Neha Lund ’22

The first full year back on campus following the pandemic, there was little I looked forward to more than my biweekly Mellon seminars. My Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship cohort would gather around a cozy wooden table and warm meal in the Newhouse Center to discuss our research projects and graduate school applications, often having 1:1 conversations with incredible guest speakers the Newhouse brought to campus.

Conversations were honest and stimulating, whether in Green Hall, at Professor Mata's kitchen table, or while presenting a research panel at the Jordan Symposium. I left meetings feeling inspired and supported amidst the chaos of thesis-ing, applying to graduate school, and co-leading a campus cultural organization.

Now, in a PhD program, I find myself grateful to our Mellon family for teaching me what true intellectual community looks like, helping me to see myself early on as a scholar with ideas and words worth sharing.