Lydia Mhando (She/Her)

Hello! My name is Anjelica and I'm a student at Columbia University in New York. My current research aims to look into how language shapes the discourse on femicide in the media. In my free time, I make podcast videos with people who I find inspiring, I write (and hunt for banger book quotes on Pinterest), I'm currently planning an initiative in my foundation, and I love improv comedy. A quote that I really love as of now is: "When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another." Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God And yes, I love existential questions.

Hi! I'm Emma and I'm a first year undergraduate student at the University of Leeds studying French and Italian. This summer I will undertake research for the project 'Listening to Feminist Art Histories: Researching and Sharing Voices from the FAMH Oral History Archive'. The Feminist Art Making Histories digital archive consists of interviews with artists, curators, and writers in the UK and Ireland from the 1970s onwards, exploring the relation between feminism and art. My findings will form part of Dr Elspeth Mitchell and the FAMH team's wider work of foregrounding the experiences of women artists in an engaging and accessible way to the public. My interest in intersectional feminism and of the importance of representation drew me towards this project, and I'm looking forward to engaging with feminst art histories with the FAMH. As a Modern Languages student and a native Welsh speaker, I'm passionate about languages and cross-cultural communication. I'm particularly interested in the way languages shape identities and build communities. Outside of my studies I enjoy reading, running, baking and travelling. I'm excited to begin my journey of research and leadership as a Laidlaw Scholar as well as connecting with other Scholars across the Global Network!

Hi! My name is Celine and I'm an undergraduate at Columbia University studying Economics-Political Science and Hispanic Studies. In addition to these topics, I also enjoy learnings about China-Taiwan history and politics.  A big part of my interests and passions also lie in journalism. I work as a student journalist at the Columbia Daily Spectator, where reporting on university news. I love studying the things I do because the allow me to tell stories and learn about people from across the world, just as journalism allows me to do here at Columbia.  In my free time, I also love cooking, baking, running, listening to music–maybe occasionally singing some karaoke–and spending time with my friends. 

Hello! My name is Lauren Suh and I am a rising sophomore at Columbia University from San Diego, California. I am majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior on the pre-medical track and plan to minor in Music (I play the flute!). This summer, I will be working at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center under the supervision of Dr. Yousin Suh. My research project delves into ovarian aging, a critical marker of systemic body aging as one of the first organs to exhibit signs of aging. I will be researching whether DNA Helicase B, or HELB, delays or impacts ovarian aging.  I love yoga, running, thrifting, and baking! I am hoping to learn pottery this summer, so please reach out if you would like to join! 

Hello there! I'm a history major at Columbia University. I spent 14 years as a border-crossing student, living in mainland China and commuting to Hong Kong every day. I  spent my high school years in Houston, Texas. My primary focus is transnational Asian history, though I am also broadly interested in philosophy, IR, and political theory.  I spent my freshman year at Rice and transferred to Columbia as a sophomore. I'm currently a rising junior.  I speak English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. I am currently unsuccessfully acquiring Japanese and French.

Hi, I'm in the Columbia College Class of 2029, interested in exploring the intersections of neurobiology and storytelling, particularly the stories behind the science. My Laidlaw research project delves into the molecular and behavioral signatures of pain and stress in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons in mice. 

Hello! My name is Christian Rebolledo, a rising sophomore in Columbia College at Columbia University studying Political Science and Medical Humanities with a Special Concentration in Public Health. I am passionate about intersecting the worlds of public health with political advocacy: people are social, and thus political. I am passionate about community building, civic engagement, and building systems for the next generation of leaders across disciplines. For my first summer as a Laidlaw scholar in the 2026 cohort, I will be characterizing postmortem data from ICE detention centers to identify trends across factors relatd to social determinants of health. I look forward to uncovering the quantitative facets of qualitative reporting currently populating the literature on carceral justice and public health.

Hi everyone! My name is Phoebe Matthew, and I am a rising sophomore at Columbia University majoring in Neuroscience & Behavior and possibly minoring in Computer Science. My research this summer in the Siegelbaum Lab at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute explores the role of the ventral CA1 excitatory neurons in the hippocampus, which are known to receive signals from the CA2 region that is heavily implicated in social memory, in valence associated social memory. This type of memory is not only the recognition of a familiar individual but also the memory of how that individual made you feel. Social memory is impaired in several neuropsychiatric disorders, and it is essential to understand how the mechanism behind it to inform possible therapeutics. Beyond the lab, I am a volunteer at a local memory care facility through Brain Exercise Initiative, a writer for Grey Matters (campus neuroscience journal), and involved in Columbia Synapse (traumatic brain injury advocacy group). I also recently got certified as an EMT. I am passionate about brain health advocacy/awareness, science communication, and service. In my free time, I enjoy painting, crafting, reading, and playing the ukulele. I would love to meet everyone, so please do not hesitate to reach out!   

