Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellowship Cohort
2023 Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellows
Abbie Eastman (Political Science)
First Name: Abbie
Preferred Name: Abbie
Last Name: Eastman
Department: Political Science PhD
Hometown: Ames, Iowa
Undergraduate Institution: University of Iowa
Undergraduate Major(s): BS International Relations, BA Ethics and Public Policy
Abbie Eastman is a PhD student in the Political Science Department focusing on methodology and international relations. More specifically, Abbie is interested in the diffusion and escalation of civil wars and political violence. Prior to attending Washington University in St. Louis, Abbie earned a Bachelor of Science in International Relations, Bachelor of Arts in Ethics and Public Policy, and a Masters of Political Science from the University of Iowa. During her time at Iowa, Abbie received a fellowship with the Society for Political Methodology and currently works with Texas A&M University to advance compositional modeling. In her free time, Abbie enjoys making jewelry, making stained glass art, watching horror movies, and cooking.
Carolyn Liu (English)
First Name: Carolyn
Preferred Name: Carolyn
Last Name: Liu
Department: English PhD
Hometown: Greenville, SC
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Major(s): English
My name is Carolyn Liu and I am pursuing a PhD in English and American Literature. My focus is Asian-American poetry and poetics, specifically work that tends to be genderqueer and heteroglossic—the fluctuating perceptions of cultural and (inter)national identities, how these approaches shift over time, and the formal strategies writers employ to express what plain language often struggles to convey are all avenues of further study. More broadly, I am also interested in diaspora studies, transpacific literatures, eco-poetics, and the intersections of creative and critical work. Prior to starting this program, I taught as an adjunct for the Creative Writing department of the University of Iowa. I hold a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania (2019) and an MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa (2022). In my leisure time, I enjoy sketching, reading novels, bookbinding, and occasionally dabbling in some amateur collage-making.
Cristina Correa (Comp Literature)
First Name: Cristina
Preferred Name: Cristina
Last Name: Correa
Department: Comp Lit PhD
Hometown: Chicago, IL, USA
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia College Chicago
Undergraduate Major(s): Fiction Writing
Cristina Correa is a writer and educator from Chicago, where she served youth and Latine communities for more than a decade. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from CantoMundo, Carolyn Moore Writers House, Hawthornden Foundation, Hedgebrook Foundation, and the Kenyon Review, among others. Her writing has been published, broadcast, and exhibited in venues including the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, Best New Poets series, Missouri Review, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Prairie Schooner, NPR’s Latino USA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and elsewhere.
Danae Gaytan (Education)
First Name: Danae
Preferred Name: Danae
Last Name: Gaytan
Department: Education PhD
Hometown: Los Angeles
Undergraduate Institution: Boston University
Undergraduate Major(s): Psychology and Political Science
Danae Gaytan Sanelias is an incoming student in the Education department where she is pursuing a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology. Originally from Los Angeles, California she completed her bachelor’s degree in both Psychology and Political Science at Boston University. During her time in Boston, she worked as a research assistant in multiple labs and completed her Honor’s thesis entitled, “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Memory Functioning in Older Latines.” Through her research and personal experiences, she discovered her passion for conducting psychological research with BIPOC populations. In graduate school she hopes to study how one’s perception of their identities interacts with academic achievement. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family (including her dog, Luna).
Darcy Harris (Biochemistry, Biophysics, & Structural Biology)
First Name: Darcy
Preferred Name: Darcy
Last Name: Harris
Department: Biochemistry, Biophysics, & Structural Biology PhD
Hometown: Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Undergraduate Institution: Franklin & Marshall College
Undergraduate Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Darcy Harris is a PhD student in the Biochemistry, Biophysics, & Structural Biology Program and works in the Chemistry Department and the Biomedical Engineering Department. Her research interests are on engineering self-assembling peptides to provide immunity for neurodegenerative diseases. Darcy is originally from Pottstown, Pennsylvania and got her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She then worked for two years at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases before enrolling at WashU. In her free time, she enjoys baking, reading, and relaxing with her cat.
Jillian Lepek (Art History & Archaeology)
First Name: Jillian
Preferred Name: Jillian
Last Name: Lepek
Department: Art History
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Undergraduate Institution: University of Chicago
Undergraduate Major(s): Art History
Jillian Lepek is a PhD student in the History of Art and Archaeology department with a focus on Contemporary art across North and South America and the Caribbean. Her research interests include ecocriticism, legacies of exploration and development within the land and oceans, especially as it pertains to the Arctic region, and the intersections between aestheticized landscape, personal and national identity, and the looming geopolitical catastrophe of climate change. Originally from Chicago, IL, she holds a BA in Art History from the University of Chicago (2019) and an MA in Art History from Tufts University (2023).
