Scholar Awards

Every gift to the Scholar Award Fund goes to the support of our scholars. Unlike most academic grants, ARCS awards are unrestricted, providing flexibility for the recipients to use at their discretion. Your investment makes it possible for ARCS Scholars to attend scientific meetings to explore ideas with cohorts, purchase equipment or computers for research, and travel to areas around the globe to study on site.  

Donors at the $10,000; $7,500; $5,000 or $3,750 level can elect to sponsor or co-sponsor a named Scholar Award. ARCS Foundation Atlanta makes a 2–3-year commitment to each scholar. Pease consider renewing your donation annually. 

Vedhika Raghunathan
Herz Global Impact Award
Ph.D. Student, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Emory University
First Year ARCS Scholar

Vedhika is a Microbiology and Molecular Genetics doctoral student and Laney Graduate School Fellow at Emory University studying influenza A virus evolution. She received her B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Michigan in 2021, where she developed her research interests in public health and microbiology. Vedhika’s first research experience focused on minority health. She developed an interest in understanding interactions between pathogens and the immune system while working at University College Dublin and at the University of Michigan. Vedhika continues to focus on pathogen-immune system interactions where her research aims to understand the antigenic evolution of influenza A virus in the context of pre-existing immunity. Vedhika has delivered four research presentations and contributed to nine peer-reviewed articles.