Four Ph.D. Students Receive Humanities Center Conference Grants
Graduate students often dedicate significant time and effort to their research but face financial barriers when seeking opportunities to share their work at academic conferences. Recognizing this challenge, the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University has set up the Graduate Student Conference Grant to support graduate students in presenting their research at major conferences around the world.
The Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024–2025 Graduate Student Conference Grant, each receiving between $1,000 and $2,500 to participate in humanities-focused conferences between Fall 2025 and Summer 2026.
Through this initiative, the Humanities Center reaffirms its commitment to supporting graduate scholarship and advancing the presence of the humanities in global academic conversations.
This year’s recipients are Catherine Evans, Julie Kidder and Laura DeLuca from the Department of English, and Qianyu Ma from the Department of History. The Conference Grant enables CMU graduate students to share their research with international audiences and engage with leading scholars in their fields.
Each recipient has reflected on what this award means to them and how it will advance their research and professional development.
Catherine Evans
Department of English, PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies
Catherine Evans will present her research on drag infrastructures and lead a panel at the American Studies Association’s annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “As a working-class student, the Conference Grant has greatly impacted me personally by making the largest conference in my field accessible to me,” Evans said. “Attending without this grant would be a heavy financial burden. This support lets me focus on my research instead of finances.” Evans emphasized the importance of collaborating with humanities scholars at universities other than Carnegie Mellon. She added that she is “especially excited to learn about the impressive public humanities work being done by Humanidades Puerto Rico as part of the conference’s Public Humanities Day.”
Julie Kidder
Department of English, PhD in Rhetoric
Julie Kidder will travel to Finland to present at the Narrare Autumn Seminar for Ph.D. researchers at Tampere University. “Without this award, I would not have been able to make the trip to the Narrare conference,” Kidder said. “Receiving the grant means I can attend the conference without worrying about whether I have enough money while abroad. I can focus on improving my research, building relationships, and enjoying my time in Finland.” She added that engaging with an international community of narrative studies scholars will help enhance her dissertation and strengthen her scholarship.
Laura DeLuca
Department of English, PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies
Laura DeLuca is thankful for the chance to present her research on ancient queens in early modern drama at the Renaissance Society of America conference in San Francisco. “I’m very grateful to receive the Humanities Center Conference Grant. Presenting at the Renaissance Society of America conference will let me share my research with others, connect with scholars whose work has influenced my thinking, and get feedback on a chapter of my dissertation that I’m currently developing,” she said. “This will help me turn the chapter into a finished article for submission to a scholarly journal.”
Qianyu Ma
Department of History, PhD in History
Qianyu Ma, a Ph.D. student in History, will present at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, the largest conference in her field. “Receiving this Humanities Center Conference Grant is very important to me. It not only recognizes my academic dedication but also affirms the importance of the questions guiding my research,” Ma said. “This award allows me to share my work with a global audience, learn from senior scholars whose work has inspired me, and gain the confidence to see myself as part of the broader scholarly community in Asian Studies.” She added that presenting at AAS will “let me engage directly with leading scholars in Chinese and Islamic studies, receive feedback that sharpens my arguments, and build lasting academic networks.”
The Humanities Center congratulates this year’s grantees and celebrates their contributions to advancing scholarship in the humanities.