Thinking About Distinguished Fellowships This Spring?
Undergraduate Research and Fellowships is pleased to present: Just Apply: Distinguished Fellowships
Hear from recent graduates on what it really takes – and why applying is always worth it.
Thursday, April 16, 2026 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET
Virtual—Free & open to all Huskies
Can’t make it? Register anyway – a recording will be available to all attendees.
Applying for fellowships is one of the most valuable things you can do as an undergraduate — regardless of the outcome. The process itself pushes you to articulate your goals, reflect on your research, and tell your story with clarity and confidence. You’ll build relationships with faculty mentors, connect with a community of driven peers, and develop writing and interview skills that will serve you long after the deadline passes. And if you’re not selected? You’ll have a polished set of materials, a deeper understanding of your own aspirations, and a stronger foundation for the next opportunity. Many of the most successful fellowship recipients applied more than once. The students on this panel know firsthand that the question is never really will I win — it’s what will I gain by trying? Come hear their stories and find out why the answer is always: more than you expect.
Featuring:
Andrea Gieseman, CSSH’22, Fulbright ETA Recipient
Andrea recently completed a Fulbright grant (2024-2025) in Madrid, Spain, where she taught English and History at a secondary school. She is currently based in the UK, pursuing a master’s degree in Education Policy, Leadership, and Improvement at the University of Cambridge.
Vivek Kanpa, Khoury’23, Mitchell Scholarship Recipient
Vivek (he/him is a 24-year-old PhD student in Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He lives and works on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, a block away from Central Park.
Gillian McClennen, COS’24, Goldwater and NSF GRFP Recipient
Gillian is a second-year PhD candidate in the Zegarra-Ruiz lab at UVA. There, she studies the role of the microbial metabolite butyrate in regulating dendritic cell-mediated inflammation in autoimmunity.
Michael Shen, COE’23, NSF-GRFP Recipient
Michael is an Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. student at Cornell Tech based in New York City and a member of the Cornell Computer Systems Laboratory, co-advised by Professor Udit Gupta and Professor G. Edward Suh. Michael’s current research interests are in the areas of computer architecture and computer systems for efficient machine learning.
Madeline Szoo, COE’25, NSF-GRFP Recipient, Goldwater University Nominee
Maddie is a first-year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. She is currently studying metastatic breast cancers and pediatric gliomas of the brain and spinal cord.