{"id":2019,"date":"2025-07-01T20:53:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T20:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/?page_id=2019"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:33:07","slug":"milligan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/milligan\/","title":{"rendered":"Milligan Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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2026 Application is now CLOSED<\/span><\/h1>\n

Deadline: April 17, 2026<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Milligan Fellowship is administered consistent with the University\u2019s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Recipients are chosen without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited characteristic.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The Milligan Fellowship award was established in 2020 in honor of Helen Leslie Milligan Turner. Mrs. Milligan Turner graduated from USC in 1957 with a Bachelor\u2019s of Science degree in human biology (formerly kinesiology). Mrs. Milligan Turner enjoyed her time at USC and wanted to give back to students who are interested in research in human biology. The section of Human and Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences will provide a limited number of fellowships for undergraduate summer projects at the end of each academic year. Each undergraduate student funded by the program will receive a stipend in the amount of $3000* to support reaching the goals of the project, which can be in any academic sub-field of Human and Evolutionary Biology. The project can have a research, clinical, educational or community focus; should require a period of not less than ten weeks at 10 hours per week during the summer months; and should be sponsored by one full-time USC faculty.<\/p>\n

*If awarded, the funding will be credited to the student\u2019s university account. This may affect student financial aid packages. \u00a0Students are encouraged to email the Financial Aid Office through the ask USC portal to discuss the potential effects of this award on their package. \u00a0The award could adversely affect students with Pell grants and\/or loans.<\/em><\/p>\n

Student Requirements:<\/h3>\n
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  1. Be majoring in Human Biology (HBIO) and working under the supervision of a faculty advisor housed in either Human and Evolutionary Biology (HEB) or any other section of Biological Sciences; however, precedence will be given to HBIO students supervised by HBIO faculty.<\/li>\n
  2. Be enrolled full-time (12 units per semester) at USC for the entire academic year (at least the Fall semester following the summer research project); 5th<\/sup>\u00a0year progressive degree students may be eligible if the student\u2019s bachelor degree has not yet been completed and would be in progress during the Fall semester following the summer research project; Graduating Seniors are not eligible.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Have not received other concurrent funding for this project (A recipient of the Provost Fellowship (PURF), Rose Hills, etc. will not be contemporaneously considered).<\/li>\n
  4. Have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Application Instructions:<\/h3>\n
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    1. A 1-page description of the proposed summer project with clearly articulated goals.<\/li>\n
    2. An up-to-date Curriculum Vitae<\/li>\n
    3. Attach latest STARS Report<\/li>\n
    4. A letter of recommendation from the faculty advisor who has accepted to supervise the work. Faculty can be Tenure-Track or RTPC who have a primary appointment in Human and Evolutionary Biology or Biological Sciences. The letter should be emailed to Maribeth Hernandez (maribeth@usc.edu) by the faculty.<\/li>\n
    5. Submit an\u00a0online application<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n
    6. A written final report on the project must be submitted to Maribeth Hernandez (maribeth@usc.edu) by September 11, 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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      \n Previous Milligan Fellowship Winners\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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        <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
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        \n 2026 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
        \n\n \n

        Lori Khatchaturian<\/strong>
        \nTorres Lab in Cancer Biology, Keck School of Medicine
        \n“Investigating the HDAC-Malat1 Axis in Regulating Breast Cancer Metastasis”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Grant Elfvin<\/strong>
        \nThe Campbell Lab in Dornsife
        \n“Linking Demographic History, Natural Selection, and Disease-Relevant Variation in Africa Through Population-Specific Recombination Maps.”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Mohammed Ali Al-Sabeh<\/strong>
        \nThe Schier Lab in Dornsife
        \n“Investigating Taste Dysfunction as a Potential Early Indicator of Alzheimer’s Disease.”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Helen Zhang<\/strong>
        \nThe Kanoski Lab in Dornsife
        \n“Evaluating Structural Connectivity of MCH-Producing Neurons in the Lateral Hypothalamic Area”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n

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        \n 2025 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
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        Gavin Berning<\/strong>
        \n“How does glucagon-like peptide 1 agonism in the ventral hippocampus affect food intake.”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Steven Fu
        \n<\/strong>“Evaluating whether molecularly rejuvenating aged neural stem cells (NSCs) with pharmaceutical compounds is able to restore NSC function.”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Conrad Ragsdale<\/strong>
        \n“The Mediterranean lifestyle, MedLife, as a holistic food model that integrates diet, physical activity and social interaction: a comprehensive review.”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Ayla Seddighnezhad<\/strong>
        \n“Evaluating the Sensitivity and Targeting Efficiency of Nanoparticle-based Contrast Agents in Liquid Biopsy Samples for Personalized Medicine”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n

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        \n 2024 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
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        Kavya Jayapalan<\/strong>
        \n“<\/em>The Role of Angiogenesis in Pancreatic Endocrine Development”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Ryan Johnson<\/strong>
        \n“The genetic architecture underlying quantitative trait variation in human populations”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Natalie Toma\u00a0<\/strong>
        \n“To determine which type of treatment would be most impactful at preventing inflammation in the brain, a hallmark in neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and dementia”
        \n<\/em><\/p>\n

        Alice Waldow\u00a0<\/strong>
        \n“Episodic Rescue: Recovering High-Fat Diet Induced Memory Deficiencies via the Medial Septum”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n

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        \n 2023 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
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        Alice Waldow<\/strong>
        \n“Trapping Meal-Related Memories: Seeking Higher-Order Control of Eating Behavior in Dorsal Hippocampus Neurons”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Thien Nguyen<\/strong>
        \n“Rheumatoid Arthritis”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Erica Juneja<\/strong>
        \n“Developing new chimeric antigen receptor-expressing T cells (CAR-T) for the treatment of various types of cancer”<\/em><\/p>\n

        Kyle Chen<\/strong>
        \n“TAS2R bitter taste genes in Africans”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n

        \n

        \n 2021 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
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        Lauren Teubner <\/strong>
        \n\u201cAngle-Angle Joint Orientation of Standing and Rolling Basketball Shots: A Comparative Analysis Using Wearable Sensors\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n

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        \n 2020 Winners\n <\/h3>\n \n
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        Jonathan Fu <\/strong>
        \n\u201cUnderstanding Glucose Sensing in the Taste System\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

        Avery Lutter<\/strong>
        \n\u201cUnraveling the role of Ulp1 SUMO protease in recombinational repair of heterochromatic DNA breaks\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

        Maya Prasad<\/strong>
        \n\u201cHealthy Food for Kids\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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        \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":916,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2019","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMilligan Fellowship - Human and Evolutionary Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/milligan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Milligan Fellowship - Human and Evolutionary Biology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/milligan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Human and Evolutionary Biology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T21:33:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/milligan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/heb\/milligan\/\",\"name\":\"Milligan Fellowship - 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