Ahmad Omar Receives HHMI Gilliam Fellowship

Ahmad Omar is one of 34 recipients of a 2016 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study in recognition of his exceptional academic and personal achievements. A third year graduate student, Ahmad works with Professor Zhen-Gang Wang in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division. Ahmad was nominated for the fellowship by Frances Arnold, the Director of the NIGMS Biotechnology Leadership Predoctoral Training Program in Micro/nanomedicine at Caltech. The Gilliam Fellowships are aimed at increasing diversity in the scientific workforce by supporting exceptional students who are pursuing PhDs in the life sciences. HHMI received applications from 142 students this year. The fellowships provide full support to promising doctoral students from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. Each fellow will receive an annual award totaling $46,000, which includes a stipend, a training allowance, and an institutional allowance, for up to three years. In addition to receiving support for advanced studies, Gilliam Fellows also attend meetings with HHMI scientists and receive intensive mentoring from their advisors. The fellowships were established in 2004 in honor of the late James H. Gilliam Jr., a charter Trustee of HHMI who spent his life fostering excellence and diversity in education and science. Since then, HHMI has provided more than $16 million to fund the Gilliam program. Ahmad's unwavering optimism, willpower and determination are an inspiration to the Wang group and the graduate student population as a whole. We are pleased that the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship for Advanced Study will give Ahmad the resources, time and freedom to build a leadership role in science that fits his unique talents, imagination and passion for research.