The CURF is my third fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and my second fellowship through Fredrick’s Honors College. Through my other fellowships, I have had the opportunity to learn about research methods in the Humanities and how it compares to research in other fields.

I got into Humanities research through my Introduction to Film class with Dr. Jeffrey Heinzl, a scholar of Film and Media Studies and professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Under Dr. Heinzl’s mentorship, I applied to the Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellowship as a beginner in research. Through the fellowship, I was able to learn the ropes of Humanities research and apply it to my interest in Queer Cinema in Contemporary Bollywood. The year-long fellowship connected me to several parts of research including the network of graduate students in my field of interest, especially those at Pitt. Through this network, I was able to learn more about the wide range of scholars at Pitt and I learned about Dr. Neepa Majumdar’s interesting work as a scholar of South Asian film studies. After completing my first paper for the Humanities Center Fellowship, once again under the mentorship of Dr. Heinzl, I was part of the Spring 2022 cohort for the Fredrick Honors College Research Fellowship where I expanded my paper to include the divisive representations of trans women and the fluidity of gender in contemporary Hindi cinema. During my time in the fellowship, I had the opportunity to present various parts of my research at several symposiums at Pitt and those experiences helped me expand my approach to research.

I have had the opportunity to take classes with Dr. Majumdar before and I have also had the opportunity to be an undergraduate teaching assistant in one of her classes before this semester, but this is my first time working under Dr. Majumdar’s mentorship for a fellowship. I am also working towards applying for a BPhil through the Fredrick Honors College under her mentorship at the moment.

If you are a someone who is interested in getting started in research, talking to a professor in your field would be a great first step. My mentors have been a great resource for me and they have helped me find opportunities and networks relevant to my work. Fredrick Honors College has been a great resource for me as I have grown as a scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. Through the Honors College I have been able to meet advisors and mentors who have helped me find opportunities like fellowships and the BPhil program to develop my skills as a researcher. Most communities of scholars I have been a part of are interdisciplinary and those environments have helped me immensely in expanding my approach to research.