Simons Foundation Announces 2026–2027 Class of SURFiN Fellows

Written by Cally Schneider

The 93 undergraduate students will receive invaluable, hands-on research experience in nearby Simons Foundation-supported neuroscience labs.

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

Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program at the 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