OPUS Students Win Major UCSB Graduate Fellowships

The OPUS Lab at UC Santa Barbara is proud to announce that two of its graduate researchers, Shaila Niazi and Navid Anjum Aadit, have been awarded major UCSB Graduate Division fellowships.

Shaila Niazi has received the Graduate Research Mentorship Program Fellowship for the 2025–26 academic year. This prestigious award supports continuing graduate students who show exceptional promise as researchers and who contribute to UCSB’s diversity mission. The fellowship provides full-year financial support and is designed to foster advanced research skills under close faculty mentorship.

Navid Anjum Aadit has been awarded the Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship for Spring 2026. This competitive, one-quarter award is intended to support doctoral candidates in the final stage of their dissertation writing, allowing them to devote full attention to completing their research without employment obligations.