Yale Center for Teaching and Learning

Graduate Writing Consultants

CAS Login
MEDMBB MB and B

Elizabeth is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department. The goal of her current work is to define noncanonical roles for DNA damage repair proteins in mitosis. Before starting at Yale, she received a B.S. in Biology from Wake Forest University. She is has experience preparing NIH and NSF fellowship applications, and is excited to help others refine their work and grow as writers.

 

DRAADM Administration

Rebecca Adelsheim is a doctoral candidate in Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism at the School of Drama. Their research focuses on contemporary queer playwrights, queer history and the archive, and lesbian aesthetics. Rebecca is the associate editor for Theater Magazine and has served as a dramaturg on projects including their co-adaptation of Sarah Waters’ AFFINITY and a number of new plays. Before coming to Yale, Rebecca freelanced as a new play dramaturg and editor and produced for theater companies including Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, 2nd Story, and Victory Gardens Theater. Rebecca received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and is thrilled to work with academic and creative writers in the humanities at all stages of their work!

 

FASEAS Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Anjali is a third year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Her research focuses on developing noninvasive wearable sensors for understanding and monitoring human motion patterns in everyday settings. Before coming to Yale, she completed her B.S. in biomedical engineering with a minor in materials science and engineering at Boston University. Anjali has experience writing scientific manuscripts and fellowship applications and is a NSF GRFP fellow.  She looks forward to helping students at any stage in their academic writing.

 

History of Science and Medicine

Kamil Ahsan is a 5th-year doctoral student in history at Yale University, with a prior doctorate in biology from the University of Chicago. His current work focuses on the intellectual histories of “reef” ontologies in peripheral reef regions, specifically Sri Lanka, Belize, and the Gulf of Mexico. Working at the intersection of environmental, intellectual, energy, and labor history, his work is an attempt to understand how ways of seeing reefs formed and commodified across the 20th century to the present. He is also a writer and critic. He is the Editor of South Asian Avant-Garde, and his work has appeared in NPR, The Nation, the L.A. Review of Books, Dissent, the Boston-Globe, and The Baffler, among others.

 

FASENG English

Shubhashree Basnyat is a third year student in the English PhD program at Yale University. Her work focuses on Postcolonial Studies, Environmental Humanities, and Chronic Illness Studies. She is particularly interested in plant life in postcolonial fiction. She is also a Writing Partner at the Yale College Writing Center. Previously, she received her BA from Williams College and her MA from SOAS. I am happy to work with students on any step of the writing process– from brainstorming to editing. 

FASHIS History

Zander is a fourth year student in the History Department. His dissertation focuses on political thought, law, empire, and reception of the classics in early modern Europe. He holds a BA in Religious Studies and Economics from Clemson University as well as a MAR in History of Christianity from Yale Divinity School. What he enjoys most about history and academic writing is the challenge of transforming a chaotic mess of research into a compelling story. He is excited to work with students on an article draft, term paper, prospectus, or dissertation in any area of the humanities.

 

EASBME Biomedical Engineering

Shoham is a second year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department. Her research focuses on mechanical signatures in tumor immunobiology. Prior to Yale, she completed her Sc.B in biomedical engineering at Brown and worked as a clinical lab researcher at NYU Langone. Shoham is a current NSF GRFP fellow and excited about working with graduate students on their scientific writing.  

 

FASHIS History

Kate is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the History Department. Her research focuses on the arms trade and gun clubs in the British and American Empires. She holds a BA in History from University College London and an MPhil in History from the University of Cambridge. Kate has experience giving feedback on a wide range of writing projects and particularly enjoys offering folks a place to share their early-stage work in a low-stakes environment.

 

FASHIS History

Kathryn is a seventh-year Ph.D. candidate in History. Her research focuses on law and empire in Southern Africa in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Kathryn received a J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.A. in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies from Stanford University, and a B.A. in History from Stanford University. Prior to Yale, she worked as an attorney, focusing on international trade and investment law. She especially enjoys helping writers with brainstorming and developing clarity in their writing.

