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Current Graduate Interns

Oluwagbotemi Akinsoji

Oluwagbotemi Akinsoji

Chemistry

Oluwagbotemi Akinsoji is a PhD candidate in the Chemistry Program at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on utilizing metal-organic frameworks as catalysts for CO2 capture and its reduction through electrochemical and photocatalytic methods. Oluwagbotemi began her academic journey at the University of Central Florida, where she earned her BS in 2022. During her time at UCF, she was a Ronald McNair Scholar and a Barry Goldwater Fellow, gaining early recognition for her research potential. She also worked as an advisor with Academic Advancement Programs, where she supported students in navigating summer research opportunities and graduate school applications. At Northwestern, Oluwagbotemi remains committed to helping students succeed in academia. As a first-generation low-income (FGLI) graduate mentor, she provides guidance and resources to assist graduate students in overcoming academic challenges. Through mentorship, she actively works to create a more supportive environment for student success. In her free time, Oluwagbotemi enjoys exploring the city.

Kayla Boyden

Kayla Boyden

English

Kayla Boyden is currently a PhD candidate in the English Graduate Program at Northwestern University. Her research explores Black contemporary poetry and poetics, Black feminist thought, and critical theory. While Kayla was an undergraduate student at the University of California: Irvine she began working with various student organizations focused on outreach and retention of BIPOC students. There she realized that along with her academic passions, she was invested in supporting marginalized students like herself in their academic pursuits. During her master’s degree at the University of California: Los Angeles, Kayla served as the 2020–21 graduate mentor for the Ronald E. McNair Research Scholars program where she supported 14 undergraduate students of color in their journey towards graduate school. Currently, Kayla is a Poetry and Poetics Mellon Cluster Fellow.
Tina Fu

Tina Fu

Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences (IBiS)

Jiayu (Tina) Fu is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences (IBiS) Program. In the Lucks Lab, she studies how nascent RNA folding and upstream RNA structures regulate transcription termination in prokaryotes using high-throughput sequencing and computational modeling. Beyond her research, Tina is an active mentor in The Graduate School’s Peer Mentor Program and serves on the Programming Committee of The Association for Women in Science (AWIS), where she helps design events to support the professional growth of women in STEM. She also served as the President of the Northwestern Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) and is passionate about building supportive communities for students and early-career scientists.
Michael Landez

Michael Landez

Performance Studies

Michael Landez is an artist, dance maker, educator, and scholar working to blur the line between practice, theory, aesthetics, educational efforts and the pursuit of social justice. He holds a BS in Biology from Texas A&M -San Antonio, an MFA in Dance from the University of Iowa with a performance emphasis, and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. He is currently a PhD Candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University, where his dissertation project, “Rehearsing into Collectivity: Erecting Joffrey,” seeks to consider how rehearsals illuminate a theory of becoming. Through artistic and intellectual efforts, he hopes to move with concert dance techniques, theories of gender performativity, and comparative diasporic studies to reveal alternative ways of knowing and being in communion with one another.
Tiffany Mays

Tiffany Mays

Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences

Tiffany Mays is a PhD candidate in the Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences (DGP) at Northwestern University. She studies the role of mutant p53 in Leukemogenesis. TP53 is mutated in most cancers, and while it has been extensively studied in solid tumors the same cannot be said for hematological malignancies. Under normal physiological conditions, p53 regulates several processes including cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, and apoptosis. Given such roles, a disruption to p53’s normal function undermines a key defense mechanism against malignant transformation. Tiffany received her bachelors of science in Human Biology and masters of science in Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine from the University of Southern California. While there, she completed a master's thesis studying the "Molecular role of EZH2 overexpression in early Colorectal Cancer progression". In her time at Northwestern, Tiffany has been involved in the Alliance of Chicago Minority Students (ACMS), Cancer Biology Cluster, DGP Student Council, Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), and the Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA). She has also been the recipient of a T32 Carcinogenesis Training Grant, RO1 Diversity Supplement, an internal fellowship through her academic program, and inducted into the Northwestern Chapter of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. In her free time Tiffany enjoys playing with her West Highland White Terrier and exploring the city.
Naomi Murata

Naomi Murata

Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) Program

Naomi Murata is a PhD candidate in the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) program. She studies molecular neuroscience and investigates nucleo-cytoplasmic transport defects in genetic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Naomi graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Psychology from Smith College, where she also began her passion for mentoring young women in STEM through the Achieving Excellence in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science (AEMES) program. As an international student from Indonesia, Naomi has a strong interest in community engagement with an emphasis on highlighting different cultural events. 
Moe Romanoff

Moe Romanoff

Comparative Literary Studies

Moe Romanoff (they/them) is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literary Studies with a Mellon Fellowship in the Critical Theory Cluster. Their research explores aesthetic mediation of energy and resource extraction at the Sino-Siberian borderlands in North Asia. Throughout their undergraduate and graduate studies in the UK, China, and Hong Kong, Moe has worked as a tutor, mentor, and student representative, providing individualized support to students in their admissions process to higher education institutions. At Northwestern, they served as a group leader during the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) through GPS in the summer of 2025. Passionate about student-oriented programming and the arts, they guest-curated a film program for the Block as a Chicago Public Humanities Initiative fellow, and currently serve on the editorial board of Lime, a digital journal dedicated to Environmental Humanities that they co-founded. In their free time, they enjoy going biking around Chicago and going to the beach.
If you'd like to work with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Success (GPS) as a graduate intern, please apply here.