The Arthur A. Schomburg (Schomburg) Fellowship is a graduate fellowship program for eligible underrepresented students who will pursue graduate study on a full time basis at the University at Buffalo.
The Schomburg fellowship program is intended to support high achieving doctoral and professional students in pursuit of terminal degrees. Only in exceptional cases may master’s students who meet all eligibility requirements for this program be selected for funding. Recipients of Schomburg fellowships must be new to the degree program; however, students who have previously earned a master’s degree or who are currently enrolled in a master’s degree program and are applying to transition into a doctoral program are eligible to receive a Schomburg fellowship.
Schomburg fellows must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who can demonstrate that they would contribute to the diversity of the student body of the university, especially those who have overcome a disadvantage or other impediment to success in higher education. In awarding these fellowships, academic units may give consideration to students who are of a race or ethnicity that is underrepresented in its graduate or professional programs but may not make awards solely on that basis. Students must be planning to enroll full time during the award period and must have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0.
Each school or college has an internal admissions and selection process. Please contact your academic department for more information.
Throughout the year, the Office of Fellowships and Scholarships encourages our Presidential, Schomburg, and Graduate School Fellows to share their research with one another during our Research Talks. These talks allow for the exchange of knowledge among the community and create potential for scholarly collaborations.
Date
| Name
| Degree
| Title and Description
|
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2, 2023 | Joel Kirk | PhD, Music Composition | Representations of Blackness and the Crossing Over of Sound: The Commodification of Soul in the Early Music of Whitney Houston (1985-1989)
Born into a highly musical family consisting of Grammy-winning artists such as Cissy Houston (mother), Darlene Love (godmother), Dionne Warwick (cousin), and Aretha Franklin (honorary aunt), Whitney Houston was exposed to a plethora of Motown, Soul, and gospel influences from an early age. After being signed to Arista Records under the watchful eye of Clive Davis in 1983, her subsequent rise to stardom was not only fast, but also highly calculated by the white-centric hierarchy of leading industry professionals. Drawing on the work of Tricia Rose, Keith Negus, Kristin Lieb, and Kyra Gaunt, Kirk analyzes Whitney Houston’s early sound through the systemic oppression of Black, female artists in the American mainstream music industry across the mid-late 20th Century. What can Whitney Houston's early sound tell us about the white-washing of Black artists to suit the ears of a (so-called) 'crossover' audience? Emerging artists such as Doja Cat, Sza, and Cardi B are living proof that the precarious issue of crossover sound is one that remains just as prevalent over 30 years later, and therefore is one which must be carefully considered in ethnomusicological study of Black popular artists. |
| March 6, 2023 | Meghan Holtan | PhD, Urban and Regional Planning | Housing and Health Equity in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic
This research presentation synthesizes fifty peer-reviewed journal articles linking housing to health in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic using a health equity lens. This scoping literature review sets the stage for regional approaches to integrating housing, community development, and health in a changing climate. Housing characteristics that affect health in the study area include the impact of residential mobility, crowding, indoor air quality and ventilation, piped water and sewer service to homes, and access to health care, as well as characteristics specific to the Northern Indigenous context, including colonial legacies and the importance of social and cultural connection in housing design and policy. |
| April 6, 2023 | András Blazsek | PhD, Media Study | Sonification, Attentive Listening and the Workshop
What is sonification? Sonification is a method of making what is not audible—images, videos, numerical data, information—into sound for attentive listening. Among people who study sonification it is either understood as a scientific process that can only transfer information, interpret it, or communicate it, or it is treated as music, experienced as a set of abstractions made through aesthetic choices to create sensory impact. It is analyzed as either a way of offloading pressure on the visual system in what is an ocularcentric world, or it is described as a practice that reveals an underappreciated cochlearcentrism among humans. What are the stakes of a sonification practice that would give importance to listening? What types of listening modes exist and how they help in the understanding of sonification? |
