Howard University students who conducted research in Harvard University’s Du Bois Scholars Program are encouraging students at Howard and participating HBCUs to apply for the summer research opportunity. The program’s latest application cycle opens this month. 

Supported by Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative, the program connects students from research-focused HBCUs with Harvard faculty mentors. The initiative also seeks to deepen partnerships with R1, R2 and other research-intensive HBCUs. Howard University is the only HBCU classified as an R1 institution, the highest Carnegie classification for research activity. 

Of the 29 fellows selected for the program’s third cohort, 13 were students at Howard University. They were Garrison Andrews, Taylor Allen, Avery Bennekin, India Crowe, Nia Freeman, LaMyla Hill, Kawika Keys, Kamilah Lige, Imani Marc, Abiba Moncriffe, Caitlyn Thompson, Aryanna Toomer, and Mariam Oyejide.

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Oyejide, an honors junior at Howard University majoring in psychology and criminology, participated in the program this summer as a research assistant in Harvard College’s Department of Psychology and serves as a program ambassador. 

“I see my experience in the Du Bois Scholars Program as an integral next step in my research career and future studies in graduate school,” Oyejide said. “Now as an ambassador, I encourage HBCU students from all disciplines to apply to the program. I had a research-intensive summer that was deeply enriching. It granted me a family beyond Howard with amazing mentors.”

Launched in 2024, the Du Bois Scholars Program is part of the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative, which builds on a 2022 report examining Harvard’s historical ties to slavery and recommends ways to address that legacy. Each Du Bois Scholar completes a summer research project with guidance from a Harvard faculty mentor. 

Fellows also join the Harvard Summer Undergraduate Research Village, a residential community where they participate in programming and connect with fellow researchers. At the end of the summer, they present their research to peers, faculty mentors, and family members. Read about the third cohorts’ projects here.

While at Harvard, Oyejide studied the relationship between early pubertal timing and externalizing behaviors during adolescence in the Affective Neuroscience Development Lab. An aspiring forensic psychologist, she said the experience helped her explore the connections between neuropsychology, deviant behavior, and psychopathology while developing her statistical skills.

“My time in the ANDL allowed me to explore my interests in psychology while challenging how I approach that work,” Oyejide said. “Being part of this program has deepened my interests in research and pushed me to expand my scope to include clinical and developmental approaches as well.”

Garrison Andrews, an honors junior studying political science and history, worked with Harvard Business School’s Program for Research in Markets and Organizations to examine how race has been theorized in organizational research since 1964, reviewing 28 studies on race in the workplace. Andrews said the experience sharpened his institutional and qualitative analysis skills while expanding his perspective as a student researcher. 

 “One of the most valuable parts of the experience was getting to talk with other researchers, hear their perspectives and learn from their work,” Andrews said. “Those conversations pushed me to think about my own research in new ways and showed me how collaborative scholarship can be.”

Interested students can register for a Nov. 18 information session  at 4 p.m. ET featuring program ambassadors and alumni. They can also subscribe to the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative newsletter legacyofslavery.harvard.edu for updates about the application cycle.