President Amy Gutmann, Provost Wendell Pritchett, and Deputy Provost Beth Winkelstein announced on May 4 the recipients of Penn’s inaugural class of Presidential PhD Fellows. Drawing from the most accomplished and diverse PhD trainees, the 2021 Presidential PhD Fellows come from across the nine schools at Penn that offer PhD programs.

“Our PhD students embody our profound mission of creating new knowledge, understanding, and teaching that will shape the future,” said President Amy Gutmann upon the launch of the President’s PhD Initiative last fall. “They make a tangible impact by tackling the world’s most significant challenges and most perplexing questions. Sustaining their world-changing scholarship will be more important than ever in a post-pandemic world.” 

Each Presidential PhD Fellow will receive a three-year fellowship, including summer support and funds to support their research. The fellowship includes a 12-month stipend, tuition, fees, Penn Student Insurance coverage, and research funds. In 2021-22, the annual stipend will be $38,000 with research funds of $10,000/year. The fellowship will renew automatically for students in good academic standing. 

The inaugural class of 33 Presidential PhD Fellows are:

Jenea Adams, Perelman School of Medicine 

Helena Addison, School of Nursing 

Estevan Aleman, School of Arts & Sciences

Mary Andrews, Annenberg School for Communication

Abdul Manan Bhat, School of Arts & Sciences

Justin Bracks, School of Arts & Sciences

Jose Campos, Perelman School of Medicine

Aisha Chughtai, School of Arts & Sciences and Perelman School of Medicine

Ashley Cooper, School of Nursing

Kimberly Edwards, Perelman School of Medicine

Linnea Gandhi, The Wharton School

VanJessica Gladney, School of Arts & Sciences

Shaquilla Harrigan, School of Arts & Sciences

Antoine Haywood, Annenberg School for Communication 

Christopher Johnny, School of Arts & Sciences

Nazar Khalid, School of Arts & Sciences

Jessica Kim, School of Social Policy & Practice

Maya Lassiter, School of Engineering and Applied Science

Yeonhwa Lee, Stuart Weitzman School of Design

Zain Rashid Mian, School of Arts & Sciences

Seble Negatu, Perelman School of Medicine

Kimberly Noronha, Stuart Weitzman School of Design 

Marielle Ong, School of Arts & Sciences

Danielle Perry, School of Arts & Sciences

Sean Plaskett, Graduate School of Education

McKenzie Preston, The Wharton School

Giovani Rocha Batista Santos, School of Arts & Sciences

Kimberly St Julian Varnon, School of Arts & Sciences 

Rachael Stephens, Graduate School of Education and School of Arts & Sciences 

Tianwei Wu, School of Engineering and Applied Science

Stephanie Yang, School of Engineering and Applied Science

Liangcheng Yu, School of Engineering and Applied Science

Sharon Zanti, School of Social Policy & Practice