Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Graduate Research Fellowship

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Graduate Research Fellowship, implemented through the Janelia Joint Graduate Program in partnership with the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, is a fully-funded PhD program designed for independent and committed graduate scholars. Participants spend their first year at Johns Hopkins completing coursework and rotations, then relocate to Janelia Research Campus for the remainder of their PhD to conduct thesis research under dual mentorship—a Janelia research mentor and a Johns Hopkins programmatic mentor who chairs the thesis committee. Degrees are awarded by Johns Hopkins University. The program supports research in areas including behavioral & systems neuroscience, cellular & molecular neuroscience, evolution & genetics, instrumentation & computational tool development, neuronal cell biology, optical physics & imaging, structural biology & biochemistry, and theory & computational neuroscience.

The intentionally small cohort size allows for personalized training and professional development with considerable personal attention in the lab. Scholars benefit from Janelia's extensive shared resources, seamless cross-lab collaborations, and direct access to tool builders for developing custom biosensors, microscopes, electronics, and computational tools. Additional opportunities include participating in Janelia-hosted conferences, mentoring summer undergraduates, co-hosting the annual Neuroscience boot camp, and attending the department retreat.