Brandeis Alumni, Family and Friends
PhD Fellowships
Reshaping the boundaries of knowledge by powering Brandeis' bold research enterprise.
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Translating discovery into solutions for people across the globe.
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Preparing the next generation of leaders and innovators.
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Advancing the health and wellbeing of our society and planet.
Doctoral programs at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) are the lifeblood of Brandeis’ dual mission as a teaching and research institute, distinguishing the university as a preeminent destination where groundbreaking doctoral scholarship has global impact.
Representing tomorrow’s leading scientists, scholars and professionals, Brandeis top-tier PhD programs draw extraordinary students from around the globe. The best and brightest find inspiration working alongside distinguished professors to improve human health, build sustainable communities and address society’s greatest challenges.
Regarded as a “jewel in the Brandeis crown,” the research conducted by Brandeis PhD students is essential to our status as an elite R1 research university, where diverse faculty and scholars of the highest caliber make the exceptional happen. Doctoral students simultaneously play key roles as Teaching Assistants, Lab Assistants and Mentors to our undergraduates, exemplifying the vertical connectivity central to our Framework for the Future.
Doctoral students play an integral role in fostering undergraduate education at Brandeis. Over the past eight years, roughly 1,000 doctoral students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences served as CAs/TAs and instructors. In their course evaluations, the undergraduates describe our doctoral students as organized, efficient instructors who “explain the material clearly,” keep their class content “engaging and fascinating,” and display a “dedication to [undergraduate] learning,” often being available to students outside of the standard classroom and office hours. Our doctoral students are helping to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world application for our undergraduates.
GSAS offers 17 doctoral programs in the divisions of Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities and Creative Arts, enabling students to pursue careers in a broad range of settings.
Nature, one of the most prestigious journals in science, ranked Brandeis 5th in 2019 among research institutions globally for the proportion of its science output published in leading journals.
Endowed PhD fellowships: A priority for the future of Brandeis
An investment in Brandeis PhD students is an investment in the future of the entire university. Vital support enables our doctoral students to leverage their remarkable talents and creativity to produce knowledge, generate discoveries, and support our outstanding undergraduate ecosystem of learning. Their scholarship leads to strong undergraduate education and transformative advances yielding worldwide impact.
“The world needs ingenuity-driven scientists, humanists, artists, and social scientists to tackle its most pressing problems. Graduating 80% of Brandeis’ PhDs, GSAS ensures that our doctoral students play key roles in educating our undergraduates while being prepared to excel in an array of era-defining careers.”
-Wendy Cadge, Barbara Mandel Professor of the Humanistic Social Sciences
Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Brandeis University
Preparing PhD students for diverse careers
Now more than ever, doctoral training is valued in a wide range of rewarding professions. Brandeis’ intimate size and interdisciplinary orientation allows PhD students to conduct research today that prepares them for the diverse careers they will pursue tomorrow.
The GSAS professional development program offers opportunities for PhD students to gain the experience and skills they will need to launch careers that make a difference.
- The Connected PhD, promoting workplace readiness in the humanities and humanistic social sciences through grants that help students gain marketable skills and professional experience.
- Three Minute Thesis (3MT), a competition that teaches students how to effectively communicate the “elevator pitch” describing their research.
45% of alumni from the past ten years work in academia, 37% in industry, 8% in non-profit, and 2% in governmental affairs. The majority work in the US, followed by China, India, Israel, and the UK.
Why We Support PhD Students
“My wife, Wei Du, PhD’94, and I established the Richard S. Palais Endowed Fellowship in honor of one of the many incredible individuals who enabled us to succeed as international students. We hope and believe this fellowship will allow many other doctoral students in mathematics to experience the same benefits we were blessed with at Brandeis.”- Bing-Le Wu, PhD’91 and member of the Brandeis Board of Trustees
Students and Alumni Impacting the World
Brandeis PhD alumni include: biomedical researchers, entrepreneurs, professors, civil servants, non-profit leaders, artists, authors, diplomats and data scientists.
Leading cancer drug discovery at Dana-Farber, Dr. Kostic advances the science of cancer therapeutics. She is widely published, editor of two leading academic journals on chemical biology, and helps scientists communicate their research to global audiences.
Combining his passions for international relations and serving his country, Dr. Olson, Foreign Area Officer in the U.S. Marines, promotes Brandeis' founding values of inclusion and human diversity in his leadership of sailors and marines.
As executive vice president at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Dr. Zeng directs research and development of novel technologies to treat brain disease. Her research focuses on combining molecular, anatomical and physiological approaches to unravel mechanisms of brain circuitry as potential means for treating brain diseases.
World-renowned author of “Waiting,” “War Trash,” and “Nanjing Requiem”, Ha Jin has received the National Book Award for Fiction, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Qualitative researcher and GIS specialist Houman Oliaei researches Yezidis, an ethnoreligious minority in northern Iraq that experienced genocidal violence and forced displacement following an ISIS attach in 2014. He has created a story map of election results to understand how minority groups are represented in Iraqi elections.
Jazz-pop singer-songwriter and classical composer, Dr. Namir produces a popular online concert series viewed by audiences around the world.
Using techniques from DNA nanotechnology, Daichi Hayakawa’s research explores the complicated self-assembly process that happens in biological systems. Through his work with the Masason Foundation, he also brings together highly-motivated youth to develop their skills and potential.
Recipient of the 2021 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, India’s highest scientific award, Dr. Ghosh is a professor of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India where he specializes in ergodic and number theories.
Recipient of the Department Prize Instructorship for the Spring 2022, semester, Xin Yao Lin will deliver a new course she designed examining the relationship between the use of social technology and well-being.
A senior data scientist at Adobe, Dr. Hashimunda is an entrepreneur and researcher who pairs his analytical abilities with business acumen. He develops artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for digital marketers.