 

FASPSY Psychology

Vlad Chituc is a 6th year PhD student in Social Psychology studying psychological measurement and moral judgment. He grew up in a small town in rural, upstate New York before graduating from Yale in 2012, where he learned how to become a better writer and how better writing could be taught. He spent the next five years at Duke University in Durham, NC, where he studied behavioral economics and dishonesty while also pursuing freelance nonfiction writing. He wrote pieces about research in the social sciences for outlets like The New York Times, The New Republic, New Scientist, and The Daily Beast.

 

 

 

FASMUS Music Department

Nicole is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Music Department and a consultant for the Yale Digital Humanities Lab. Her research aims to understand how artificial intelligence technologies influence contemporary music making, music listening, and music scholarship. Before starting at Yale, Nicole earned an M.A. in Music Theory from CUNY Queens College and a B.A. in Music from Stony Brook University. She looks forward to supporting fellow students on all types of writing projects, especially those that engage interdisciplinary topics.

 

Shefali Das is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in African American Studies and Sociology. Her research focuses on racial capitalism, economic state violence, and neoliberalism. She holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in African American Studies and Political Economy. Shefali loves the writing process, and always looks forward to editing hers and her friends’ work, in any capacity – from op-eds to academic research, creative writing to poetry, the process of writing is something that she is deeply passionate about. She is so excited to work together, and really looks forward to reading your work!

 

CAS Login
FASMUS Music Department

Taryn is a 5th year student in the department of music. Her research investigates the modernity in an overlooked genre of nineteenth-century Italian theatrical ballet. She is continually learning from other writers and looks forward to continuing her work with GWL peer review groups!

 

 

FASHIS History

Breeanna is a fifth-year doctoral student in the History of Science and Medicine Program. She received her A.B. in History and African and African American Studies from Harvard College and earned her teacher licensure from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2015. Her doctoral research emphasizes the role of ancestral spirits in histories of regional pharmacopeia and bioprospecting by recognizing them as active and independent political agents in the cross-cultural negotiations of health, healing, and illness in the Western Indian Ocean. Her methodologies include ethnography, archival research, oral history, and ethnobotany, and she works across the disciplines of anthropology, history, and science and technology studies. She is eager to work with writers at all stages in their academic writing, with a special interest in grant and fellowship applications.

 

 

 

CAS Login
FASSLA Slavic Languages and Literatures

Alana Felton is a doctoral candidate in Slavic Languages and Literatures. Her research focuses on contemporary Belarusian literature and political art. Alana previously worked as an Acquisitions Editor and copy editor at Academic Studies Press, an independent academic press and is passionate about helping young academics publish. She continues to work as a freelance editor for ASP. Prior to coming to Yale, Alana was a Fulbright ETA in Viciebsk, Belarus in 2018-19 after getting her BA in Slavic Studies from Brown University in 2018. Alana genuinely enjoys editing and working with writers to develop their work. In her free time, she can be found (or lost) in the woods or trying to find the best pretzels and vanilla ice cream. 

 

Aida is a 5th year doctoral candidate in the German department, where she explores theories of lived experience in literature and philosophy. Alongside her dissertation, she enjoys working on projects related to history of science, ecocriticism, critical theory, and cultural studies. Aida holds degrees in Biology and German Studies from Brown University and worked as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Germany before arriving at Yale. As a GWL Fellow, she looks forward to helping other graduate students develop and articulate their ideas in a variety of academic and professional settings.

 

FASCHM Chemistry

Randy Hamchand is a 6th year Ph.D. candidate in Chemistry. His research focuses on the biochemical elucidation of novel small-molecule signals implicated in human-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions. Prior to graduate school, Randy attended the University of Connecticut where he obtained an M.S. in chemistry and a B.S. in biological sciences with minors in molecular cell biology, mathematics, and psychology. He has authored several peer-reviewed publications and has obtained funding from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Ford Foundation. Randy has several years of tutoring and mentoring experience and enjoys learning about fields outside of his own.

