Discover Rackham
Why Am I Here?
So, proud that I’ve survived the first semester in my program, I can now admit that there were times that Impostor Syndrome had me doubting both my place and my purpose in working toward a Ph.D. The last time I asked myself the question ‘Why am I here?’ this is what I...
Student Spotlight: Amanda Healy
Amanda’s research focuses on postbellum historical fiction that represents the events of the U.S. past. Many of the novels she studies were written by or about women and the family and were long considered unimportant or apolitical. Her dissertation research shows...
Student Spotlight: Sam Kotler
“Other than good data, the most exciting thing for a scientist is talking about their work.” Sam said as he sat down to talk about his research and graduate student experience. Sam holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of California at San...
Student Spotlight: Meghan Forbes
A Ph.D. candidate in the Slavic Department, Meghan’s research focuses primarily on Czech and German literature and visual culture. Her dissertation centers on the relationship between the interwar Czech Avant-Garde of the 1920s and 30s, and other contemporary...
‘Tis the Season – Musings on Grant-Writing
‘Tis the season: writing 300-word summaries of our research and pestering our professors for references, all in the hopes of getting a grant for the next academic year. I know that for more senior students – and professors with stacks of reference requests! – it can...
Student Spotlight: Cass Adair
“This was a teaching experience beyond anything I could have imagined. This was a dream come true, the icing on the cake for my U-M experience, and added great depth to my education. I really loved this class.” A 3rd year Ph.D. candidate, Cass created and taught...
Lunchtime Nuggets
Every once in a while, my department invites students to have a lunch session with an invited speaker, who is either a member of the faculty at an external institution or a faculty candidate (this is also, as far as I know, true of other departments in the biomedical...
Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships: Impacting Graduate Education for 80 Years
In the spring of 1935, in the depths of the Depression, U-M President Alexander Ruthven met with Mary Rackham to present his vision for endowing the Graduate School. Horace Rackham had passed away two years earlier and left his fortune to the newly-established Horace...
Student Spotlight: Alison Gould
Alison studies a bioluminescent symbiosis between the coral reef cardinalfish and a luminous bacterium that the fish houses in a specialized light organ. “Understanding how specificity arises and is maintained in such symbioses is especially important now, as changes...
Student Spotlight: Courtney Lynn McCluney
Courtney’s road to U-M was supported by a strong network of research faculty. As an undergraduate, Courtney participated in the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, which is designed to prepare undergraduate students (especially underrepresented students) for doctoral...