Madeline Valdez (P&BS)
Name: Madeline
Preferred Name: Maddie
Last Name: Valdez
Department: P&BS, PhD
Hometown: Ontario, California
Undergraduate Institution: Claremont McKenna College
Undergraduate Major(s): B.A. in Neuroscience
Maddie Valdez is a PhD student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Originally from Ontario, California, she earned a B.A. in Neuroscience from Claremont McKenna College. She developed an interest in memory and aging research as an undergraduate and it has since blossomed into a passion she plans to pursue as a graduate student. With a large and still increasing older adult population, it is imperative that we continue to explore unanswered questions about how cognition and memory change across the human lifespan. Her goal is to better understand these age-related changes in cognition and memory to then develop interventions and strategies that encourage positive age-related changes and mitigate negative ones. When not doing research, she enjoys soaking up the fresh air on walks or hikes, participating in local trivia events, and appreciating all the delicious food St. Louis has to offer.
Marisa Stephens (Classics)
First Name: Marisa
Preferred Name: Marisa
Last Name: Stephens
Department: Classics PhD
Hometown: Sugar Land, TX
Undergraduate Institution: Texas Tech University
Undergraduate Major(s): Kinesiology and Classics (Classical and Modern Languages)
Hello, I’m Marisa Stephens, a PhD student the Classics department. My research interests focus on ancient medicine, specifically exploring the creation, implementation, and distribution of ancient rehabilitation, physical therapy, and athletic training methods in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. I’m originally from Texas, where I received my MA in Classics (2023), BS in Kinesiology (2020) and BA in Classics (2020) from Texas Tech University. Having worked as an athletic trainer for several years and having completed other medical training/observation, I strive to use my modern medical understanding to examine and interpret the methods of ancient physicians and what these can provide for modern medicine. I’m passionate about allowing the texts from antiquity to converse with modern medical understanding, bringing the past to the present and the present to the future.
Qingyi Sun (East Asian and Comparative Literatures)
First Name: Qingyi
Preferred Name: Emmy
Last Name: Sun
Department: East Asian & Comp
Hometown: Shanghai, China
Undergraduate Institution: Fudan University
Undergraduate Major(s): History
Qingyi Sun is a Ph.D. student in East Asian and Comparative Literatures, with a current research interest in memories and nostalgia in contemporary Chinese media, performance, and material culture. Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Qingyi earned a B.A. degree in History from Fudan University. She also holds an M.A. degree in East Asian Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. From her senior thesis on “hysterical women” in Republican Shanghai (1930s-1940s) to her master’s thesis on disco-dancing grannies in China’s early-reform era (1980s-1990s), her research projects aim to bring previously marginalized figures to the center of the academic discourse. With a passion for education, she volunteered as a docent at Shanghai Museum and has served as the TA for four undergraduate courses on Chinese language and culture. In her leisure time, she enjoys singing, watching musicals, and translating.
Tola Sylvan (MFAW)
First Name: Adetola
Preferred Name: Tola
Last Name: Sylvan
Department: MFAW
Hometown: Concord, MA
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University
Undergraduate Major(s): Cognitive Science
My Special Talents and/or Hobbies Include: Brazilian zouk dancing
Tola Sylvan is a poet from Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, Vallum, and Poetry Magazine. She enjoys long walks and late nights dancing Brazilian zouk, and previously pursued her interest in perception and cognition at Brown University. Currently, she is a first-year MFA student.
Yu-Liang Yeh (Biomedical Informatics and Data Science)
First Name: Yu-Liang
Last Name: Yeh
Department: Biomedical Informatics and Data Science PhD
Medical Doctorate Institution: Taipei Medical University
Yu-Liang is a doctoral student in the Department of Genetics and the Institute for Informatics, Data Science & Biostatistics. He is interested in the roles of DNA-protein interaction in cell biology. Specifically, his doctoral studies focus on the development and application of single-cell epigenomic tools in cell type conversion, aiming to disentangle how master regulator proteins interact with DNA to determine cell fates. Yu-Liang got his medical doctorate at Taipei Medical University and worked at Johns Hopkins Medicine before joining WashU. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing the clarinet, playing tennis with friends, and swing dance.
Ziyan Li (Physics)
First Name: Ziyan
Preferred Name: Mark
Last Name: Li
Department: Physics PhD
Hometown: Jieyang, Guangdong Province, China
Undergraduate Institution: Wuhan University
Undergraduate Major(s): Physics
I am thrilled to introduce myself as an incoming graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis, where I am embarking on a journey of academic exploration and research excellence. I'm honored to join Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellows. My research interests encompass condensed matter physics, with a focus on developing theoretical models to compute properties in two-dimensional materials. I am confident that my dedication, perseverance, and analytical skills will enable me to make meaningful contributions to the ongoing discourse within condensed matter theory. In addition to my academic pursuits, I am passionate about fostering a collaborative academic community.
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellows 2023 Summary Page
Download a handy one-page guide to our 2023 Fellows.