Graduate School names 2024 Kopchick Fellows

The Graduate School is proud to announce the 2024 recipients of the Dr. John J. and Charlene Kopchick Fellowships. These fellowships are funded through a generous $10.5 million endowment established by alumnus John J. Kopchick, PhD '80, and his wife, Charlene.

2024 Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship

First-Year Fellows:

Hana Baroudi - Medical Physics Program; Advisor:  Laurence Court, PhD

Stephen Farmer - Molecular & Translational Biology Program; Advisor: Sheng Zhang, PhD

Chrystine Gallegos - Neuroscience Program; Advisor: Carmen Dessauer, PhD

Skylar Gay - Medical Physics Program; Advisor: Laurence Court, PhD

Pengju Gong - Cancer Biology Program; Advisor: Chunru Lin, PhD

Mo-Fan Huang - Genetics and Epigenetics Program; Dung-Fang Lee, PhD

Kaylene Lu - Cancer Biology Program; Advisor: Jian Hu, PhD

Kevin Liu - Medical Physics Program; Advisor: Emil Schueler, PhD

Bridgitte Palacios - Neuroscience Program; Advisor: Jian Hu, PhD

Amanda Warner - Cancer Biology Program; Advisor: Don Gibbons, MD, PhD

Second-Year Fellows:

Cuauhtemoc Ulises Gonzalez - Molecular & Translational Biology Program; Advisor: Vasanthi Jayaraman, PhD

Takese McKenzie - Neuroscience Program; Advisor: Jian Hu, PhD

Eyad Shihabeddin - Neuroscience Program; Advisor: Jiaqian Wu, PhD

2024 Charlene Kopchick Fellowship

Mekenzie Peshoff - Neuroscience Program; Advisor: Louise McCullough, MD, PhD

The Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowships are awarded to students who demonstrate exceptional character, extracurricular leadership, research excellence and scholarly merit. Each fellowship provides $7,500 directly to the student and an additional $7,500 to support their research and training. These fellowships may be renewed for a total award period of up to two years.

The Charlene Kopchick Fellowship is awarded to a GSBS student who demonstrates unique characteristics beyond merit and financial need. Such characteristics may include but are not limited to first-generation college graduates entering graduate research; students who exhibit exemplary personal character; uniqueness of background and culture; strong work ethic; perceived leadership qualities and an enthusiastic scientific curiosity. These fellowships provide $8,250 of direct aid to the student and an additional $8,250 to support the student’s research and training. This is a one-time award to the student and is not renewable.

Fellowships are awarded each year, and fellows work with the school to host the biennial Kopchick Symposium.