Montana State doctoral student awarded prestigious Gilliam fellowship

BOZEMAN – Montana State University graduate student Lauren Gedlinske is one of 50 students from across the U.S. – and the first ever from MSU – to receive a prestigious Gilliam Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  

The award recognizes students and their advisers for outstanding scientific research and commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in science. It provides each student-adviser pair with $53,000 in support each year for up to three years of the student’s dissertation research and enrollment in a one-year course that provides leadership training, professional development and support in promoting healthy and inclusive graduate training environments.

Joshua Hall, senior program officer for the Gilliam Fellows program, said recipients were selected not just for their scientific accomplishments, but also “for the unique ways each and every one of them makes the science ecosystem a better place.”

For Gedlinske, who has been interested in community ecology since she watched insects visiting the wildflowers in her grandmother’s garden as a child, the award recognizing her support for the graduate student community is meaningful.

“It’s a huge honor and pretty humbling,” said Gedlinske, who is pursuing a doctorate in ecology and environmental sciences in the Department of Ecology in MSU’s College of Letters and Science.

Gedlinske, who aspires to a career in research and ultimately in science policy, studies how floral scents emitted by wildflowers affect pollinator behavior and the associated reproductive success of plants. She said most prior research relied on studies of plant traits that could be seen, such as the number and size of flowers, because methods to effectively quantify floral scent compounds didn’t exist until recently. She expects her work to add to fundamental knowledge and hopes it will one day assist with ecosystem management.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Oregon in 2013, Gedlinske chose MSU for graduate school because it offered the opportunity to work with ecology professor Laura Burkle, whose writing she had studied and admired. Burkle is now her faculty co-adviser.

Since she arrived at MSU in 2021, Gedlinske has advocated for graduate students by helping to survey them about the local cost of living and working to improve graduate student stipends. She is active in Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, or WISE, a student organization whose goal is to support graduate students of all genders in science, social science, math and engineering by providing opportunities for professional and social development.

As a panelist for WISE discussions, she has spoken not only about her journey as a scientist but also about the struggles she faced adjusting to the structure of graduate school. Those ultimately led to her being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

“It was my inability to manage my own timelines, motivate myself without urgent deadlines and maintain organization on the various moving parts of my projects that initially led me to seek out a diagnosis,” she said.

Inspired by her experience, Gedlinske helps connect peers who grapple with similar challenges to local resources. She also works with the MSU student group, Society for Neurodivergent Graduate Students, to raise awareness on campus about those students’ specific challenges.

“I would definitely like to do more to support and advocate for my neurodivergent peers in the future,” she said.

She added that she looks forward to applying what she learns in Gilliam Fellow workshops about fostering equitable and inclusive environments in graduate programs.

“I hope I am able to take some skills from these workshops and use them to continue to advance the causes and initiatives that mean the most to me,” she said.

A portion of the fellowship funds are allocated to the research team for projects that enhance a healthy and inclusive experience for graduate students. Burkle said ecology department faculty members and students have expressed strong interest in trainings related to equity and inclusion, and she is looking into workshops provided by various organizations.

About MSU’s first Gilliam Fellow, Burkle added, “This is a real honor for Lauren – we’re very proud and excited for her. It’s a testament to her scientific work, as well as her commitment to advancing equity and inclusion at MSU.”