UC Davis graduate student Nicole Claiborne and her advisor, Professor Karen Zito, are among the 45 doctoral students and their advisers awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Gilliam Fellowships to advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences.
"Ten years ago I arrived alone in the US with nothing but a dream. Now I am proud to call myself a scientist, a Ph.D. student, and a mentor. My family, while loving and supportive, never imagined that I would become a scientist. To be honest, neither did I."
Irene Yim, a second-year Ph.D. student in food science and technology, brings a particular zest to her research in food safety: an impressive professional cooking background.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Yim spent her childhood helping in her family’s restaurants and attended the California Culinary Academy Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco after high school.
She spent the next decade cooking for esteemed restaurants in the Bay Area and beyond: Thailand, Singapore and New Orleans.
