Simons Foundation Announces 2026–2027 Class of SURFiN Fellows
Ninety-three undergraduates are joining the Simons Foundation’s Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience (SURFiN) for the 2026-2027 academic year, with 32 returning for a second year.
The program provides paid, hands-on research experiences for undergraduate students who have not had access to research training opportunities. Fellows receive direct mentorship from early-career scientists, including graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and principal investigators. SURFiN is named in memory of Krishna Shenoy, a Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Investigator who mentored dozens of neuroscientists and engineers.
During the 2026–2027 academic year, the fellows will conduct research in Simons Foundation-supported neuroscience labs nearby their colleges across the United States, Canada and Europe. Participating labs are supported by the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB), the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB), the Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience (SCENE), the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and a grant to the B.S./M.S. Neuroscience Research Program at Morehouse School of Medicine.
The members of the 2026–2027 SURFiN class are listed below.
Valeriia Agasieva
Hunter College
Aala Bashir
Loyola University Chicago
Isa Bates
Gonzaga University
Alejandro Bedoya Norena
Claremont McKenna College
Sarah Beresford
Bronx Community College
Sahana Bettada
University of Washington
Samantha Boston
University of Sussex
Marissol Brianti
University of Florida at Gainesville
Sierra Caseus
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Sahithi Challam
Emory University
Gayatri Dhir
University College London
Maytal Ehrlich
Touro University
Anna Erenburg
Boston University
Lydia Ermias
Stevenson University
Sophia Espaldon
Wellesley College
Morgan Evans
Birkbeck, University of London
Charlotte Fenna
Birkbeck, University of London
Ahni Fiske
University of Washington
Juanita Florez-Bedoya
Cornell University
Praise Fujamade
University of Michigan
Faatimah Gakou
Barnard College
Alexandra Gallini
Brandeis University
Juan Garnica
University of Pittsburgh
Trinity Glaze
Washtenaw Community College
Avery Gloege
St. John’s University
Luis Granados
New York University
Makayla Grison
Spelman College
Stephanie Habach
York University
Addis Habtamu
University of Texas, San Antonio
Yasmin Hajihassan
St Catherine University
Jeremiah Hall
Morehouse College
Abigail Ham
Drexel University
Lwin Moe Han
University of Leeds
Thomas Heeps
University of Florida
Júlia Hellín López
Michigan State University
Bryan Henry II
CUNY School of Medicine
Brandon Hu
Georgetown University
TiaMarie Hughes
Spelman College
Andrew Huynh
Johns Hopkins University
Jess Inglis
Edinburgh Napier University
Graciela Izabal
University of California, Davis
Chris Jaison
University of Houston
Yuning Jiang
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lena Johnson
Spelman College
Medyen Jubran
University of Miami
Maria Junaid
Duke University
Sarayu Kalavapalli
Johns Hopkins University
Jade Knerr
University of Iowa
Jaeda Lawton
University of Pittsburgh
Eojin Lee
University of Utah
Michelle Lim
University of California, Los Angeles
Xutong Liu
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
Savanah Lopez Da Silva
Hunter College
Jayden Luy
Johns Hopkins University
Fadumo Mahamud
University of Washington
Gabriel Marquez
University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
Shakhrizoda Mavlyanova
CUNY School of Medicine
Redait Mengist
George Mason University
Opal Mohs
University of California, Los Angeles
Andrea Mojsoska
Columbia University
Jaden Nathan
Morehouse College
Rory O’Shea
Washington University in St. Louis
Charles Ian Ocampo
San Francisco State University
Orianna Osorio
University of Miami
Mmesoma Ozokolie
University of California, Los Angeles
Tiffany Palacios
University of Utah
Helen Perris
University of Sussex
Jemima Quickert
Bethel University
Nidhi Rao
Rice University
Basharat Sadat
Goucher College
Monrada Sae-Seai
University of Washington
Nasteha Sahal
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Asheesh Saincher
University of British Columbia
Parys Sanders
Spelman College
Nicole Staggs
University of Washington
Franziska Stebler
Institut fuer Molekulare Biotechnologie GmbH. IMBA
Hannah Stokes
University of Maryland, College Park
Adelina Grace Sudarman
University of Washington
Thomas Sunday
Hudson County Community College
Kalila Syamsurianto
University of California, Los Angeles
Nyla Thomas
Spelman College
Nicole Treece
George Washington University
Sansu Tun
Hunter College
Sai Verma
University of British Columbia
Andrea Villamizar
University of Florida
Leon Wang
Columbia University
Lukas Wiesner
University of Vienna
Ashley Williams
Morgan State University
Angelika Wodzisz
University of Vienna
Marcus Wong
University of Toronto
Rachel Yin
University of Washington
Angela Yu
Florida Atlantic University
Yuhan Zhu
Rutgers University, New Brunswick
