Quaidoo Awarded AAUW Fellowship
The nutrition doctoral student received an International Doctoral Degree Fellowship.
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Esi Quaidoo, a doctoral student in nutrition, is one of three UMass PhD students to receive a fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) for the 2022-23 academic year. Recipients will pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls.
Quaidoo is a recipient of the International Doctoral Degree Fellowship. The program provides support for women pursuing full-time graduate or postdoctoral study in the United States who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Recipients return to their home countries to become leaders in business, government, academia, community activism, the arts or scientific fields.
“My research interests are on nutritional assessments among vulnerable populations,” says Quaidoo, who studies under the faculty supervision of Associate Professor Lisa Troy. “My current work seeks to analyze stress among African women and weight outcomes. I hope to help address the dearth in objective data on stress (using hair cortisol extractions) and the effect it has on the nutritional statuses of African women of reproductive age. My main long-term goals are to continue research on vulnerable populations and to become a professor in the field of public health nutrition.”
AAUW is one of the world’s oldest leading supporters of graduate women’s education. Since 1888, it has awarded more than $135 million in fellowships, grants, and awards to 13,000 women from 150 countries. For the 2022–23 academic year, AAUW has awarded an unprecedented $6 million through its fellowships and grants programs to 320 scholars and community projects that promote education and equity for women and girls.
To find out more about this year’s class of awardees, visit the online directory.