The Graduate School is pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellows.
Congratulations to the recipients of the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF) for the 2025-26 academic year! The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF) provides a unique opportunity for outstanding Ph.D. students who are engaged in interdisciplinary research to study with faculty at one of the University’s interdisciplinary research centers or institutes during the fellowship year.
Amir Hossein Ayyoubi
Graduate Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Advisor: Dr. Nuri Ince
Host Center: Center for Neuroengineering
Raihana Afroz
Graduate Program: Chemistry
Advisor: Dr. Varun Gadkari
Host Center: Center of Metabolomics and Proteomics
Desmond Asante
Graduate Program: Kinesiology
Advisor: Drs. Rachel Hawe and Stephen Guy
Host Center: Center for Applied and Translational Sensory Science
Laura Chubb
Graduate Program: Educational Psychology
Advisor: Drs. Frank Symons and Jason Wolff
Host Center: Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, Non-Invasive Neuromodulation Lab
Kate Dembny
Graduate Program: Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Tay Netoff
Host Center: Institute for Engineering in Medicine
Quinn Dickinson
Graduate Program: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Advisor: Drs. Juan Carlos Rivera-Mulia and Chuanhe Yu
Host Center: Minnesota Supercomputing Institute
Ebuka Ezugwu
Graduate Program: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Drs. Susan Mantell and Mrinal Bhattacharya
Host Center: Materials Research Science and Engineering Center
Mukund Madhav Jha
Graduate Program: History
Advisor: Dr. Ajay Skaria
Host Center: Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change
Malay Kotal
Graduate Program: Geography
Advisor: Dr. Vinay Gidwani
Host Center: Institute of Advanced Study
Nora Nguyen
Graduate Program: Child Psychology
Advisor: Dr. Ka Ip
Host Center: Minnesota Population Center
Isabel Pastoor
Graduate Program: Applied Economics
Advisor: Dr. Marc Bellemare
Host Center: Life Course Center
Kanha Prasad
Graduate Program: History
Advisor: Dr. Ajay Skaria
Host Center: Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change
Hannah Shwendeman
Graduate Program: Sociology
Advisor: Dr. Michelle Phelps
Host Center: Institute for Advanced Study
Sandra Shahriar
Graduate Program: Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Chun Wang
Host Center: Institute for Therapeutics Discovery & Development
Sumedh Sopan Nagrale
Graduate Program: Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Alik Widge
Host Center: Center for Neuroengineering
Nasema Zeerak
Graduate Program: Public Affairs
Advisor: Dr. Dipali Mukhopadhyay
Host Center: Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change
Weilun Zhang
Graduate Program: Geography
Advisor: Dr. Arun Saldanha
Host Center: Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change