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Find Yourself Here: Harvard Graduate School of Education

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Welcome from assistant dean frank arce.

Welcome from Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

Dear Prospective Student,

On behalf of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), I am honored to extend a warm welcome to you for our 35th Annual Find Yourself Here Program. In these times of deep polarization, our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive community has never been more vital. At HGSE, we deeply value the diverse array of experiences and perspectives that each member brings to our vibrant academic environment.

As a person of color and a professional dedicated to both admissions and financial aid, I understand firsthand the importance of feeling welcomed and valued when selecting a graduate program. I have seen how crucial it is to find a place where you can bring your whole self—where your unique background and experiences are not only acknowledged but celebrated.

At HGSE, we are devoted to creating a space where diversity is not just an ideal but a lived reality. We are committed to nurturing a community where everyone—regardless of their identity or background—feels heard, respected, and empowered. Our goal is to cultivate an environment where robust discussions and diverse perspectives drive us forward, challenging conventional wisdom and expanding our understanding of the world.

We offer a range of programs designed to prepare future education leaders to make a meaningful impact. From our innovative master’s programs and immersive internships to our transformative Ed.L.D. program and interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Education, we are dedicated to equipping you with the knowledge and skills needed to address complex challenges in education.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion goes beyond mere appreciation. We strive to ensure that every member of our community can fully engage with and benefit from the opportunities available here. Through initiatives like the Equity and Inclusion Fellows program and various community-wide and program-specific activities, we aim to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into the fabric of our experience.

As you explore HGSE, I encourage you to share your unique perspectives and talents with us. Together, we can continue to make HGSE, and the broader Harvard University community, a place where everyone feels a deep sense of belonging and purpose.

I am excited to have you with us and look forward to the possibility of welcoming you to our community. Thank you for your interest in HGSE, and I hope your visit inspires you as much as it inspires us.

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Info for Prospective Students

Thank you for your interest in the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s (HGSE’s) PhD program!  Recognizing that the admissions process can be inequitable based on a number of factors, this page is intended to provide prospective applicants with general – and equal – information about what I (Dana McCoy) look for in a PhD applicant.  In particular, below I provide responses to several questions that I often get from prospective doctoral students. [1]

Where can I get more information about your work / the doctoral admissions process?

For information on my research and team, you are welcome to check out the rest of this website!

For information on HGSE’s admissions process, I recommend the resources provided by the Admissions Office: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/apply

For broader information on the “hidden curriculum” of graduate school, I would recommend the book A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco.

Are you available to discuss my interests/application prior to my acceptance?

For both practical and principled reasons, I don’t meet (in person or on the phone) with prospective students prior to admission, nor do I read draft personal statements or other materials outside the normal admissions process.  On the practical front, I tend to get numerous inquiries a year, and I just can’t make time to respond substantively to prospective applicants while also giving my current students the time and attention they deserve.  On the principled front, I believe strongly in trying to level the playing field for prospective applicants and am concerned that individualized meetings may lead to further inequities.

With this being said, if you are admitted to the PhD program, you can rest assured that I will shower you with attention and answer every possible question you may have.  It is in our collective interest to ensure that the relationship is a good fit, and that you can achieve your goals if you come to Harvard!

Does this mean that I shouldn’t contact other HGSE/non-HGSE faculty, either?

No, it definitely does not!  Norms and protocols regarding admissions vary widely both within and across institutions.  At some schools, individual faculty play an important role in selecting students for admission and, as a result, contacting faculty ahead of submitting your application can be an important means of demonstrating interest and ensuring your full application will be read by someone who could advocate for your selection.  It is therefore probably a good idea to reach out by email to other faculty members with whom you are considering working ahead of submitting your application.  These emails do not have to be complicated.  They can include several sentences that clearly, concisely, and politely communicate your background, key research interests, and the alignment of these interests with the prospective faculty member’s research agenda.  It can also be helpful to include your CV and any additional follow-up questions you might have for that person (e.g., whether they are accepting new students, are available to talk further, etc.).  If you don’t receive a response immediately, you can follow up with a polite reminder.   With all of this being said, you should not take it personally or as a negative sign if you do not hear back from a prospective faculty mentor.

