Nine of Rice University’s Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows traveled to Atlanta in November to present their summer research at the 2025 Southeast Regional Conference. The event brought together emerging scholars at Emory University and Spelman College, giving Owls a platform to share projects that range from Black vampire movies to plantation histories.
Beyond formal presentations, the conference offered the cohort a deeper look at what a future in academia could hold. Fellows heard from “full circle” Mellon alumni who went on to earn their doctorates and now teach in higher education, learning about the demands of graduate school and how to build the necessary skills to thrive.
The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship was established during the 1988-89 academic year, aiming to broaden the range of scholarly perspectives in the U.S. academy with a focus on the humanities and humanistic social sciences. To date, the program has produced more than 1,200 doctoral graduates with approximately 800 who are currently college professors. More than 30 Rice alumni who were in the Mellon Mays program have earned doctorates.