Ashraf lab's number #1 priority is mentees' success. Here is a list of current and previous mentees; and their list of accomplishments.
Here is Arif's blog post on mentoring
Olivia Hazelwood:
Grace Delpit:
Shayyaine Dallas:
Calisa Myrie:
Erika Norris:
Keita Ito:
Here is Arif's blog post on mentoring
Olivia Hazelwood:
- Admitted as a graduate student of Botany program (Spring 2025) in the University of British Columbia.
- Published first author Developmental Cell preview article.
- A first author invited review article is accepted to Quantitative Plant Biology journal.
- Awarded prestigious NSF travel award to attend the Plant Cell Dynamics meeting at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
- Oral presentation, Plant Cell Dynamics meeting, University of Wisconsin Madison.
- Poster presentation at the Mid-Atlantic ASPB section meeting in the University of Maryland, College Park.
Grace Delpit:
- Awarded prestigious mini-semester fellowship (2025) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to work at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
- Awarded Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) to work with Ashraf lab at Howard University.
- Selected as Honors student, Biology department, Howard University. Only 11 students were awarded out of ~250 students of the cohort.
Shayyaine Dallas:
- Awarded very competitive mini-semester fellowship (2024) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to work at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
- Poster presentation in the Plant Cell Dynamics meeting at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Calisa Myrie:
- Undergraduate summer fellowship (2024), U.S. Department of Energy (DoE)
- Undergraduate summer fellowship (2024), BTI, Cornell University (*declined)
- Undergraduate summer fellowship (2024), Michigan State University (*declined)
Erika Norris:
- Summer intern, Charles Davis’s lab, Harvard University (2024).
- UMass scholar CAFE scholar, Facette lab (Summer 2023) and presented poster.
- Awarded prestigious UMass Dean’s Honors (2021–2023).
- Received Theresa Biuso Maravelas Scholarship (2023).
- Awarded UMass Chancellor’s Award (2021).
Keita Ito:
- Co-author in the Molecular Plant article.
- Currently pursing PhD at Iwate University, Japan.