 

FASHOA History of Art

Elizabeth Keto is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the History of Art. Her research focuses on the art and material culture of the Reconstruction era in the United States South. Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College (2018) with a degree in History of Art and Architecture. She was the recipient of a 2018 Marshall Scholarship, and she holds master’s degrees in the history of art and in curating from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She looks forward to working with students on all types of writing projects in the humanities, as well as fellowship applications.

 

 

ENVOTH Other

Jennifer is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the School of the Environment and Center for Industrial Ecology. Her research focuses on utilizing life cycle assessment to characterize carbon removal strategies, primarily enhanced mineral weathering. Before coming to Yale, Jennifer received her B.A. at Rice University in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and worked as a Baccalaureate Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.. She has experience in academic and non-academic writing and communication, and looks forward to working with fellow graduate students on a variety of writing projects. Jennifer is also a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and would be happy to help others with their applications!

 

 

FASHIS History

Eva is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in History. Her research explores colonial British America and the wider early modern Atlantic World, with a focus on political economy. She is also interested in the integration of network analysis, spatial analysis, and other digital methodologies in humanities projects. Eva received her B.A. in History from Yale College in 2017. Before returning to New Haven for graduate studies, she worked as an education policy researcher and freelance editor. She looks forward to supporting humanities and social science students at any stage in the writing process.

 

Religious Studies

Joseph (Sang Wuk) Lee is a fifth year PhD student in Religious Studies (within Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions or EMWAR) and a Yale Divinity School graduate (MDiv). Their/his dissertation looks at Christian heresy-writers in the ancient Mediterranean from the perspective of ethnography, monsters, and disability/crip. Joseph is open to meeting students from all backgrounds and disciplines and discussing their work. Consultations with Joseph aim to be friendly, open-minded, and confidential.

 

CAS Login
+1 (203) 432-1092

Jacqueline Ly is a 7th year PhD candidate in the History department. Her research focuses on eighteenth-century Belize. She holds a M.A./M.Sc. in International/World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and a B.A. from New York University. She enjoys talking and commiserating about writing at all stages of the process, but she particularly likes to work with writers on brainstorming. Jacqueline has experience working with writers on artist statements, diversity statements, dissertation chapters, and dissertation abstracts.

 

 

FASAAS African American Studies Dept

Jeania Ree Moore is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in African American Studies and Religious Studies. Her research uses religion and theology to analyze intersections in African American history and culture, such as romance novels and race, and racialization and animalization. She holds an M.Phil. in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, an M.Div. from Emory University as a Woodruff Scholar, and a B.A. in Humanities from Yale. Prior to returning to Yale for doctoral studies, Jeania Ree worked in legislative advocacy in Washington, D.C., where she was also a contributing writer for Sojourners magazine and authored a bimonthly column. Jeania Ree has experience with writing for academic and public audiences, and enjoys working with students on a range of projects—research paper, cover letter, sermon, fellowship application, op-ed, and more.

FASHIS History

Jacob Morrow-Spitzer is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of History, and is also an affiliate of Yale’s Jewish Studies Program. His research focuses on the intersection between modern Jewish history, American race, and political history. He received his B.A. in History and Jewish Studies from Tulane University, and worked as a peer tutor at the Tulane Academic Success Center throughout his undergraduate years. Before starting at Yale, he worked in the non-profit and public-facing research world. Jacob has experience editing personal statements, journal articles, conference talks, fellowship applications, book reviews, public-facing scholarship, encyclopedia entries, and many, many course papers.

 

 

MEDCEL Cell Biology

Layla Nassar is a sixth-year PhD student in the Department of Cell Biology. Her research investigates why a subcellular organelle called the lysosome moves and how lysosome movement is related to the metabolism of specific amino acids. Layla holds a MPhil from Yale University in Cell Biology as well as a BS in Neuroscience and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from University of Miami. She is a recipient of a 2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. One of Layla’s greatest joys since starting her PhD has been in communicating research through writing, and she hopes to help others find the magic in meeting their writing goals.