Are you accepting students to work with you this coming year?

Yes, I am always enthusiastic about taking on new doctoral students!  It is important to understand, however, that unlike in some institutions, individual HGSE faculty do not have the authority to admit individual students.  Rather, we accept candidates as an entire faculty (represented by the admissions committee).  This is important for two reasons.  First, we have way more faculty than we have new PhD slots, and my colleagues also generally look forward to taking on new students.  On balance, I am therefore unlikely to get a new doctoral advisee in any particular year.  Second, you should think of the audience for your application as being the whole faculty, not just me (and other prospective advisors).  You do need to excite at least one prospective advisor, as we accept students only if there is one (or more) faculty member who is enthusiastic about taking them on.  But at the same time, you also need to excite the faculty as a whole.  Advisors retire, get ill, move institutions, get pulled into new roles, etc.  When we admit you, we commit ourselves to you as a school, and commit that even if (heaven forfend) your advisor gets hit by a bus, you will still receive the support and training you need to do great work in education. So make sure you really want to be at HGSE, not just working with me, and make sure you can explain to the faculty as a whole, not just to me, what work you want to do, why it’s important, and why you’re well positioned to do it.

What do you look for in a PhD application?

I am happy to provide some details of things that I look for when I read a PhD application, with the caveat that these are my own personal opinions.  Other readers of your application (including members of the HGSE admissions committee, who vary across any given year) may look for other implicit or explicit criteria.  As such, you should take these ideas with a grain of salt!

In my opinion, the personal statement is the most important piece of a doctoral application.  In the personal statement, I look for:

• A clear account of a topic, question, or phenomenon that you want to research . What are you curious, bothered, excited, angry, or fascinated by, and why?  In particular, why is this a question/topic/field/phenomenon that is ripe for research rather than working it out in the field?  Although these research interests should speak to a broader problem space, they should also be concrete and narrow enough to be feasibly addressed with the confines of a (time-limited) doctoral program.  For example, a specific interest in “the effects of community violence on early childhood development in Latin America” may be better received than a more general interest in “human development,” “resilience,” or “violence.” 
• Compelling motivation for why you believe this problem matter s. What makes this problem (or set of problems) come alive for you, and why should it matter to the rest of us? Why does it matter enough to you that you’re willing to sacrifice a half-decade of your life to figuring out (likely only part of) the answer?
• Explanation of how your prior experiences have led you to the point that you are ready for a PhD program . Your personal statement should not rehash your CV in narrative form (e.g., “first I did X, then I did Y, now I want to do Z”), but rather paint a more detailed picture of how your professional and academic experiences have prepared you for this moment in your career.  What did you learn in each of your positions, and how did these experiences lead you to want to address your stated research questions within a doctoral program?
• Evidence that HGSE/I could support you in addressing your identified topic of interest and future goals .  Even the most qualified students are often not admitted to PhD programs in which the admissions committee does not see a good “fit.”  What makes you a good match for HGSE’s PhD program, specifically?  How do you see the faculty at HGSE (and me, in particular) supporting you in achieving your conceptual, methodological, and professional goals?  
• Good writing . Is your statement organized, clear, and engaging? Does it make efficient use of the short amount of space we give you?  Does it demonstrate that you will be able to write good papers?  Does your writing demonstrate that you can think, and that you have something interesting to say that you can convey cogently to others?

In your personal statement, you do not need to:

• include statements about how wonderful HGSE is, or about the eminence of a particular faculty member, or what a privilege it would be to study here.  (In fact, please save yourself space and delete all such commentary.)  
• cite a bunch of literature, although you are welcome to if it adds to your argument.
• share personal anecdotes or vignettes that are not directly relevant to the work you want to do.  
• convince me that you want to be exactly like me in every way.  I love my research, but am more interested in supporting students whose work is authentic and true to their own passions!

