Graduate News and Events

By Daja Elum | Atmospheric Science PhD Student | In Southwest Detroit and the neighboring communities of River Rouge and Ecorse, Michigan, environmental hazards are difficult to separate from everyday life. Oil refining, steel production, freight traffic, major highways, wastewater infrastructure, and other industrial sources sit alongside residential neighborhoods, schools, parks, and places where families have lived for generations. In the 48217 zip code region, a predominantly Black and Latine community long associated with some of Michigan's highest pollution burdens, residents have spent decades asking what they are breathing, what is being emitted around them, and how those exposures may affect their health.Read more...

By Tracey W. Thomas, PhD, More Than STEM | Department of Biology, PhD Class of 2000 | If you're a graduate student at Howard, you've probably been asked some version of "so, what's the plan?" more times than you can count. I'd like to offer a different question, one that has carried me further than any plan: what have you built, and where could it matter? When I was a doctoral student here, my plan was simple. I would study the mechanisms of biological systems, earn my PhD, and become a professor who trained the next generation of bench scientists. Well… sort of. Two decades later, I've worked in science policy, biodefense, and strategic communications, and I now help doctoral-trained professionals navigate this exact question.Read more...

By Davion Washington | From Mecca to the World, faculty from the Graduate School will lead global learning experiences for Howard University’s College of Arts and Sciences in Spring 2027. Three of those courses are led by faculty who also serve the Graduate School, and they will take students to Morocco, Trinidad, and Paris and London. Each course pairs up a semester of study with a week abroad, so students arrive prepared to engage with the places they visit rather than simply see them. For students, it is a chance to connect what they learn at Howard to communities and histories around the world. Students in Howard University’s College of Arts and Sciences can choose from 27 courses across 4 continents, having the opportunity to apply for up to three courses. Read more...

Howard PhD alum Latoya Hogg was recently was awarded the BSW Adjunct Award in Teaching Excellence from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Marja Lankinen, an English PhD student, recently published a chapter in The Routledge Companion to James Baldwin.

Howard University team won the Grand Prize in the 2026 National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Public Health Case Challenge Competition this October. The interdisciplinary team included students from Health Management (1), Public Health (1), Pharmaceutical Sciences (1), and Medicine (2), making this a truly collaborative Howard University accomplishment. Read more...

New Study Highlights AI’s Potential to Transform Justice Delivery in Rural Namibia | A recent study published in the South African Journal of Information Management by Howard Information systems and Business Analytics professor Dr. Efosa Idemuda explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionize the delivery of justice system e-services in Namibia’s rural communities. Researchers emphasize that individuals living in remote villages across Africa often lack the financial and educational resources required to access traditional justice services. Read more...