Howard Biology Ph.D. Students Selected for ESA’s 2026 Graduate Student Policy Award

by Adriana Fraser, Howard University
February 19, 2026

Howard University graduate students Olabisis Atofarati and Chukwudi Ikegwu were selected as recipients of the 2026 Katherine S. McCarther Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA), presented by the Ecological Society of America. 

Atofarati and Ikegwu, doctoral candidates in Howard’s biology graduate program, are two of the 20 students selected to be part of this year’s GSPA cohort, the university’s first recipients to receive the award since its creation in 2007.  The award provides recipients with an opportunity to interact with congressional decision-makers, federal agency officials, and ecologists who work in the science and public policy arena. 

Keep reading: https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-biology-phd-students-selected-esas-2026-graduate-student-policy-award

Read the ESA press release: https://esa.org/blog/2026/02/17/esa-2026-graduate-student-policy-award-cohort-named/