They’re looking to create more diversity in the field of agricultural development.
A new Cornell graduate fellowship honors the University’s first Black Ph.D. graduate, Cornell.edu reports.
The fellowship honors the legacy of Thomas Wyatt Turner, the first Black American to receive a Ph.D. in Botany and the first Black person to receive a Ph.D. in any major at Cornell University.
The Thomas Wyatt Turner Fellowship is a partnership with Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement which is housed in the Department of Global Development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences on Cornell’s campus. Their focus is to help increase the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds to engage in research around sustainable agricultural development, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Southeast Asian, LGBTQQ+ identified students, women, veterans, students with disabilities and/or those who are first-generation college students.
“Our Thomas Wyatt Turner Fellowship supports graduate students from 1890 institutions to become next-generation leaders in inclusive and sustainable agricultural development through a robust mentorship program and technical training at Cornell University…By building equitable and mutually beneficial relationships with 1890 institutions, we can draw on the strengths of those institutions, giving us an opportunity to expand human capital and technical expertise in fields related to inclusive and sustainable agricultural development,” a statement on the website reads.
TW Turner Fellow applicants are required to be enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program at a university within the 1890-land grant system, studying anything in a field related to “inclusive and sustainable agricultural development, including plant sciences, nutrition, gender and climate resilience, etc. Fellows will be honoring the legacy of Turner and his commitment to science, advocacy and education for all.
Applications are open now through March 1st at 11:59pm EST.
To learn more about the Thomas Wyatt Turner Fellowship, click here.
Photo Courtesy of Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences