The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellows Program provides awards to pairs of dissertation advisers and their graduate students based on what HHMI values and considers essential components of the environment, particularly the institution and adviser’s commitment to creating a healthy academic ecosystem and the student’s potential for scientific leadership.
The goals of the Gilliam program are to ensure that persons from populations historically excluded from and underrepresented in science are prepared to assume leadership roles in science, including as college and university faculty, and to foster the development of a healthy and inclusive academic scientific ecosystem. The program awards grants to pairs of dissertation advisers and their graduate students and encourages the grantee institution and the adviser to hold themselves accountable for facilitating institutional change to create environments that advance diversity and inclusion.
The Gilliam Fellows award consists of:
- 3 years of support
- $36,000 stipend support per year
- $4,000 Fellow discretionary allowance per year
- $10,000 Institutional allowance, for tuition and fees, per year
- $3,000 adviser’s diversity and inclusion activities allowance, per year
- a year-long culturally responsive mentorship skills development course for advisers
The next anticipated deadline in December 2024.
Eligibility
- Students must be in their 2nd or 3rd year of their PhD program
- Prospective fellows 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 U.S. (DACA)
- Students must study scientific problems in biomedical sciences, life sciences, and 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 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)
- During the fellowship term, Fellows are not permitted to receive funds from another extramurally funded fellowship, scholarship, or similar award.
Application Requirements
- An internal competition will be held to determine the Cornell University nominees.
- Please contact the Office of Fellowships and Scientific Writing (OFSW) in the Graduate School to inform the grants administrator of your intent to submit an application
- Applications must be routed to the OFSW via Weill Research Gateway (WRG) 7 business days before the sponsor deadline for Pre-Review and 2 business days before the sponsor deadline for final review
- PhD Students