Nigerian at Yale University wins Harvard University’s Cunin-Sigal Research Grant of the Arnold Arboretum
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 19, 2024
Oluwatobi Oso, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, was awarded the Cunin-Sigal Research Grant by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. The Cunin-Sigal Award is valued at $6,000, to cover his ongoing research.
“Oluwatobi is one of those special students who always stands out in my mind as one who quickly grasps new concepts and likes to explore them fully, always exceeding my expectations in his performance. Plant Development and Evolution, as a starting point for the discussion of global climate change and the conservation of plant biodiversity, has been of great interest to him,” said Professor Erika Edwards of Yale University. “As his dissertation advisor, it gives me great joy to see him blossom academically and grow intellectually, enabling him to contribute to our knowledge of botany and plant structure in issues surrounding global climate change and environmental sustainability. Oluwatobi has always been well-funded from his first year of PhD, and so, Harvard University deserves great credit for selecting this worthy young scholar as the recipient of the Arnold Arboretum’s Cunin-Sigal Research Award,” she added.
After obtaining his Masters from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Oluwatobi spent a few years pioneering research in digital morphometrics and 3D visualization of leaves structure in Nigeria. This work plummeted him into being one of 12 Nigerians selected for the TWAS-CSIR Graduate Fellowships in India. After spending one year in India doing research using molecular systematic techniques and scanning electron microscopy, Oluwatobi sought to study for a PhD and continue growing in his area of botany specialization. In 2021, he received six fully-funded PhD admission offers from prestigious evolutionary biology and botany programs in the United States, including from Yale University and the University of Florida. Oluwatobi chose to attend Yale University, giving him the opportunity to continue as a researcher in one of the best universities in the world, as well as making him the third African ever admitted into the program. Oluwatobi’s fully-funded award at Yale University is valued at approximately $400,000 for his 5-year program. Between 2021 and 2024, Oluwatobi has won five research grants, valued at approximately $14,000, as well as several conference travel grants worth about $2,500.
Over the years, Oluwatobi’s research has centered around plant anatomy, development, evolution, and digital morphometrics. “My research is aimed at unraveling the influence of environmental change, bud-packing, and cellular processes on leaf margin development and evolution, using microCT Scanning, fluorescent microscopy, and phylogenomics,” says Oluwatobi. The potential findings of this research could profoundly impact our understanding of evolutionary biology. By demonstrating how environmental conditions, genetic factors, and developmental constraints affect the structure within the leaf buds in temperate and tropical regions of the world, this research offers insights into how plants might adapt to changing environmental conditions. And by identifying the developmental mechanisms that confer resilience to environmental stressors, this research can inform conservation strategies aimed at preserving plant biodiversity.
Oluwatobi continues to be an inspiration to young Africans who want to go on to do big things in science. At Yale, he is heavily involved in teaching, career strategy, and volunteering. He says he is committed to strengthening communities and institutions through the empowerment and engagement of young people by applying his resourcefulness, teaching abilities, and research experience, towards providing sustainable interventions and transformations to people from different culture and background both in Nigeria and the United States. “I want to continue focusing on creating solutions that are both culturally sensitive and scientifically sound, while I continue to enjoy and experience active leadership opportunities, and the presence of multicultural people motivated by a shared desire for academic growth, human capital development, and the advancement of knowledge through scientific discovery” says Oluwatobi.