Beyond the personal statement, I personally also look for prospective students who show:

• An inclination toward quantitative methods .  Please note that this does not mean you have to be an advanced statistician in order to successfully apply!  Rather, I want to know that you are curious and motivated to learn more about a diverse set of quantitative approaches, including those that support measurement validation, causal inference, etc.  This interest can be demonstrated through prior coursework, applied quantitative work (e.g., as a research assistant), and/or explicit statements of interest in your personal essay.
• Demonstrated research experience .  A PhD is, first and foremost, a research degree.  Again, the important thing here is not that you are already a fully trained researcher (this is what HGSE is for!), but rather that you have enough experience working in a research setting that you know that this type of environment is a good fit for your long-term career goals.  In my view, the best preparation for this type of work is several years of full-time research assistant experience prior to enrolling in a doctoral program. Some successful students do come straight from undergrad or via a master’s program, but my belief is that it is important to have had some meaningful exposure to the research process (e.g., through a part-time position, undergraduate/master’s thesis, monitoring and evaluation experience) prior to enrolling.

How and when will you read my application?

The PhD in Education Doctoral Admissions Committee will forward to me applications that are relevant to my areas of expertise.  You therefore do not need to send me your application separately or do anything special to draw my attention to your work.  If you are a good candidate for the program and our interests overlap in some way, then you can be reassured that I will review your application with care and attention in the normal course of the admissions process.

Can you provide me with feedback if my application is unsuccessful?

Unfortunately, providing this sort of feedback is typically not possible.  It is important to understand that the admissions committee and each individual faculty member at HGSE are always enthusiastic about more candidates than we are able to admit.  Often decisions have little to do with personal aptitude, and more to do with whether the prospective candidate is a good match with the needs of the school/faculty in any given year.  Please do not castigate yourself, therefore, if your application is unsuccessful.

[1] Many of these responses have been borrowed directly or adapted from a document written by HGSE Professor Meira Levenson.  Thank you, Meira!

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The Miratrix C.A.R.E.S. Lab

Causality, applications, and research in education and statistics.

Harvard Graduate School of Education / Harvard Department of Statistics

Overview of PhD Admission Process for HGSE and for Statistics

Are you interested in joining the CARES lab and working with me (Luke Miratrix)? This document is intended to provide prospective applicants with general – and equitable – information about what I personally look for in a PhD applicant. In particular, below I provide responses to several questions that I often get from prospective doctoral students. [1] This information may also be useful for thinking about applying to (and getting in to) PhD programs more generally. Please note I’m speaking only as an individual faculty member, not on behalf of any program or the University.

I offer these thoughts on the “ hidden curriculum ” of this program in the spirit of leveling the playing field for all potential students. I do not take individual meetings with prospective students; this way, everyone gets the same information. If you have a question that I don’t answer, send me an email ( [email protected] ) that mentions this page and I’ll add the answer here.

First, you should know that individual professors are not in control of the admission process (at Harvard/HGSE). Both the education school and the statistics department have admissions committees that review applications as a pool. The way it works is there is an initial committee that reviews applications, and then the finalists are sent out to individual professors to gauge interest. When that step happens, I would read your application as a faculty member and express interest. 

Q: What background do I need? (for Education programs)

• Background Most of my education students have at least a couple years of post-undergrad work experience. These experiences help students identify problems that need solving and get a sense of what is important in the world of education. Some successful students do come straight from undergrad or via a master’s program, but having had some meaningful exposure to the research process (e.g., through a part-time position, undergraduate/master’s thesis, monitoring and evaluation experience) prior to enrolling is really important.
• Quantitative skills You’ll need to show that you can handle a good amount of quantitative rigor (this will help with the program, and with working with me in particular). If you haven’t taken (and gotten good grades in) advanced math classes like calculus or statistics, and are planning on doing quantitative research, you’ll need to explain this history to the admissions committee, and identify how you will make up for this in your written statement or in the explanations of grades section of your application. 
• Experience with data Hands-on experience analyzing real data to answer real-world questions is common for our PhD admits. Working on “toy data” for problem sets in classes usually isn’t enough. (By “toy data”, I mean easy-to-use data created for students or to demonstrate a method. These data don’t have complications like missing values or hierarchical structure). Ideally, you would have some experience using data to answer a real, relevant, and challenging research question.