| April 28, 2023 | Charles LaBarre | PhD, Social Welfare | Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder: Conceptual Shifts, New Research, and Emerging Challenges
In this presentation, LaBarre will introduce emerging research that has shifted conceptualizations of recovery from alcohol use disorder, discuss new research that has investigated and tested new definitions of recovery (inclusive of his current line of research), and future research directions. Specifically, he will discuss how research in the past 2-3 decades resulted in changes of what it means to "recover" from AUD, and how these changes have impacted the way researchers research recovery. LaBarre will then discuss how recent research within the past 5-10 years has provided nuance and clarity to recovery processes. Finally, he will discuss pressing gaps, such as the need for recovery research among underrepresented, minority, and disadvantaged populations, and his research pertaining to sexual minority populations. |
Date
| Name
| Degree
| Title and Description
|
|---|---|---|---|
| April 1, 2022 | LaShekia Chatman | PhD, Anthropology | Contrasting Motivations Among Black Reproductive Professionals: Competing Paradigms for Reimagining Liberation
LaShekia’s second year thesis began as an exploration into the Black midwife and doula movement as a source of cultural and political empowerment, yet evolved into a rarely-explored narrative on the struggle for cultural capital among emerging ethnomedical practices, ideas on professionalism, the future of medical education, and the need for reimagining what culturally resonant care means for not only patients, but BIPOC practitioners. |
April 22, 2022 | Narayan Dhimal | PhD, Neuroscience | Critical Components: Understanding the Role of Cellular Recycling in Krabbe Disease
Narayan’s work is centered around Krabbe disease, a severe neurological condition that affects 1 in 100,000 people in the United States. People who suffer from Krabbe disease lack a key enzyme that is required for autophagy, the body’s natural process to clear out or recycle damaged or unnecessary cellular components. This leads to abnormal amounts of myelin — a layer of proteins and fatty acids that surround nerves — and contributes to the disease’s severity. While there is currently no cure for Krabbe disease, there are approved bone marrow therapies as well as ongoing gene therapy trials. Narayan’s research focusing on the regulation of myelin hopes to find a new therapeutic strategy that can work in tandem with these treatments. |
| October 27, 2022 | Shu Wan | PhD, History | We, Tong Bing: An Early History of the Chinese Deaf Community
Focusing on the formation of the deaf community before and during the War of Resistance, this essay explores Chinese deaf leaders' endeavors and the evolution of the deaf community in the following two sections. The first section examines the proliferation of deaf education in early twentieth century Chinese society. After examining the evolution from a network consisting of deaf educators and educated to a national deaf community before the War of Resistance, the second section switches to dead elites’ reactions to the influence of the national crisis on deaf people, especially those who were impoverished and in plight. |
Date
| Name
| Degree
| Title and Description
|
|---|---|---|---|
March 31, 2021
| N.D. Lambert
| PhD, Political Science
| How Far Ahead Do Nations Plan?
|
April 30, 2021
| Amanda Waggoner
| PhD, Geography
| Race and Place in Washington, D.C.
|
| Sept. 29, 2021 | Aria Wiseblatt | PhD, Clinical Psychology | Examining the Impact of Alcohol and Hookups on Sexual Victimization in White, Black and Asian College Women Sexual victimization (SV) of women continues to be a prevalent issue on college campuses. Literature suggests that heavy alcohol use and hookups are significant predictors of sexual victimization in college women. However, little research examines whether and in what ways these risk factors may operate differently among college women of different racial backgrounds. Aria's findings suggest that future research on college SV and SV prevention programs on college campuses should consider risk factors that disproportionally impact non-white women. |
| Oct. 28, 2021 | Shu Wan | PhD, History | Francis G. Benedict and Racialization of the Chinese Basal Metabolism in the Early 20th Century Shu's research looks at the work of American biochemist Francis G. Benedict, who studied the Chinese racial feature in basal metabolism from 1927 to 1937. Shu looks at Benedict's work collectively, studying his concept, research and post-research impact. The conclusion of this research argues that it is misleading to characterize Benedict's racialized basal metabolism studies in a progressive, positive narrative. |