Hi! My name is Izzy and I am a rising sophomore at Columbia University studying Neuroscience and Behavior on a pre-medical track, aspiring to become an emergency room physician or trauma surgeon in the future. Within the last year, I earned my EMT certification and have been involved in various clubs and volunteer activities on and off campus, but am definitely looking for more ways to help the community! I am very excited to be a part of the Laidlaw program and spend the summer in New York. Out of school, I love playing soccer, listening to music, and trying new foods/drinks around the city :) Please reach out if you have any interest/advice for my research this summer or if you just want to make a new friend!

Hey everyone! My name is Karthik Mahakala, and I am a rising Sophomore studying Environmental Biology at Columbia College. Specifically, I am extremely passionate about environmental health sciences, which encompasses how physical, chemical, and biological factors in the natural and built environments impact public health.  This summer, I will be evaluating the reliability of consumer-facing packaging signals for skin-lightening products across Northern Manhattan as a research assistant in the Llanos Lab.

Hey everyone! My name is Rinaz Jamal, and I'm a rising sophomore at Columbia University majoring in Neuroscience & Behavior. I am passionate about helping individuals with mental health and neurodegenerative disorders feel seen, heard, and supported. This summer, I will be doing research at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute under the supervision of Dr. Franck Polleux. My project aims to understand the activity-dependent regulation of mitochondrial protein expression in parvalbumin-positive interneurons, which are among the first neurons to fail in Alzheimer's disease (AD). I am excited to add to the scholarly conversation around Alzheimer's research by identifying the molecular pathways that would be most valuable to target for drug development in the future. Because PV-INs are among the first neurons to fail in AD, understanding these metabolic pathways and restoring levels of mitochondrial proteins has the potential to improve clinical outcomes much earlier in AD progression than current methods. At Columbia, I am involved as a Scientific Review Editor for Grey Matters, our undergraduate neuroscience journal; Blog Editor for the Journal of Global Health; Conference Committee member and Peer Buddy for Columbia Synapse, which advocates for patients with acquired brain injury; and volunteer with Brain Exercise Initiative, where I visit patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia at a local assisted living home. I also play flute and piccolo in the Columbia University Orchestra. In my free time, I love to read and explore New York City. Please feel free to reach out; I would love to get to know you all!

Hello! I'm Kate Morton, a rising Junior at Barnard College from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, pursuing a combined major in Environment & Sustainability and Human Rights with a minor in Dance. My Laidlaw Research combines land rights, history, ecology, and environmental justice to explore how eminent domain reshaped socio-ecological conditions in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area along the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

Hello! My name is Van Muller and I am a sophomore in Columbia College from Atlanta, Georgia. I intend on majoring in both Classics and Political Science on the Reception and American Politics/Theory tracks respectively. My project this summer analyzes the debates that formed the United States Constitution through the lens of Classical allusion and aims to evaluate the extent to which those allusions informed the founders about methods of good government.

Hi! My name is Chloe Lee and I am a incoming sophomore at Barnard College of Columbia University studying Political Science and Human Rights with aspirations to eventually go to law school. I am interested in voting rights, international human rights, intersectional feminist theory, and the intersection between law and business!  This summer I will be conducting research on Asian American voter behavior and the barriers that shape civic engagement for the Asian American community in Queens, Texas, and Georgia. With the supervision of my mentor Professor Chen, I look forward to learning about the lived experiences and geographic comparisons that will help me understand how barriers influence eligible voters.

Hello! My name is Abril Rodriguez Calle, and I am a student at Columbia University studying Medical Humanities with the goal of eventually becoming a doctor. My interests lie in the intersection between medicine, the healthcare system, and ethics, especially in understanding how healthcare decisions and policies affect both patients and communities. This summer, I will be working with Dr. Sandra Lee on an NIH-funded research project exploring the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of global genomics research partnerships. The project examines how institutions and communities negotiate issues such as data ownership, privacy, benefit-sharing, and decision-making in genomics research, with the goal of creating a practical “negotiation playbook” to support more meaningful and equitable collaboration. As part of the research team, I will help analyze policies and institutional practices while gaining experience in qualitative research, bioethics, and global health policy.

I am an undergraduate at Columbia University studying Sustainable Development and Political Science, with interests in energy policy, circular economy, and enviornmental diplomacy. My background combines advocacy, policy, and scholarship, and my research builds on this by examining nationwide legislative frameworks central to the AI revolution and the rapid expansion of data centers.