Q: What background do I need? (Statistics)

• Background Most of my stat students have at least some research experience as an undergrad with some faculty. These experiences help students identify problems that need solving and also help the admissions department know that you know what you are getting yourself in to.
• Quantitative skills You’ll need to show that you can handle the quantitative rigor of the program. Ideally this means you have taken advanced stat courses, and are getting good grades in some advanced math. I don’t need or look for pure math powerhouses, however.  But to compete in the overall pool, you would need strong research experience or experience with data to offset less math experience.
• Experience with data Hands-on experience analyzing real data to answer real-world questions is really good to have, especially if you are interested in working with me. Alternatively, having worked on a complex simulation or some sort of methods development can help make for a strong application.

Q: How does applying work?

This is too big a question to answer here, but in brief: You will need to prepare an application and solicit some letters of recommendation.  This all happens in the fall.  Applications are read in January and February.  You start hearing back in the spring.  For a lot more about this process, see below.

Q: Where can I get more information about your work and/or the doctoral admissions process?

This website (cares.gse.harvard.edu/) is a good place to learn about my research, my students, and the culture we try to create at the Miratrix CARES lab.

For general information about this process, see the Health Policy Data Science Lab’s page for prospective students at https://healthpolicydatascience.org/prospective-student-info (although much of that material I have stolen for this page and a page overview of being a student as well).

For information on HGSE’s admissions process, I recommend the resources provided by the Admissions Office: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/apply

For broader information on the “hidden curriculum” of graduate school, I would recommend the book A Field Guide to Grad School by Jessica Calarco.

Q: Can you give me an overview of the stat or education PhD Programs at Harvard, assuming I was working with you?

Yes!  Please see here .

Q: What do your students tend to do after graduating?

The best way to tell is to scan our page of alumni .  The short version is: lots of different things!  A good number end up with various professorial posts ranging from more teaching to more research.  Many work in industry or join policy evaluation firms such as Abt. Most continue using their skills gained in their PhD program to do things that interest them. As far as I know, most are quite fulfilled by their post-graduate work.

Q: Are you available to discuss my interests/application prior to my acceptance?

For both practical and principled reasons, I don’t meet (in person or on the phone) with prospective students prior to admission, nor do I read draft personal statements or other materials outside the normal admissions process.  On the practical front, I tend to get numerous inquiries a year, and I just can’t make time to respond substantively to prospective applicants while also giving my current students the time and attention they deserve.  On the principled front, I believe strongly in trying to level the playing field for prospective applicants and am concerned that individualized meetings may lead to further inequities. 

With this being said, if you are admitted to the PhD program, you can rest assured that I will shower you with attention and answer every possible question you may have.  It is in our collective interest to ensure that the relationship is a good fit, and that you can achieve your goals if you come to Harvard!

Q: Does this mean that I shouldn’t contact other HGSE/non-HGSE faculty, either?

No, it definitely does not!  Norms and protocols regarding admissions vary widely both within and across institutions.  At some schools, individual faculty play an important role in selecting students for admission and, as a result, contacting faculty ahead of submitting your application can be an important means of demonstrating interest and ensuring your full application will be read by someone who could advocate for your selection.  It is therefore probably a good idea to reach out by email to other faculty members with whom you are considering working ahead of submitting your application.  These emails do not have to be complicated.  They can include several sentences that clearly, concisely, and politely communicate your background, key research interests, and the alignment of these interests with the prospective faculty member’s research agenda.  It can also be helpful to include your CV and any additional follow-up questions you might have for that person (e.g., whether they are accepting new students, are available to talk further, etc.).  If you don’t receive a response immediately, you can follow up with a polite reminder.   With all this being said, you should not take it personally or as a negative sign if you do not hear back from a prospective faculty mentor.

