Migrations Program
Advice for the Class of 2023
From Former Migrations Scholars
A year after their graduation, some of our past undergraduate Migrations scholars share advice for the class of 2023!
Alexis Fintland '22
Program and Research Assistant at the Migration Policy Institute
Working with the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center for Immigrant Integration Policy in Washington, D.C., Alexis conducts research to promote the civic, economic, and linguistic integration of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Her analyses focus on equity issues in workforce and education systems to inform policy recommendations for government officials and community leaders.
"As an undergraduate Migrations scholar, I was able to build deeper relationships with Cornell faculty members who have a rich knowledge of immigration policy, law, and history," said Alexis. "This mentorship and guidance from my professors ultimately drove me to apply for a position at my dream organization, where I am thrilled to work in an environment that gives me the opportunity to learn from the top experts in the field.”
Her advice to graduating seniors in 2023? "Slow down and be open to changing your plans. Cornell is fueled by a fast-paced culture that can push people to make hasty decisions for the sake of having post-grad plans. Post-graduation is a time to step back and do what you really want to do. Had I given in to the pressure, I would have gone straight to graduate school and missed out on a dream opportunity. Taking a bet on myself and waiting to get some hands-on work experience was the best decision I've ever made."
Danielle Berkowitz-Sklar '22
Program Coordinator at the Environmental Defense Fund
In her work, Danielle advocates for environmental justice and stronger clean air regulations in the U.S.—work she was engaged in as a Migrations scholar and also as an intern with the Einaudi Center’s Institute for African Development.
"Environmental degradation and climate change is a human rights issue that often results in the displacement of vulnerable individuals, families, and communities," said Danielle.
"Being a Migrations scholar reinforced to me the importance of putting people and public health at the center of climate action. I was able to gain experience working with a team to put on virtual, hybrid, and in-person events, which is exactly what I am doing in my current position."
Vanessa Olguín '22
Fulbright in Peru
As a Fulbrighter, Vanessa is developing a research project on the state of international migrant protection in Peru and the role of local and international NGOs in helping to secure that protection. She is being hosted by the Instituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
"The undergraduate Migrations group as a whole and the dedication that they all had to migration studies, migrant justice, and rights really allowed me a space to ask questions, to continue to be curious and confident in the fact that what I was interested in was important," said Vanessa.
The two biggest lessons she's learned are to not be afraid to try new things and that it's okay to not have it all figured out.
"I think one thing that Fulbright and my undergraduate years at Cornell taught me is that there is value in your thoughts, ideas and curiosities!" said Vanessa. "Try to not be afraid to reach out to that professor, apply to that one dream job, ask that question aloud in class, or apply to that competitive program. There might always be a person, a space, or an institution that says no to you, but don't say no to yourself first."
Luis Tamayo '22
Associate Property Claims Adjuster at Amica Mutual Insurance
Luis took a gap year after graduation and worked as an insurance claims adjuster as he prepared for law school. He hopes to become an immigration attorney.
"This career choice has been a dream of mine as a son of immigrant parents and, thanks to the Migrations scholars program, I was able to truly define my career aspiration in my academic work by sharing space with such passionate individuals that had similar interests as me," said Luis.
"Being an adjuster depends on communication, critical thinking, and self-initiative, all of which I strengthened throughout my time as a Migrations scholar. More importantly, the program encouraged us to consider and value different perspectives, a skill that I carry with me each day as I speak with parties from diverse backgrounds."
Additional Information
Three Years of Migrations
Big Red Scholars Navigate a World in Motion
Read about Einaudi's immigrant health team and the Migrations initiative's expanding body of research, workshops, conferences, seminars, and more.
Additional Information
Commentary: Transit Ban Wrong Immigration Approach
Estelle McKee, Global Public Voices
Estelle McKee, professor of law, discusses the transit ban proposed by the Biden administration, noting that New York state has volunteered to sponsor more Ukrainian refugees than any other state.
Additional Information
Onward, Upward?
Tristan Ivory on Immigrants' Outcomes
Einaudi faculty member and past Global Public Voices fellow is tracking the long-term effects of migration.
Additional Information
Health Workers in NYC Describe Confusion, Errors in Early Days of Asylum Seeker Vaccine Clinics
Gunisha Kaur, Migrations
On caring for asylum seekers: “These are incredibly complex patients. Some of the most complex that I see,” says Gunisha Kaur, assistant professor of anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
Additional Information
Rare and Distinctive Language Fellowships
Details
If you love languages, our newest summer funding opportunity is for you!
Rare and distinctive (RAD) languages set Cornell apart. Cornell offers over 50 languages, including some of the world's least frequently taught—from Ukrainian to Quechua, Urdu to Burmese.
With the help of a RAD Language Fellowship, you can achieve fluency in your choice of these languages. Learning RAD languages offers insight into vibrant cultural identities and traditions and gives you the ability to work effectively in places around the globe.
