meets the eligibility criteria; (2) an overview of the student’s path to graduate school, including any obstacles or challenges the student had to overcome; and (3) a description of the student’s promise as a scientific investigator and potential for leadership in science.

If you’d like to ask for clarifications from HHMI about a specific area, please reach out to Karen Ottemann.

Timeline

• September 19, 2022 – Internal Submission Deadline
• September 19-26, 2022 – UCSC Internal committee reviews applications and informs selected candidates
• September 29, 2022 – Deadline for UCSC (Karen Ottemann) to submit information to HHMI
• October 20, 2022 – Application opens
• December 8, 2022 – Application Deadline
• June 2023 – Award Notification
• September 1, 2023 – Fellowship begins

Call sent: August 29, 2022

The Office of Foundation Relations is a unit of University Relations. The FR team creates and maintains mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with private organizations, matching grant initiatives with educational and research programs and centers. FR supports faculty and staff to identify and approach these and other private foundations for funding, to assist in strategic positioning of the grant application, and to facilitate funder campus visits.
For a list of recent funding opportunities, please visit the FR website. FR Calls for Funding