The Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF) is a competitive University-wide program that awards three-year fellowships to outstanding doctoral students engaged in interdisciplinary research.
SIGF
SIGF supports doctoral students whose research crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries.
2015 SIGF Fellows
Brian Hsueh
Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Fellow, Bio-X SIGF, NeurosciencesDevelopmental biology and clinical pathology have been limited by the need to cut samples into thin sections in order to analyze their structural and molecular properties. I am developing new chemical methods for transforming tissues into...
Madeline Huberth
Geballe Graduate Fellow, MusicPolyphony is a musical texture in which two or more melodic lines, or ‘voices’, occur simultaneously. Compared to the well-developed music theory and history literatures, empirical work into the communication and perception of polyphony is...
Matthew Gardner Kelly
Yu-Ly Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, EducationFor several decades a vocal contingent of scholars and policy makers has argued that market-based reforms encouraging choice and competition will promote efficiency and equity in public education. While scholarship advocating these reforms...
Thomas Li
Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow (Anonymous Donor), SIGF affiliated with the Stanford Neurosciences Institute, ChemistryElectrodes implanted in the brain have great potential, with applications in neurodegenerative disease, brain-computer interfaces, and more. However, the presence of electrodes in brain tissue causes a response known as gliosis, in which a scar...
Chao Liu
Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow (Anonymous Donor), Bio-X SIGF, BiochemistryMutations in cardiac myosin cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the most common inherited disease of the heart muscle that can lead to heart failure and sudden cardiac death, yet the underlying disease mechanisms are unclear. Cardiac myosin is the...
Tracy Mandel
Matthew and Janice Barger Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, Civil and Environmental EngineeringAs sea levels rise and stronger storm events threaten our coastlines, coastal vegetation has come under consideration as a resilient, financially viable tool to mitigate flooding and erosion. However, the actual role of this “green infrastructure...
David Miller
Coleman F. Fung Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, CommunicationThe next frontier in computing will be the advent of affective systems—computers will be able to sense and respond to the emotional states of users. Several academics have likened the communicative state of computers to autism—specifically the...
Andrey Poletayev
Illich-Sadowsky Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, Materials Science and EngineeringI develop a new class of heat-to-electricity energy conversion technology, an electrochemical heat engine. It employs a working fluid undergoing symmetric redox reactions at the hot and cold terminals. Unlike conventional heat engines,...
Teresa Purzner
Felix and Heather Baker Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, Bio-X SIGF, Developmental BiologyTumors form by hijacking cellular and molecular signals that drive growth during normal tissue development. When these same signals are re-activated later in life, cells begin to divide in an uncontrolled fashion thereby forming tumors. I am...
Adam Rubin
William and Lynda Steere Fellow, Bio-X SIGF, Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative MedicineCancer arises from the misregulation of complex molecular controls in normal cells. While progress has been made in describing events which occur when normal cells are transformed into cancer cells, we still have a very limited understanding of...
