Support Students Who Change the WorldGraduate students at Berkeley are fearless adventurers, pushing the boundaries of what we know about our world. Read below to learn what sparks the imaginations of our talented students and inspires their groundbreaking research, and how critical fellowship funding propels their success. Want to hear their stories in their own words? Enjoy the latest winning videos from our Distinguished Fellows Video Contest where students describe how vital fellowship support is helping chart new paths in graduate research at Berkeley. “Donors who give to fellowship funds at Berkeley invest in an incredible talent pool of students, many of whom inevitably go on to employ their talents for the greater good.” Lisa García BedollaVice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate DivisionStudent Profiles Christine Gregg and Chris Daily-DiamondUntangling The Mystery Of Why Shoelaces Come UntiedProfessor Oliver O’Reilly and two graduate students, Christine Gregg and Chris Daily-Diamond, have published a paper, in Proceedings Of The Royal Society A, titled “The roles of impact and inertia in the failure of a shoelace knot.” Read moreKaveh DaneshKaveh Danesh is a PhD student in the Department of Economics. Before coming to Berkeley, he attended Duke and Harvard Universities; received Fulbright and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowships; served on Duke’s Board of Trustees; and interned as a writer at The White House. He is currently studying poverty and inequality. Watch KavehRebecca BrunnerAs a tropical field ecologist with a background in conservation policy and education, Becca researches strategies that aim to benefit both biodiversity and the livelihoods of local people. Originally from a small cornfield town in Illinois, she has lived and worked in many jungles around the world. She currently researches the nexus of ecosystem services and conservation, as well as synergies between biodiversity and human health. Watch RebeccaKatya CherukimilliKatya Cherukumilli, an environmental engineering graduate student at UC Berkeley, won first place in the Designing Solutions for Poverty contest for her super-low-cost approach to groundwater purification in India. Watch KatyaLaura SofenLaura Sofen was thrilled to return to Chemistry in “one of the strongest graduate programs in the country, with opportunities I couldn’t find anywhere else,” she says. Her acceptance package also said she’d been selected to receive the Joe Lurie Returned Peace Corps Gateway Fellowship, which would cover her fees and tuition, provide a stipend, and include free room and board at International House for a year. Read more about Laura