Among the many ambitious goals set in Brown University’s 2016 Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion action plan was the plan to double the number of graduate students from historically underrepresented groups (HUGs) by 2022. Not only would achieving that goal benefit the Brown campus — with a greater diversity of perspectives central to excellence in teaching, research and more — but it would contribute to building a pipeline of potential leaders in higher education and the public and private sectors as well. This fall, as the largest-ever cohort of students from HUGs enters the Graduate School — representing 12 percent of the incoming class — the University has taken a significant step toward meeting the action plan’s goal and, even more importantly, contributing to a more diverse world beyond Brown.

With humility even at a moment when they’ve been selected for significant honors, three young Brown University life scientists,  emphasized that they would never be where they are today without the generous guidance of many mentors. Now, as they accept the prestigious fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), doctoral students Kavin Nuñez and Shawn Williams, and postdoctoral researcher Arif Hamid all say that they are dedicated to becoming the mentors they know firsthand can make an existential difference in the careers of young scholars, particularly from historically underrepresented groups and low-income backgrounds.

Doctoral student Sierra Kaufman was selected as part of the fourth cohort of students in the Lighting the Pathway to Faculty Careers for Natives in STEM from the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). Kaufman is a member of the Shinnecock Nation, a small tribe on Long Island. At Brown she studies in the Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences program and is also a Presidential Fellow.

"This fellowship is important to me because it offers support and mentoring sensitive to the issues relevant to Native Americans. My short term goal is to become a capable and competitive applicant for future academic positions and in the long term, to be able to give back by mentoring young members of a diverse STEM community," says Kaufman.

Orientation featured a welcome from President Christina Paxson & Provost Richard Locke today, along with sessions on Thriving at Brown and Title IX, as well as a resource fair and historical campus walking tours. The Graduate School's incoming class of 866 includes 330 pursuing doctoral degrees, 516 entering master's programs, and 20 non-degree students.