Brown is supporting its newest PhD cohort through orientation programs, collaborations with Campus Life and department-specific events. These events attempt to provide graduate students with opportunities to meet their peers, learn about Brown and gather resources, according to Vanessa Ryan, senior associate dean of student development.
“We strive to support graduate students professionally and personally,” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
First-year applied mathematics PhD student Marco Nahas GS has felt the positive effects of Brown’s efforts to help graduate students adjust, adding that Brown has been “organizing a lot of events,” at some of which he met his best friends.
First-year applied mathematics PhD student Marco Nahas GS has felt the positive effects of Brown’s efforts to help graduate students adjust.
“Brown has managed to make us feel like we could ask any question whenever we want so that we never really feel alone or by ourselves,” Nahas said.
Brown’s programming and support for PhD students are what have drawn some graduate applicants to Brown. Angelina Schorr ’24 GS, a first-year biomedical engineering PhD student, wrote in an email to The Herald that she chose to stay at Brown after her undergrad in part because she “knew that the resources, support, opportunities and collaborative spirit that Brown has are unmatched.”
“There are many resources provided to us to help with almost anything you can think of, such as adjusting to graduate school, office hours with writing funding applications, clubs, support groups and so on,” she added.
Some of these resources include BrownConnect+, which connects undergraduate and graduate students with Brown alums, and the Home Away from Home 2025 series, which aims to support international students through webinars on a variety of topics.
Outside of these events and resources, graduate students told The Herald that their professors have had an impactful presence on their educational experience. Nahas said the support he has received from professors is “incredible,” and Schorr noted that the opportunity to work with Theresa Raimondo, an assistant professor of engineering, was “the main reason (she) decided to continue (her) graduate education here.”
As the Trump administration threatens federal funding at institutions of higher education, schools have taken measures to restrict or reduce their PhD student populations. Brown also announced plans to limit the growth of its PhD program budget from the projected 6% to just 4% as part of the University’s response to its $46 million budget deficit, The Herald previously reported.
Brown is “monitoring and assessing the impact that budgetary and other pressures created by new federal actions might have on graduate education,” Ryan wrote.
“We are listening to students as they share their concerns to provide resources and support,” she added, noting that the Office of Global Engagement has launched a Frequently Asked Questions page to help support students that may be affected by recent federal actions.
“There are some voices in the public sphere that are skeptical of the value of research and education,” Ryan wrote. That “makes it all the more important for our students to be able to convey their passion and research and highlight the transformative impact of what they are doing.”
On April 17, the Graduate School will host the annual Research Matters event, which will provide graduate students with opportunities to explain “why their research matters,” according to Ryan.
“We look forward to continuing this programming and welcoming the next cohort of graduate students with an orientation that is as strong as ever in the coming year,” she added.