 

 

MEDDEA YSM Dean

Sakura is a 4th year MD/PhD student in the department of anthropology. Her research focuses on female reproductive ecology in Samoa. Prior to starting at Yale, she pursued a MPhil in applied biological anthropology at the University of Cambirdge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She also holds a B.A. in anthropology and biology from Washington University in St. Louis. She has experience writing abstracts, scientific mansucripts, and fellowship/grant applications. She looks forward to working with students from diverse discplines at any stage of the writing process!

MEDGEN Genetics

Yanixa is a 6th year PhD student in Genetics and a recipient of a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA F31 pre-doctoral fellowship. Her thesis work focuses on dissecting molecular and phenotypical differences of KRAS variants in cancer. Yanixa obtained her BS in Biology with an emphasis in Genetics and Biomedicine from the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla. As a GWL Fellow, she is eager to help fellow graduate students develop their grantsmanship and science communication skills.

 

FASRST Religious Studies

Naila is a PhD cadidate in Religious Studies, with a specialization in ancient Judaism and Late Antiquity. Her research centers on the intersection of historiography, exegesis and ancient language politics during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. She is interested in competing conceptions of primeval language, ancient idenity construction, and the transmission and reception of ideas and texts beyond antiquity. She also seeks to bring the field of biblical and early Jewish studies in conversation with late antiquity and early Islam. She received her MA in ancient Judaism from Yale Divinity School and her BA in Near Eastern History from the University of Connecticut. She has experience working with various genres and is excited to assist students with any writing projects at any stage for academic or general audiences in the Humanities and social sciences.

 

FASPSY Psychology

Gracie is in her sixth year in the Psychology Department. She researches moral development, both in humans and in artificial intelligence. Before coming to Yale, she received her BSc in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also interned at Google DeepMind in 2022. She’s excited to help others – especially within the social sciences – develop their writing, data visualization, and presentation skills.

 

FASEEB EEB

Alison is a third-year PhD candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Her research focuses on ecological theory and how modeling can be used to more effectively predict and address threats to different ecosystems, particularly with respect to changing temperature regimes and extinction risks. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Mathematics from Williams College and works as a freelance writer in science communication. Alison particularly enjoys helping others frame their ideas in engaging ways and clarify their writing style to most effectively get their messages across.

 

FASPSC Political Science

Chetana is a fourth year student in the Political Science department. She is broadly interested in state formation processes, gender and sexuality politics and political violence. Her research project looks at various states’ gender ideologies and their association with enforced hierarchies of different sexual relations (e.g. marriage, relations involving “sex workers”, same-sex relations, etc.). Her work draws insights from various disciplines, ranging from anthropology to economics. Outside of research, she enjoys reading contemporary fiction and watching mindless TV shows. As a Fellow, she is excited to work with graduates on their writing projects, and help them discover their writing styles.

 

 

 

 

CAS Login
FASFIL Film Studies

Pooja Sen is a seventh year PhD candidate in History of Art and Film and Media Studies. She studies how contemporary artists use terraforming, hydropower, land surveys, aerial photographs, and seed libraries to build the world anew. She has professional experience as a freelance developmental editor and copyeditor and as an editorial assistant at McGill-Queen’s University Press and the journal Social Text. She enjoys reading crisp prose and looks forward to working with writers to hone their craft.

 

FASAST Astronomy

Zili Shen is a fifth year Ph.D. student in Astronomy. Her research focuses on faint and diffuse galaxies. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BSA in physics and astronomy and a certificate in the philosophy of science. She has multiple first-author peer-reviewed scientific articles and has won prizes for conference talks and presentations. She was the third place winner of the 2023 Yale Three-Minute Thesis competition. Zili is an author for the astronomy blog Astrobites, and she is a speaker for Astronomy on Tap. She looks forward to working with students on scientific writing.

 

 

 

CAS Login
FASCHM Chemistry

Sydney is a third-year Ph.D. student in Chemistry, focusing on label-free imaging techniques such as vibrational microscopy. Her research aims to understand how cells adapt their metabolism and proteins to stress and disease. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Middlebury College and spent two years as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health after graduation. Sydney excels in writing scientific papers and grants, and she enjoys assisting students in finding their writing voice in the sciences. Outside of academics, she is an avid hiker and U.S. National Park enthusiast, having explored 24 parks so far.

