Public Scholarship and Engagement is proud to announce the inaugural cohort of UC Davis graduate students who were accepted into the competitive Public Scholars for the Future fellowship. This program, which launched in spring 2022 in partnership with UC Davis Graduate Studies, is designed to support doctoral students in developing community engaged research with non-university partners.

“Many of our students yearn to conduct research that positively impacts communities,” said Vice Provost of Public Scholarship and Engagement Michael Rios. “However, greater support structures are needed to create spaces for individuals to pursue community-engaged work and find like-minded colleagues. There are few university-wide programs like this one across the country that bring together a cohort from a wide range of fields and disciplines. That is why we are so excited about this dynamic group of doctoral students and support them in developing their scholarly practice.”

The 2022 Public Scholars for the Future:

• Rose Bern, Social Psychology
• Marc Dadigan, Native American Studies
• Alice Dien, Biological Systems and Engineering
• Aakansha Jain, Transportation Technology and Policy
• Hollis Jones, Ecology
• Gabi Kirk, Geography
• Tyler Méndez Kline, Linguistics
• Amelia Lawless, Nursing
• Andrea Odell, Ecology
• Gauvav Thapa, Geography
• Meghan Zulian, Earth and Planetary Sciences

The 10-week, two-unit seminar brings together 11 doctoral candidates from different schools and diverse academic disciplines who share a common desire to serve communities. They represent fields ranging from transportation technology to nursing, from sociolinguistics to Native American studies. 

Through the seminar, public scholarship experts will lead them through theories, methodologies and practices of community-engaged research. The students will learn how to collaborate with a specific community to develop common goals that are mutually beneficial to the researchers and the community. They also will receive a stipend for their work, as well as one-on-one mentoring with faculty public scholars during the summer.

About UC Davis Public Scholarship and Engagement

Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) is building and supporting meaningful relationships between communities and UC Davis scholars that work together to solve today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges.

We envision a university unbound that seeks to serve the public, equitably and inclusively, resulting in reciprocal and mutual benefit to California’s communities and beyond.