The Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity (URSCA) is thrilled to announce a new initiative to provide additional outreach and support to undergraduates across the university who are interested in engaging in research. URSCA has assembled a team of six Undergraduate Research Ambassadors who will serve as peer mentors to students at every stage of their research journey — whether they are looking for a lab placement or ready to apply for funding; preparing to conduct research abroad or finalizing a poster for a conference; facing challenges with their collaborators or looking for an opportunity to publish their findings.
Each ambassador has successfully designed an independent research project and applied for (and won) one or more research grants or fellowships. The team represents a diversity of majors across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and includes students with experience conducting research in libraries and archives, in wet labs and clinical settings, in the local community and abroad, using quantitative and qualitative methods, and more. They have a wealth of wisdom to share and are eager to help their peers develop and achieve their own research goals.
Throughout the academic year, the ambassadors will design and organize a series of workshops, panel discussions, and conversations to meet the needs of students who aspire to get started with research, and of students who are already engaged in research. They will also hold regular drop-in hours to provide one-on-one and small-group support — answering questions, brainstorming ideas, talking through challenges, reviewing application materials, and more. Finally, the ambassadors are available to speak to classes, departments, or organizations about undergraduate research, and to share information about URSCA’s opportunities and resources.
Without further ado, here they are: the 2025-26 Undergraduate Research Ambassadors!
Rachel Baffoe-Bonnie ’26
Rachel Baffoe-Bonnie is a senior University Undergraduate Research Fellow conducting a three-year independent research project on Black immigrant mental health. A double major in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities and Anthropology, Rachel has been involved in a variety of research projects and collaborations, including work with the HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Collaborative and the Johns Hopkins Center for OCD, Anxiety, and Related Disorders for Children. She was recently named a Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow, and she has received additional research grants and fellowships from JHU’s Chloe Center and Medicine, Science, and the Humanities program. Rachel has presented her research at the Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium; the United States Coalition for African Immigrant Health Conference; the JHU Medicine, Science, and the Humanities Research Symposium; and the JHU Critical Diaspora Studies Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Andrew Cavanagh ’26
Andrew Cavanagh is a senior Neuroscience and Molecular and Cellular Biology double major. A past winner of the Dean’s ASPIRE Grant, he completed a project in 2025 entitled “Development of an Intranasal Treatment for Neonatal Brain Injury with LM11A-31,” which has been accepted for publication in the journal Neural Regeneration Research. He has been working as an undergraduate researcher in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine since 2022. There, he conducts neurobehavioral, immunohistochemical, and proteomic analyses on neonatal brain injury. He has presented his research at the New York Academy of Sciences Conference, the Eastern Society for Pediatric Research Conference, the Society for Neuroscience, and the Hershey Conference on Developmental Brain Injury, and he has co-authored an article published in Neurobiology of Disease.
Dua Hussain ’26
Dua Hussain is a senior majoring in Anthropology and Medicine, Science, and the Humanities with a concentration in Writing Seminars and a minor in Psychology. A recipient of URSCA’s Dr. Saraf Memorial Award, Dua is currently completing a research project entitled “Mujhe Depression Hai: (Mis)translations and Mental Health Training in Pakistan.” Since 2023, she has worked as a research assistant in the Grados Lab in the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, where she has completed studies on ADHD and physical abuse, and on disgust and OCD compulsions. She has presented her research at the National Research Conference at Penn and at the JHU Public Health Student Forum. Dua was previously a Newman Civic Fellow and has been very involved in JHU’s Center for Social Concern. She currently works as a tutor in the Homewood Writing Center, serves as co-president of the JHU student journal Humans in Health, and has published her own writing in Out of the Blue Jay.
Anika Kale ’27
Anika Kale is a junior Public Health Studies major and a recipient of the Dean’s ASPIRE Grant, through which she is currently completing a research project on the adoption of Mobile Ophthalmic Units that provide eye care to reduce blindness in rural Maharashtra, India. Previously, she worked in the Cooke Lab at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, conducting research on platyrrhine primate dental morphology and food specialization, including the creation of 3D models of primate teeth. She has also interned in a regenerative medicine lab at the Oregon Health and Science University, and in an integrative biology lab at Portland State University, and has shadowed ophthalmologists, pediatricians, and neurosurgeons at three different hospitals in the U.S. and India.
Gio Kim ’28
Gio Kim is a sophomore majoring in Medicine, Science, and the Humanities, and is currently embarking on a University Undergraduate Research Fellowship project that aims to uncover the genetic mechanisms underlying poor sleep in neurodegenerative diseases using a forward genetic screen in Drosophila. Since the fall of her first year at Hopkins, she has been working in the Mark Wu Lab in the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she began her studies of the bidirectional relationship between sleep and neurodegeneration that informed her UURF proposal. She currently works with Dr. Mehmet Keles to continue studying potential genetic modifiers of tau induced neurotoxicity. She previously worked as a research assistant in a stem cell biology and regenerative medicine lab at the University of Southern California, where she investigated the requirement of atoh1a enhancers for zebrafish inner ear hair cell regeneration using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, and she presented her findings at the USC Summer Research Symposium.
Mamadou Thiam ’27
Mamadou Thiam is a junior University Undergraduate Research Fellow majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology. His UURF project investigates the mechanism behind the failure of peripheral nerve regeneration following the total ablation of monocarboxylate transporters within Schwann cells. He has presented his preliminary data at the International Conference on Axon Degeneration and the JHU Neuroscience Retreat. Mamadou has also participated in clinical shadowing programs at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, both in neurology and in cardiac surgery.
Ready to connect to an Undergraduate Research Ambassador? Below is a preview of some of their upcoming events. Join URSCA on Hopkins Groups to see more, and email [email protected] if you’d like to book an ambassador for your own event!
The first few workshops and conversations you can look forward to are:
- Daily Drop-in Hours (beginning December 1)
- One or more ambassadors will be available for an hour each day in the Bloomberg Student Center
- Finding a Lab and Securing a Position (December 4)
- Suitable for anyone hoping to join a lab in any capacity! Our ambassadors will give a brief presentation on how to find the right fit, and then lead a workshop on writing effective emails to secure your spot. They will provide one-on-one consultations to help match you with the right lab and to get your email wording just right!
- Addressing Criticism and Integrating Feedback into Your Research Proposal (date TBA; week of January 12)
- Anyone applying for an URSCA grant or fellowship in the current cycle will receive feedback on their pre-application in early January. This workshop will guide you on how to integrate that feedback as you prepare your research proposal for your final application, due January 25.
- University Undergraduate Research Fellows Panel (date TBA; week of January 19)
- A panel of University Fellows will share advice on things to consider when applying for the three-year fellowship as a first-year student. Panelists will include sophomore, junior, and senior fellows from across disciplines, who will offer their unique perspectives.
- Intellectual Property for Undergraduate Researchers (date TBA; week of February 2)
- Wondering how intellectual property rights apply to research you conduct as an undergrad? This is the conversation for you! Our ambassadors will be joined by folks from Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures to discuss different cases and answer your questions.