Xiran Bai, graduate student in physics and a member of Yale’s Wright Lab, has received a Dean’s Emerging Scholar Award.
The award is given to those who exhibit outstanding academic promise and achievement and meet at least one of the following criteria:
- they come from backgrounds that have been underrepresented in their chosen fields of study, including historically underrepresented minority students, first-generation college graduates, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, or women in STEM fields;
- they plan to pursue research related to issues of diversity and identity, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, religion, sexual orientation, and ability;
- they have previously been or are currently involved in diversity-related initiatives by volunteering for community service or outreach on a college or university campus.
Reina Maruyama, professor of physics and Bai’s advisor, said “Xiran is a brilliant scientist who is committed to share her passion for science with a wider community. She is making science more accessible and inclusive, and I am very happy to have her and her scholarship be recognized with this award.”
The Dean’s Emerging Scholars Initiative was created by a partnership between the Office of the Provost and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences which focuses on fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive graduate student community campus wide.
This initiative adds to some of Yale’s existing “pipeline” programs to expand the excellence and diversity of future generations of faculty, including:
- Edward A. Bouchet Fellowship
- Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program
- James and Mary Pinchot Fellowship at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and the
- Diversity Fellows program in the Graduate School’s Office for Graduate Student Development & Diversity