Cornell Chronicle: Einaudi Fellowships Support Students Learning Uncommon Languages
Amount
For summer study at any level (graduate or undergraduate): $3,500 stipend, plus a fees and tuition allowance of up to $5,000.
Eligibility
All currently enrolled Cornell graduate and undergraduate students are eligible for RAD fellowships. You do not need to be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or complete a FAFSA, which FLAS requires.
You must be planning to study a modern language among the least commonly taught languages offered at Cornell (see sidebar).
To be a successful applicant, you need to show potential for high academic achievement and agree to pursue full-time study of a language in accordance with the university’s requirements. You do not need to have previous experience or coursework in the language you plan to study. Lowest priority will be given a candidate who is a native speaker of the language.
How to Apply
In your application, you will be asked to provide information on your proposed study location. You must identify your own preferred program.
We recommend the following U.S. summer intensive language programs, although we will consider any programs—domestic or overseas—that meet the minimum requirements.
- African Summer Language Institute (ASLI)
- Indiana University Summer Language Workshop
- South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI)
- Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI)
- YIVO-Bard Summer Program
Your program must be at least six weeks in duration and offer at least 120 student contact hours. Please indicate the language level you intend to study during the award period.
Requirements
- Be a currently enrolled Cornell student.
- Plan to attend an approved summer intensive language acquisition program.
- Use the online application to submit your materials, including:
- Two letters of recommendation from faculty members.
- An official transcript of one full academic year of coursework.
- An optional third letter of recommendation from a language instructor.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships
RAD fellowships expand the scope of language study supported by Einaudi's Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships. If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident studying a language of South or Southeast Asia, please apply for a FLAS fellowship for a summer or full year of study. Apply for the RAD Language Fellowship if you are:
- studying a language from outside of South or Southeast Asia, or
- studying a language of South or Southeast Asia, but you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
Both opportunities have the same deadline.
RAD Language News and Opportunities
Additional Information
Nicole T. Venker
Jesse F. and Dora H. Bluestone Peace Studies Fellow; Migrations Graduate Fellow
Nicole T. Venker is a human-environment geographer whose work explores how conflict-driven migration shapes rural livelihoods, environmental access, and food sovereignty.
She is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. Her dissertation investigates the impacts of Myanmar’s protracted civil war on refugees’ experiences of displacement, temporary relocation, and resettlement in the U.S. and Thailand.
Additional Information
Program
Role
- Student
- PACS Current Graduate Fellow
- Graduate Fellow
- Graduate Student
Contact
Email: ntt22@cornell.edu
Global PhD Research Awards
Details
Conduct your international field research with a $10,000 award to support fieldwork expenses.
The Einaudi Center’s Amit Bhatia ’01 Global PhD Research Awards fund international fieldwork to help Cornell students complete their dissertations. Through a generous gift from Amit Bhatia, this funding opportunity annually supports at least six PhD students who have passed the A exam. Recipients hold the title of Amit Bhatia ’01 Global PhD Research Scholars. Meet the scholars.
All disciplines and research topics are welcome. Please indicate in your application if your project aligns with one of the Einaudi Center's global research priorities or one of our regional and thematic programs.
Eligibility
Cornell graduate students who have passed the A exam and been admitted to candidacy are eligible to apply. International fieldwork must be a critical component of your dissertation research. You must commit to travel abroad to conduct fieldwork for 9–12 months.
Please note that this award is meant to be supplementary to your primary funding source. This award does not provide tuition credit and requires students to be in absentia. A report is required upon completion.
Amount
$10,000, to be used before the end of the sixth PhD year. The award can cover the following expenses:
- International travel (economy airfare, visa fees)
- Domestic travel within the fieldwork country
- Accommodation and living expenses
- Research expenses (permits, translation costs, internet, archive access, survey costs, lab fees, etc.)
We encourage you to apply for other Cornell and external funding to complement this award, but please note that you are not eligible to apply for Einaudi’s travel grants. If you have already received a travel grant and wish to apply for a Global PhD Research Award, you may return your travel grant if you receive this award.
Please note that you may only bill for a research expense once. If an expense is already covered by this award or a Graduate School research travel grant, you may not use other Cornell or external grants to pay the same expense.
International Travel Approval
All international travel must be registered with the Cornell International Travel Registry. In line with Cornell’s international travel policy, selected students who plan to travel to a country flagged by the US Department of State as a "Level 4: Do not travel," or by the CDC as Level 4 "Special Circumstances," must get their travel plans reviewed and approved via a petition process by the International Travel Advisory & Response Team (ITART). ITART petitions are triggered by rules built into the Travel Registry, so if selected students’ travel requires a petition, the Travel Registry will prompt them for additional information about, and a rationale for, their elevated risk travel plans.
Please be aware that regardless of your destination, approval may be withdrawn if there is a change in the risk level of your destination or if we find that you have violated any contingencies of approval given. In such instances, you will be required to refund the award.