Q: Are you accepting students to work with you this coming year?

Yes, I am always enthusiastic about taking on new doctoral students!  It is important to understand, however, that unlike in some institutions, individual HGSE faculty do not have the authority to admit individual students.  Rather, we accept candidates as an entire faculty (represented by the admissions committee).  You should therefore think of the audience for your application as being the whole faculty, not just me (and other prospective advisors).  You do need to excite at least one prospective advisor, as we accept students only if there is one (or more) faculty member who is enthusiastic about taking them on.  But at the same time, you also need to excite the faculty as a whole.  Advisors retire, get ill, move institutions, get pulled into new roles, etc.  When we admit you, we commit ourselves to you as a school.

I personally think this last point deserves extra attention: the more a school engenders a community where a student can potentially find mentorship from multiple faculty, the greater the chance that the relationships can be genuine and good fits. If there is only a single advisor that works, and there is a relationship mismatch, then a student can get trapped in a bad (and imbalanced) relationship dynamic. I believe it is better for students to have freedom to change advisors.

In both Harvard Stats and HGSE, I have found that students do have this mobility which means students can obtain the support and training they need to do great work. But this means you should be looking at the school and the faculty as a whole, not just me, when evaluating fit.

Q: Do I have to do statistical methodology work to have you as my advisor?

If you are an education student, you definitely do not need to do methodology work with me. That being said, what I hope will happen is in the course of tackling interesting and engaging applied problems, you and I will find some area where the want to tweak methodology, or borrow methodology from somewhere unusual to answer the applied question you are working on. I particularly love this kind of paper, where a real methodological strength can open doors to inquiry!

Q: Do I have to work only with you as my advisor?  Can I have multiple advisors?

I have a set of specialized skills that put me between education and statistics. This means that in general, I believe my students are better served if they are working with me and other faculty as well. This gives them a broader perspective on their chosen field, and make sure that whatever gaps I have in my own mentoring are filled by mentoring from elsewhere. It's also much more exciting and fun to work with multiple people, I believe. So I strongly encourage my students to build real relationships with other faculty throughout the University as suits their research interests.

Q: What do you look for in a PhD application?

I am happy to provide some details of things that I look for when I read a PhD application, with the caveat that these are my own personal opinions.  Other readers of your application (in particular, the members of the admissions committee, who vary across any given year) may look for other implicit or explicit criteria.  As such, you should take these ideas with a grain of salt.

In general, I look across the materials of an application and try to assess whether we would have a good and productive research relationship.  For me, some signs of a good fit are

• Curiosity : I love those who are trying to understand the world around them. I also highly value those who want to understand how the methods of knowing (research methodology) itself work.  Even if you are planning on doing applied work (trying to answer questions about how society or education functions, I mean), I look for evidence that the means of learning these things is itself of interest to you.
• Excitement : Some people are mission driven (they have found a problem they want to work on and solve), others love the work (the excitement of discovery), and others see it as a path to service (the joy of building tools that can help people achieve their goals). One way or the other, I get excited by people who are taking this on because they are excited by something.
• Capability : I look for evidence that you have the potential to do and excel at quantitative research ranging from thoughtful application of quantitative methods to problems of practice to designing new quantitative methods to help others take on problems of practice. Even if you are a math powerhouse, I want to see evidence of being able to think about the application of methods to practice, and how that can succeed or fail (this is a very different kind of thinking than mathematical theory, and one can be able to do one and not the other in either direction).
• Mathematical comfort and curiosity : I tend to be more successful with students who are wanting to continue to develop their mathematical ability in addition to whatever core research program they are on. This interest can be demonstrated through prior coursework, applied quantitative work (e.g., as a research assistant), and/or explicit statements of interest in your personal essay.
• Independence : Given my role as a statistical methodologist in an education school, I am simultaneously very well positioned and not so well positioned to advise both stat and ed students. The best mentoring I do is with students who also have other mentors, and also have some independence.  For example, in education I am not good at connecting students to specific education research problems, but I am good at helping them work on a problem they have. So independence, here, would be identifying the problem.
• Explanation of how your prior experiences have led you to the point that you are ready for a PhD program . Your personal statement should not rehash your CV in narrative form (e.g., “first I did X, then I did Y, now I want to do Z”), but rather paint a more detailed picture of how your professional and academic experiences have prepared you for this moment in your career.  What did you learn in each of your positions, and how did these experiences lead you to want to address your stated research questions within a doctoral program?
• Good writing . Is your statement organized, clear, and engaging? Does it make efficient use of the short amount of space we give you?  Does it demonstrate that you will be able to write good papers?  Does your writing demonstrate that you can think, and that you have something interesting to say that you can convey cogently to others? 
• Demonstrated research experience (in general) .  A PhD is, first and foremost, a research degree.  Again, the important thing here is not that you are already a fully trained researcher (this is what getting a PhD is for!), but rather that you know what you are getting into, at least a little. For ed students, having several years of full-time research assistant experience prior to enrolling in a doctoral program can give you the perspective to really take advantage of a PhD program.  For stats, this is less important as it is easier to get a sense of “I want to do more of this,” given an undergraduate experience, but I still want to know that you know what this might look like for you.

