Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has chosen nine students from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive a fellowship covering $44,000 per year to cover the cost of graduate school.

The Gilliam fellowship, named after after James H. Gilliam, a former HHMI trustee who fostered diversity in science education, covers up to five years of a student's graduate training.

HHMI draws applicants from former participants of its Exceptional Research Opportunities Program, in which undergrads spend a summer internship with an HHMI investigator. Applicants must be nominated by a mentor; then the Institute looks for the best of the bunch.


Previous awardees of the Gilliam Fellowship program


How does HHMI define "best"? Maryrose Franko, the senior program officer for grants, said that aside from the standardized test scores, she looks for recommendations that sing praises of a student's creativity and independence in the lab. When she reads letters that describe a student's "good hands," it's a sure sign that the student is a good lab tech, but not necessarily destined for independent problem solving, she said. She looks for letters that speak to the students' intellectual contribution to the research.

Students are also judged on their demonstration of "science activism," as Franko calls it. Not only is the institute hoping to raise excellent scientists, she said, "We want them to be a mentor in the professoriate."

The award usually goes to just five students, but nine students were selected in 2009 because the quality of the applicants was so high. "This year's group of nine have shown so much commitment" to science outreach and literacy in their community, Franko said. You can read about the individual accomplishments of the awardees here.


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