Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program at UC Davis

Iván Olaya, a UC Davis alumnus and PREP@UCD scholar from our founding cohort, has received an IRACDA postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA! 

The UCLA IRACDA program awards postdoctoral fellowships to scholars who have demonstrated interest in academic careers and promoting DEI in STEM disciplines. In addition to mentored research, the program supports its fellows with training in pedagogy and a faculty-mentored teaching experience at partner institution CSULA.

The College of Biological Sciences wrote a iovely profile of the 2023-2024 PREP@UCD cohort! Check it out when you have a chance!

There's lots of celebratory joy out our way... our PREP scholars have made decisions about their destinations for next year.

Count 'em, four.

We are proud and happy (i.e., giddy and thrilled) to announce (i.e., shout to the world) that four PREP@UCD scholars from the 2023-2024 cohort received fellowships from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. And one affiliate who joined partway through the 2022-2023 program year received an Honorable Mention. 

From time to time (often coinciding with the drafting of our annual progress report...), we'll post an update on scholars' work resulting from their research as PREP scholars.

Cameron Vasquez from the 2023 cohort recently published a preview article with his mentor, John Albeck

In November, the PREP@UCD scholars made our annual pilgrimage to ABRCMS for a few days of science, networking, professional development, and reconnecting with alumni, friends, and colleagues. Since 2018, ABRCMS has been an important part of our fall program, and this year was no exception. 

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a science philanthropy that seeks to advance basic biomedical research and science education to advance humanity, today announced the 2023-2024 cohort of HHMI Gilliam Fellows. This program recognizes graduate students and their advisors for outstanding research and work to increase inclusion in science.

Members of the 2022-2023 cohort of PREP have figured out destinations for graduate study. They all were accepted into top schools in their fields, and for some, the final choice of program was very very difficult because they had totally amazing choices.

Congratulations to PREP@UCD scholars Arielle Hancko and Johnny Vertiz for being awarded NSF GRFPS! And PREP@UCD alum Brayan Vilanova, now at Cornell, received one too!

And alums Brandy Weathers (USC) and Kaitlynn Gov (UT Southwestern) received honorable mentions!

We're so proud of ALL of our PREP scholars and alums -- they've learned so much and we look forward to seeing all that they do in their careers.

PREP@UCD alum Tianna Grant gave a virtual seminar to students at her alma mater, St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY. In true PREP style, she included spoke about her journey from her undergraduate coursework, through her postbacc, to her graduate research on T cells and their receptors.

Tianna's discovery of bioinformatics in the LaSalle lab launched her into the Jimmy Ye lab and ImmunoX Computional Biology Initiative at UCSF.

Thanks for giving back to your alma mater, Tianna!