| Dec. 2, 2021 | John Aulich | PhD, Music Composition | Paving the Way For Feminism: Female Fluxus Artists of the 1960s Fluxus is a highly influential arts movement dating from the 1960s, the impact of which is still strongly felt today. Its proponents and their descendants push the boundaries of what art can be by inviting active exploration through unfolding multi-sensory experiences. Fluxus as a whole was extremely politically radical, and its male adherents in particular often created works with strong and overt political sentiments. As a result, most scholarly attention to the political side of Fluxus artists has been paid to male Fluxus artists and their polemics. In contrast, researchers have only recently begun exploring the equally politically charged work of Fluxus art by women. John's research looks at three specific pieces of Fluxus art created by women in the 1960s and shows how their implicit connotation pave the way for more overt feminist art in the 1970s. |
Date
| Name
| Degree
| Title and Description
|
|---|---|---|---|
March 4, 2020
| Venus Amiri
| PhD, Chemical and Biological Engineering
| Computational Analysis of Magnetic Droplet Generation and Manipulation in Microfluidic Devices
|
April 9, 2020
| Raven Baxter
| PhD, Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning, concentration in Science Education
| “Big Ole Geeks”: How Innovation in Hip-Hop and Reality Pedagogy Set a Precedent for Representation in Science for Black Women
|
June 9, 2020
| Olivia Geneus
| PhD, Physical Chemistry
| Hypoxia Targeted Nanoparticles of a T1 Contrast Agent
|
June 30, 2020
| Pegi Bakula
| PhD, Linguistics
| Introducing Yil, a People and Language of Papua New Guinea Bakula introduced listeners to the Yil people of Papaua New Guinea, who belong to the Wapei branch of the Torricelli family. This language faces extinction, and Bakula’s research interests and goals seek to keep it alive. |
July 14, 2020
| Adrian Stein
| PhD, Mechanical Engineering
| Nonlinear Control of a Knuckle-Boom Crane With an Inertial Payload |
Aug. 4, 2020
| Eric Deutsch
| PhD, History
| “Fiddler’s Bitch”: The Guide Dog Movement Comes to America |
Aug. 25, 2020
| Alber Aqil
| PhD, Biological Sciences
| Balancing Selection Maintaining Polymorphisms in Hominins |
Sept. 23, 2020
| Antara Satchidanand
| PhD, Communication Disorders and Sciences
| Put the What, Where?! Referencing in Robot Assisted Surgery |
Oct. 14, 2020
| Jamal Williams and Megan Conrow-Graham
| PhD, Physiology and Biophysics; MD/PhD, Neuroscience
| Ain’t I a Woman? How the U.S. Healthcare System is Failing Women of Color |
Nov. 4, 2020
| Sarah Quinones
| PhD, Epidemiology and Environmental Health
| Disability and Multidimensional Well-Being Among Adolescents in Rural Tanzania |
Date
| Name
| Degree
| Title and Description
|
|---|---|---|---|
Feb. 19, 2019
| Monica Johnson
| PhD, Counseling and School Psychology
| African American Acculturation and the "Strong Black Woman" Phenomenon
|
March 26, 2019
| Megan Donahue
| PhD, Rehabilitation Engineering
| Are You Presenting for Everyone? Tips and Tricks for Inclusive Presentations |
April 9, 2019
| Gloria Aidoo-Frimpong
| PhD, Community Health and Health Behavior
| Peer and Community Factors on PrEP Uptake: A Qualitative Study of PrEP Users in Western New York |
April 30, 2019
| Ali Al Qaraghuli
| PhD, Electrical Engineering
| Terahertz Communications for Space and Beyond |
July 9, 2019
| Steven Lewis and Jamal Williams
| PhD, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences; PhD, Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
| Efficient Biomedical Image Utilization for Gross Anatomy Education
|
Aug. 15, 2019
| Lauren Rodriguez
| PhD, Clinical Psychology
| Rodriguez' research interests focus on the emotional and social mechanisms that contribute to substance misuse among individuals with a history of trauma and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). After her graduate work, Rodriguez wishes to obtain a research career as a clinical scientist at a university or veteran's administration hospital. |
Oct. 21, 2019
| Gloria Aidoo-Frimpong
| PhD, Community Health and Health Behavior
| Assessing Coverage of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) Health-Related Topics in Educational Training Programs: A Comparison of Medical, Nursing and Pharmacy Students |
Nov. 18, 2019
| Hannah Waterman
| MS/PhD, Biological Sciences
| Evolution of Sex Determination in the Allopolyploid Razorback Sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) |
Each fall, the vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School hosts a reception honoring the University at Buffalo’s Arthur A. Schomburg Fellowship recipients. This event allows for the networking among current Schomburg fellows, faculty supporters and administrators of UB’s Schomburg fellowship program.
Schomburg fellows participate in a day of service at International Prep Academy in Buffalo. At this event, Schomburg fellows partner with UB's Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) to give back and to empower local high school students to take advantage of educational opportunities. By sharing their collegiate experiences and emphasizing the importance of pursuing higher education, Schomburg fellows encourage younger students to continue their academic pursuits.
Schomburg fellows are encouraged to take advantage of one of the many exceptional opportunities for networking and learning that the University at Buffalo has to offer: The Distinguished Speakers series. Schomburg fellows are offered optimal seating together at a presentation by a distinguished speaker, such as Angela Davis.