Overall, I want my education students to be leaning a bit towards being a statistics student, and for my statistics students to be leaning a bit towards being a student in some social science.

I should note that most other professors also look for a few other things (even though I do not tend to).  For a comparison, please read Dana McCoy’s version of this document (this document, in fact, is an edited version of hers): https://seed.gse.harvard.edu/info-prospective-students .  Some things to consider:

• A clear account of a topic, question, or phenomenon that you want to research .
• Compelling motivation for why you believe this problem matter s.
• Evidence that HGSE/I could support you in addressing your identified topic of interest and future goals . 

In your personal statement, you do not need to:

• include statements about how wonderful HGSE is, or about the eminence of a particular faculty member, or what a privilege it would be to study here.  (In fact, please save yourself space and delete all such commentary.)  
• cite a bunch of literature, although you are welcome to if it adds to your argument.
• share personal anecdotes or vignettes that are not directly relevant to the work you want to do.  

Q: How and when will you read my application?

The PhD in Education Doctoral Admissions Committee will forward to me applications that are relevant to my areas of expertise.  You therefore do not need to send me your application separately or do anything special to draw my attention to your work. You should write my name down on the application as a person you are interested in working with, however.  This will ensure that I will review your application in the normal course of the admissions process.

Q: Can you provide me with feedback if my application is unsuccessful?

Unfortunately, providing this sort of feedback is typically not possible.  It is important to understand that the admissions committee and each individual faculty member at HGSE are always enthusiastic about more candidates than we are able to admit. Every year, for both stat and ed students, I end up identifying several students I am extremely excited about and that I think would be wonderful to admit. And usually only a few, if any, of these recommendations are let in. Often final decisions have little to do with personal aptitude, and more to do with whether the prospective candidate is a good match with the overall needs of the school in any given year.

[1] Many of these responses have been borrowed directly or adapted from a document written by HGSE Professor Dana McCoy who similarly borrowed and adapted from HGSE Professor Meira Levenson.  Thank you, Dana and Meira!

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 11:30 AM until 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time UTC -04:00

Harvard Graduate School of Education - Eliot Lyman Room 13 Appian Way Cambridge, MA 02138 United States

Join us on the HGSE campus for an informative event about our innovative Teaching and Teacher Leadership (TTL) master's degree program tailored to current and aspiring teachers and teacher leaders. During this in-person event, you will hear from faculty, staff, and students about program details and benefits. The event will conclude with a classroom visit led by TTL faculty. Please note that this event is listed in Eastern Time (ET). View all upcoming Admissions Events →

13 Appian Way | Cambridge, MA 02138

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2024-2025 Graduate Program Participants

The Harvard Law School Graduate Program is pleased to present the 2024-2025 Graduate Program Face Book, which includes photos and brief biographical details of our current LL.M. and S.J.D. candidates, international exchange students, and visiting scholars and researchers.