To receive the award, selected students must follow the university’s guidelines to petition for permission to travel internationally, to be submitted no earlier than six weeks and at least two weeks before the scheduled travel. In addition, students must participate in a short, online international travel predeparture orientation course designed by the university’s International Health & Safety team in order to receive travel approval.
Deadline
Applications, recommendation letters, and transcripts are due Friday, March 7, 2025 (11:59 p.m. ET).
How to Apply
Please order your official electronic transcript through the Office of the Registrar (see below); do not send your transcript directly. In the application, you will be asked to provide the following:
- Official electronic transcript (send to programs@einaudi.cornell.edu)
- Abstract of your dissertation project (maximum 150 words)
- Introduction to your dissertation project (maximum 400 words)
- Statement explaining the contribution of your research to existing literature and its relevance to advancing the human condition, planetary sustainability, or other impacts (maximum 400 words)
- Statement about publications that have most significantly informed your research (maximum 100 words)
- Statement explaining your plans for international field research (maximum 600 words)
- International field research budget information
- NetID email address of your recommender (your graduate thesis advisor)
FAQ
More Questions?
Join us for an upcoming information session.
Please email our academic programming staff if you have additional questions about the program or your application.
Additional Information
Kathryn Fiorella
Director, Migrations Program
Kathryn Fiorella is an associate professor of public and ecosystem health in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research interests include planetary health/one health, fisheries, livelihoods, HIV/AIDS, nutrition and environmental change.
Additional Information
Seed Grants
Details
The Einaudi Center's faculty seed grants advance international research and education at Cornell and support international activities and events.
Read about the research Einaudi seeded last year.
Priority: Bringing Researchers Together
Einaudi seed grants promote the work of internationally engaged Cornell faculty. The awards seed faculty's interdisciplinary research and educational initiatives and support international studies workshops and seminars organized under faculty leadership. All disciplines and topics are welcome.
"If you think about the issues of nationalism, climate change, threats to humanitarian aid—a lot of the things that are foremost on our minds these days are affecting not only the U.S. They really are very global. And at the same time as they’re global threats and interests, the forms they take and the abilities to address them differ a lot across different regions and across different peoples and places."
Program Alignment
Our seed grants aim to encourage research and thinking that reach across world regions and bring together researchers who have deep knowledge in different regions and disciplines.
Proposals must indicate alignment with at least one of our international studies programs. The program director's acknowledgment of alignment does not guarantee the proposal will be funded or that the program will provide logistical or administrative support.
Applicants: Please initiate a discussion with the faculty program director(s) in advance of submitting your application. We encourage discussing any necessary program support before submitting your proposal.
Proposals that engage two or more programs are eligible for larger awards of up to $25,000.
Eligibility
Tenured and tenure-track Cornell faculty are eligible to apply as individuals or as a team. Faculty-led programs and centers across campus, in all Cornell colleges and schools, are also eligible for the awards.
- Funding-eligible activities include data collection, travel, meetings, research assistance, public engagement initiatives, curricular development, conferences/workshops, and virtual networks.
- Activities not eligible for funding include salary offset, summer salary, computers/equipment, student stipends, and tuition.
Note: The Einaudi Center will not accept proposals from previous awardees whose projects are still in progress or recipients who failed to submit a final report by the deadline stated in the award letter.
Period of Activity
All funds must be used within one year of the award date.
Proposal Evaluation
All successful proposals will meet these criteria. The proposal:
- Shows a high likelihood of generating new knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political problems in the world.
- Includes a detailed dissemination and/or public engagement strategy.
- Includes a methodologically sound assessment plan and clearly articulated deliverables.
- Includes a budget appropriate for planned activities.
- Includes a sustainable future funding plan.
Research Criteria
Successful research proposals will also meet the following criteria. The research project:
- Aligns with one or more Einaudi international studies programs and produces long-term benefits to international studies at Cornell.
- Engages faculty from different disciplines and colleges. Creates networks that connect scholars across the university and around the world.
- Generates new knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political questions in the world.
- Will launch external funding requests with high potential of securing follow-on funding.
Workshop and Event Criteria
Successful proposals for event support will also meet the following criteria. The event:
- Aligns with one or more Einaudi international studies programs and produces long-term benefits to international studies at Cornell.
- Increases the global understanding and competence of faculty, students, international partners, and/or the general public.
- Generates valuable discussion and knowledge of key economic, environmental, social, cultural, or political questions in the world.
How to Apply
Complete the seed grant funding application. Applicants must submit a proposal including the following:
- Statement including objectives, activities, work plan, expected outputs, beneficiaries, and impact
- Detailed budget with justification of expenses
- Curricula vitae (CVs) for principal faculty
- For research proposals:
- Plans for pursuing future research and external follow-on funding
- Human subjects approval, where relevant
Questions?
Please email our academic programming staff if you have questions about the seed grant program or your application.
Additional Information
Funding Type
- Award
Role
- Faculty