Physics Ph.D. candidate Arabi Seshappan added two prestigious fellowships to her curriculum vitae: the Chateaubriand Fellowship is a Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics & Biology-Health and the UC President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship.
During her graduate studies journey, the Fremont native has applied for more than 20 fellowships, and has now earned three major ones, as well as being named an Eugene-Cota Robles Fellow in 2019 and ARCS Fellow in 2023.
Seshappan, who works with Professor David Strubbe, recently wrapped up 10 months in Orsay, France, as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program's Fulbright-Université Paris-Saclay Doctoral Research Award.
“I'm really grateful to have spent this year here because it felt like an introduction,” she said about acclimating to France as a Fulbright Fellow. “Now, I'm hoping to focus on more of the research collaborations and strengthening connections.”
Seshappan has her sights set on becoming a research professor at a historically Black college or Hispanic-serving undergraduate institution and believes the connections she is building now with peers and mentors will serve her and her future students.
“I can reach out to them in five years and say, ‘I have an undergrad student I would love to have do some summer research with you. Can I send them your way?’” she said.
The Chateaubriand Fellowship will keep her in France through August 2026.
According to its website, “the Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from U.S. institutions who wish to conduct part of their doctoral research in France for a period ranging from four to nine months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, with expert evaluation in France and in the United States.”
The UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship is part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative. Seshappen expressed a strong connection to the fellowship’s mission to increase faculty diversity and provide pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented students from California Hispanic-serving institutions. The fellowship is funding both her French and American research.
As a community college and undergraduate student, she applied for numerous research opportunities but faced repeated setbacks. While at UCLA, a director at the Undergraduate Research Center took a chance on her and offered a position in a summer research program.
“I really struggled academically, but being given the chance to do undergraduate summer research really opened the doors to help me get into a master's and eventually a Ph.D. program,” she said. “I want to be that for someone else — especially for students who are underrepresented in the sciences. I want to be that person who opens doors for someone in the future, and the pre-professoriate is one step in that direction.”
Seshappan plans to fly back in spring 2026 to defend her thesis and participate in commencement.
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