The Graduate School and International Education is welcoming 26 new Distinguished Doctoral Fellows and 36 Doctoral Academy Fellows to the U of A for the 2024-25 school year to conduct impactful research and creative activity.  

The Distinguished Doctoral and Doctoral Academy Fellowships are nationally competitive fellowships established in 2002 through a gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. The fellowships attract highly-qualified graduate students to the U of A to help conduct research and creative activity to drive economic development and improve the quality of life for Arkansans.  

Distinguished Doctoral Fellows receive an award of $22,000 per year for a maximum of four years, while Doctoral Academy Fellows receive an award of $12,000 per year. Both fellows also receive a 50 percent graduate assistantship provided concurrently by their department.

"We are honored to have another stellar class of doctoral fellows coming to the University of Arkansas this fall," said Ed Pohl, dean of the Graduate School and International Education. "These students are some of the top students in the country and world in their respective fields and will make an immediate impact on our campus through their expertise and passion."

For more information on the doctoral fellows, visit the GSIE website.

The fellows and their areas of study are:

Distinguished Doctoral Fellows

• Nathanial Bork, educational policy
• Alissa Desmond, psychology
• Samuel Fakunle, electrical engineering
• Austin Francis, finance
• Timothy Fry, anthropology
• Misty Gallo, educational policy
• Emily Grugan, psychology
• Tristan Hoerschelmann, biological sciences
• Farzam Hosseinpour, civil engineering
• Brooke Kester, biological sciences
• Andrew Garrett Kirkpatrick, environmental dynamics
• Andrea Lan, educational policy
• Cameron McGarrah, history
• Alejandro Mercado Tejerina, physics       
• Abraham Mitchell, computer engineering
• Samantha Mortenson, physics
• Hudson Pace, psychology
• Stephen Pierson, mechanical engineering
• Daniel Rosenburg, environmental dynamics
• Meredith Schellhase, educational policy
• Ethan Talley, biological sciences
• Brody Terry, psychology
• Nicholas Thompson, finance
• Sheikh Uddin Quadery, economics
• Adrienne Vaughan, biomedical engineering
• Lexi Woodward, curriculum and instruction

Doctoral Academy Fellows

• Geoffery Agorku, civil engineering
• Paul Akpejeluh, biological sciences
• Samantha Anger, space and planetary sciences
• Khadijah Audu, geosciences
• Julia Baranyk, biological sciences
• Stephanie Barr, curriculum and instruction
• Olivia Burdine, entomology
• Cameron Catrett, animal science
• Hannah Cheung, counselor education and supervision
• Jing Cui, accounting
• Uttama Deb, environmental dynamics
• Ivan Emrich, biological sciences
• Connor Foley, entomology
• Xinyue Hai, civil engineering
• Peter Hawkins, curriculum and instruction
• Abigail Houck, psychology
• Cheng Hu, psychology
• Brianna "Bri" Jordan, psychology
• James Kelly, history
• Sofia Maass, biological sciences
• Samuel Musser, educational policy
• Emmanuel Oguntomi, economics
• Ethan Oleson, geosciences
• Laura Perkins, curriculum and instruction
• Jessica Rice, psychology
• Ashley Rieske, educational policy
• Julian Ruiz, psychology
• Kimberly Shaw, educational policy
• Linna Shi, management
• Colin Sim, electrical engineering
• Ana Maria Cristina Stan, anthropology
• Qian Tang, educational policy
• Le Que Anh Truong, food science
• Tanner Turben, civil engineering
• Emmaline "Emma" Williams, English
• Lia Wu, English