The ExFAB Fellows Program is designed to support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside who are engaged in research related to extreme microbes, particularly within the primary themes of bioremediation, biosynthesis and understanding rules of life. During the term of the Fellowship, Fellows will receive support toward their salary and associated benefits. ExFAB Fellows develop procedures, protocols, and workflows on ExFAB infrastructure in the pursuit of their own research, which is a primary goal of the funding support. Fellows are also provided the opportunity to participate in a variety of professional development, training and networking activities, including monthly cross-campus ExFAB Fellows Research Ideation meetings.
Fall 2025 Call for Fellows
Call Opens: July 25, 2025
Deadline to Apply: August 11, 2025 @11:59PM
Estimated Award Notification: August 18, 2025
Program duration: One academic quarter up to one year, to enable and support access to the ExFAB shared facilities. Fellows may continue to run projects and participate in all Fellows programming after their Fellowships are complete.
Eligibility: Open to graduate students or postdoctoral researchers from UC Santa Barbara or UC Riverside who are conducting research with extreme microbes that directly relates to the development of new protocols, workflows or technology that can be ultimately available to all ExFAB users.
Application Process
Fellows are selected through a competitive, application-based process. To be considered for an ExFAB Fellowship, researchers must submit a complete application package through the ExFAB Fellows Application Portal on this webpage.
In addition to a completed application form, applicants must upload:
- An abstract of the research project for which you seek access to the ExFAB facilities (1 page)
- A detailed description of the proposed experiments you plan to conduct, including a description of any new protocols or workflows (on ExFAB infrastructure) that may be developed during the experiments and anticipated outcomes (2-3) pages.
- Your full curriculum vitae.
Questions: Please contact Sherylle Mills Englander with any questions. Additional support provided by the CNSI Elings Fund, the UC Riverside Bourns College of Engineering and the UC Riverside College of Natural and Agricultural Science.
Current Fellows
Gaurav Agarwal
Graduate Student
gauravagarwal@ucsb.edu
Janelle Arnold
Graduate Student
jdarnold@ucsb.edu
Audrey Burr
Graduate Student
audrey.burr@email.ucr.edu
Carissa Gilliland
Graduate Student
carissa.gilliland@ucr.edu
Kelsey Gosselin
Graduate Student
kgosselin@ucsb.edu
Natasha Jones
Graduate Student
nataliajones@ucsb.edu
Benjamin Jones
Graduate Student
bjj118@ucsb.edu
Sangcheon Lee
Graduate Student
slee840@ucr.edu
Alexander Newman
Graduate Student
anewm008@ucr.edu
Philip Nosler
Graduate Student
pnosler@ucsb.edu
Christian Ona
Graduate Student
cona002@ucr.edu
Monique Quinn
Graduate Student
mquin006@ucr.edu
Jeemin Rhim
Post Doctoral Researcher
jrhim@ucsb.edu
Leonardo Sanchez-Zamora
Graduate Student
lsanc128@ucr.edu
Rafael Solorzano
Graduate Student
rsolorzano@ucsb.edu
Karoline Steuer-Lodd
Graduate Student
ksteu002@ucr.edu
Michael Strobel
Graduate Student
mstro016@ucr.edu
Kevin Valenzuela
Graduate Student
kevin_valenzuela@ucsb.edu
Marcus Varni
Graduate Student
mjvarni@ucsb.edu
Bo Zhang
Post Doctoral Researcher
bozhang@ucsb.edu