View the 2024-2025 Graduate Program Facebook here (HarvardKey required).

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The Ph.D. in Education is an interdisciplinary doctoral program that combines advances in the social sciences, sciences, arts, and humanities with deep expertise in educational research, policy, and practice to train students for careers as academics, researchers, policymakers, and leaders who will improve educational outcomes in the United States and around the world. Ph.D. candidates will collaborate with faculty from across Harvard graduate and professional schools and conduct groundbreaking research — forging new fields of inquiry that will transform education practice and policy.  Candidates for the Ph.D. in Education choose from among three concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; or Human Development, Learning and Teaching.

All Ph.D.s are granted through the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

2024 Breakout Sessions

Breakout Session Details

Open minds in dialogue, friday, september 20, 2024 2024 hilt conference harvard graduate school of education.

Additional conference links:

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Independent Study by Candidates for Doctoral Degrees

9502 must be taken for either 2 or 4 units. 

Under faculty guidance, the student conducts an independent reading program and formulates a thesis proposal. The course is intended for doctoral students. 

In addition to enrolling in the course, students must download and fill out the independent study petition, which can be found on my.Harvard. Enrollment will not be final until the petition is submitted. 

Meet Our New PhD Students!

We’ll be featuring mini-profiles of our new PhD students over the next few weeks. We look forward to welcoming them into our community!

Hello! My name is Madeleine (or Maddy) Carbonneau. I graduated from Harvard in 2020 with my undergraduate degree in applied math. After graduating, I worked for a couple years at Roivant Sciences, a biotech/ pharmatech company in New York. For the last two years, I have been a post- baccalaureate fellow at the Framingham (MA) Heart Study with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute asking questions about epigenetics, lifestyle factors, and biological aging.

Although I left college thinking I wanted to work in business development in the biotech industry, I quickly learned after starting my first job that I did not like being so far away from the research activities of the company. Luckily, my employer gave me the option to transition to more research-oriented roles. Here, I was able to work with powerful datasets to answer interesting questions and I felt much more motivated by my projects.

I started my position at the Framingham Heart Study to do some research in a more-academic environment and prepare for a doctoral program. In my current research, I work with a lot of genetic/multi- omics data and I’m very motivated to research the questions that arise from these data. I am particularly interested in using analytical structures that allow us to understand how genes work in synchrony. Although my research interests remain quite broad, in graduate school, I would like to explore how we can use statistics to better quantify and describe the relationships between genes and how their interrelated (dys)function can cause disease.

Outside of my research, I aim to surround myself with as many dogs as possible. My partner and I have two dogs of our own, Ginger and Sophie, and have fostered several other dogs. When that is not enough dog for me (it rarely is), I volunteer at an animal shelter where I walk and hang out with more dogs. I also enjoy spending time with my family, who lives in the Boston area. Most of all, I love hanging out with their dogs.

Hello! My name is Armelle Duston. I am of French origin but I grew up in the US in Lynchburg, Virginia. This past May, I graduated with a BS in Applied Math and Statistics from Colorado School of Mines.

At Mines, I first came across the field of mathematical biology which would eventually lead me to my interest in biostatistics. From the beginning, I was interested in using mathematical tools to better understand and improve human health.

My main research experience in undergrad was in investigating the circadian rhythms of adolescents under the mentorship of Dr. Cecilia Diniz Behn. This work involved some mathematical modeling work with systems of differential equations, but my main project was a statistical analysis of combined datasets leading to a finding about sex differences in the circadian rhythms of adolescents. Outside of research, I also participated in a summer institute in biostatistics (SIBS) at NC State and Duke. From taking a course on spatial statistics, I developed an interest in statistical methods in epidemiology and particularly environmental health.

In my free time, I love to read, travel, and do a variety of outdoor sports including hiking, mountain biking, and rock climbing. I’m excited to see what Boston has to offer, and I am looking forward to meeting everyone!

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