 

FASMUS Music Department

Chloe Smith is a third year PhD student in Music History. Her research focuses on folk and popular music in the U.S. South in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially as it relates to Civil War memory. She holds an M.A. in Music History from Yale University and a B.A. in History and Music (violin performance) from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Chloe has experience with both academic and public-facing writing, and she is interested in helping students at all stages of the writing process, from rough drafts of projects to conference talks to larger-scale research projects. She looks forward to helping graduate students clearly communicate their arguments and ideas for whichever audience they hope to reach.

 

Alan Mendoza Sosa is a 2nd Year PhD Student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. His research interests are on Mexican and Latin American literary, film, and cultural studies; queer studies, postcolonial and decolonial theory, Latinx literature, translation, and poetry. He holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University and a Master’s from The University of Cambridge. He has 5+ years of experience as writing fellow for high-school, college, graduate, and professional students, and is passionate about empowering diverse individuals to become confident and effective writers.

Zac is a seventh-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Music. His research explores French opera and its reception during and following the Second World War, engaging with questions of trauma, memory, and decolonialization. Before coming to Yale, he took a B.A. at Williams College, and he has studied abroad at the University of Oxford (Williams-Exeter Programme), the University of Cambridge (Dr. Herchel Smith Fellowship), and the École normale supérieure in Paris (Georges Lurcy Fellowship). As a writer, Zac particularly focuses on structuring arguments and crafting stylish prose. He has extensive experience preparing successful grant and fellowship applications, often edits dissertation chapters, and especially enjoys discussing conference papers, as an essentially oral genre.

 

Jennifer Strtak
FASEMS Early Modern Studies

Jennifer Strtak is a PhD candidate in the Department of History and Program in Early Modern Studies. Her research engages the carriage as an investigative tool to explore how the development of transportation reconfigured built environments, daily life, and movement regulation in Paris between 1600-1800. Her research has been generously supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada-Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada as well as the Fox International Fellowship Program.
 
Prior to coming to Yale, Strtak obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and a Master of Philosophy from Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. In 2021 she was the co-recipient of the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning’s Teaching Innovation Project (TIP) grant for her contribution in the creation of a Certificate Program in Early Modern Studies for Yale College, which promotes the practical application of humanistic study to everyday life.
 
She looks forward to working with graduate students and helping them to achieve success in their written work, oral presentations, and teaching programs.

 

MEDOED Other Education Programs

Sofia is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She is currently investigating the molecular mechanisms of Batten Disease, a devastating form of pediatric neurodegeneration. Before beginning her studies at Yale, Sofia earned a BSc in Biology from Haverford College and worked at NASA on the BioSentinel Mission. Sofia has experience with scientific manuscripts, successful fellowship applications, personal statements, and creating accessible and engaging slide decks. She is as passionate about reading good fiction as she is about writing for the sciences.

 

ENVOTH Other

Samantha is a 2nd year doctoral student at the Yale School of Environment. Her research focuses on hormonal stress response in amphibian and the implications of climate change and anthropogenic factors on amphibian population health. She holds a Masters of Science in Environmental Health from Harvard University and a Bachelors of Science in Biology and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She enjoys helping students capture their unique writing voice and assisting with scientific writing with a focus on clear and concise sentence structure.

 

FASENG English

Ciru is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the English department. Her research considers meter in West Indian poetry at midcentury. Largely, she delights in the humor and mischief of several women poets. She is familiar with a broad range of critical theory, literary and otherwise. Moreover, Ciru is a dedicated peer reviewer and editor with a firm grasp of the elements of good, clear writing.

 

MEDSPH School of Public Health

Jingyuan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Her current research interests center around early origins of neuropsychiatric disorders and possible transmission of disease risk across multiple generations. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of California, San Diego and a master’s in social and behavioral sciences from Yale. She has experience with many forms of writing particularly in the sciences and social sciences and she looks forward to working with scholars at all stages of their writing.