In the wee hours of the morning on April 8, second-year PhD student Shevaughn Holness woke up unexpectedly to a congratulatory text message from a fellow graduate student. The announcement for the selective National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) has just come out, and Shevaughn’s name was on the list.
“My first thought, due to shock, was to double check,” says Holness. Indeed, Holness was one of the 1,000 awardees of the 2025 NSF GRFP, and one of the three graduate students who received the award from Brown. Joining her are Celia Kong-Johnson in Paleoclimate Studies and Chandler Stevenson in Electrical Engineering at Brown.
The NSF GRFP is a prestigious, nationally-funded, five-year graduate fellowship that offers three years of funding to its recipients, including an annual stipend of $37,000 and the coverage of tuition fees. For Holness, the fellowship will fund the rest of her PhD at CCMB. Furthermore, “the acknowledgement of the novelty and feasibility of my research bolsters my confidence,” says Holness.
Holness is currently working on two projects in computational biology and population genetics. The first project revolves around polygenic risk scores, which predict how genetically disposed one may be to particular traits. Holness is working on incorporating environmental variables and social conditions into these scores.
Holness’s second project is exploring how historical events in the United States have shaped the population structure of several specific communities. “I am excited about my research because my results could lead to better representation of the population structure of underrepresented populations in the US and a better understanding of genetic and environmental interaction,” says Holness.
Though Holness’s first reaction to the exciting news about the fellowship was shock, her second was gratitude. “I immediately wanted to say thank you to everyone that had supported me,” says Holness. “I’m still a little surprised but overall very happy to make my advisors and family proud.”
Holness is advised by Sohini Ramachandran at CCMB, who is equally thrilled about the news. “I feel incredibly lucky to be Shevaughn's advisor. She is always looking for opportunities to learn and continually challenges herself to grow as a scientist,” says Ramachandran.
“This award is a wonderful recognition of Shevaughn’s determination and promise as a young scientist, and we are so grateful that her research on human population genetics and the rest of her graduate journey will be supported by the National Science Foundation.”