Scholar Development Overview
The Office of Scholar Development was created to help students attain opportunities for independent research and sponsored scholarship. With help from the StAAR Center and the Scholarship Committee, we assist students in the sometimes complicated application process every step of the way, from deciding which scholarship is the right fit to revising application essays.
Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities
Our office is here to help you put your best foot forward for high-stakes competitions for nationally competitive awards. We coach you through the application process with an emphasis on personal development and discovery. While not all our candidates win, it’s vital to remember that the application process offers its own set of valuable rewards, including discovering paths toward your personal and career goals, understanding your own strengths and challenges as a scholar, activist, artist, and/or researcher, becoming a better writer, especially in the tricky genres of the personal essay and grant application, and articulating your vision for the impact you want to make on the world.
Meet the Staff
Emily Palermo
Program Manager
Emily Palermo (she/her/hers) leads the Office of Scholars Development, serves as the primary fellowship advisor for several highly-competitive national and international scholarship organizations, and leads Tufts’ Summer Scholars Program.
She received her B.A. from Louisiana State University in 2017, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Tufts University, all in English.
Jem Shin
Program Assistant
Jem Shin (they/them) is a PhD candidate in the Department of English. They are excited to work with students applying for a broad range of fellowships and scholarships with the help of the Office of Scholar Development. Jem also looks forward to expanding the Office's outreach and communications to the Tufts community.
Jem earned their BA in Economics and English from Wesleyan University in 2023. They are interested in 20th- and 21st-century literature, with a focus in movement, borders, diaspora writing, and film.
Jessica Maloney
Program Assistant
Jessica (she/her/hers) is a sixth-year PhD candidate in the English department. She earned her B.A. in English and Literature Studies from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2019. Her research focuses on ecological entanglements between the nonhuman and human in early British, Scottish, and Welsh literature.
Jessica has taught in the First-Year Writing program for three years, where she has worked with students from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. As a non-traditional, first-generation student, she understands the uncertainties involved in applying for major research and scholarship opportunities and is excited to help students navigate the process with clarity and support.
Rosemary Ewing
Program Assistant
Rosemary Ewing (she/her) is a second-year PhD student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies here at Tufts. Rosemary specializes in early modern theatre, with a focus on queer and racialized embodiment via fat performance. A former K-12 educator and English as a Foreign Language instructor, Rosemary is always excited to chat about application writing, pedagogy, and experiences abroad.
Rosemary earned her B.A. in French Studies and Theatre Arts from Smith College in 2018, followed by her M.Ed in International Education from l’Université de Bordeaux in 2020 and her M.A. in Shakespeare Studies from a program jointly taught by King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe in 2021.
Daniel Waqar
Program Assistant
Daniel Waqar (he/him/his) is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at Tufts University. He received his MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies from the University of Oxford. He received his BA in History summa cum laude from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he has undergraduate commencement speaker for his graduating class. His research is on the history of “unlawful assembly” and anti-protest laws around the world.
He has extensive experience with winning major and prestigious grants, from a Harry S. Truman Scholarship at UNLV to an Emerging Scholar award from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation at Tufts. He looks forward to working with students on all aspects of competitive scholarships and graduate school planning and welcomes questions and meeting requests via email.
The research we sponsor and the students we nominate for nationally competitive awards are a way that we tell the world who we are as an institution, and a way we reaffirm Tufts’ commitment to inclusion, critical inquiry, and social justice.
Our office is dedicated to scholarship and teaching in service of the struggle toward equity, safety, and justice for all people and our planet. We reaffirm our commitment to stand in solidarity with those targeted by forces of repression. We actively denounce homophobia, misogyny, racism, transphobia, xenophobia, ablism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and all other forms of hatred and bigotry.