Morse Fellows
Morse College is a vibrant community. We would love to count you among us. The Fellows meet a few times per semester at the Head of College’s house, to interact with friends from all parts of the University and from the broader community. Many play the role of Advisor for a student or two. We extend invitations to student functions such as performances and college-wide social events, welcome participation at intramural sports, provide dining privileges in the college at lunch or dinner, all so you can meet with students, faculty and friends. Please join us - we welcome you!
Nikhil Padmanabhan
Faculty, Assoc. Professor, Physics and Astronomy
Biography
Nikhil Padmanabhan received his BS from Stanford in 2001 and his PhD in Physics from Princeton in 2007. Professor Padmanabhan came to Yale in 2009 and is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy. His research interests are in cosmology, specifically in understanding the “dark energy” that appears to dominate our universe. He is working with some of the largest astronomical surveys available and thinks about astronomical “big data.”
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Ivona Pankova (Morse, ’13)
Senior Administrative Assistant, Yale Fellowships and Funding Office
Biography
Ivona received her B.A. in Global Affairs and East Asian Studies from Yale University in 2013, and her MPhil in International Relations and Politics from the University of Cambridge in 2018. She studied abroad in Japan as an undergraduate student and pursued independent research at the University of Tokyo after graduation. Ivona returned to Yale in 2022 to join the Fellowships and Funding Team and support Yale students in their academic and professional pursuits.
Interests:
East Asian Studies, Balkan Studies, creative writing, study abroad, international relations, diplomatic studies.
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Henry Park (Morse, ’07)
Radiation Oncologist and Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Biography
Henry Park is an alumnus of Yale College (Morse ‘07, double-majoring in music and MCDB with neurobiology concentration), Yale School of Medicine (‘12), and Yale radiation oncology residency (‘17), with a brief sojourn to Boston from ‘11 to ‘13 for a master’s degree in public health and an internal medicine internship. He works as a radiation oncologist treating lung cancer and head and neck cancer, serving as chief of thoracic radiotherapy. He directs an active clinical research program and enjoys mentoring students, residents, and junior faculty in his role as vice chair for clinical research. He is experienced in medical school and residency selection as a long-time admissions committee member and former associate residency program director. Most importantly, he is a husband and a dad of two young children and a Yorkie.
Interests:
Music (violist in Yale Symphony Orchestra, pitch of Redhot & Blue, and inaugural assistant conductor of Davenport Pops Orchestra), professional and Yale sports.
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Jenny Peek
Associate University Chaplain
Biography
Jenny Peek joined the Chaplain’s Office as Associate University Chaplain in July of 2017. Alongside her role as Associate Pastor for the University Church at Yale, Jenny can be found meeting one-on-one with students and staff from around campus, leading monthly W{holy} Queer discussions and spring break trips, and planning programming for the graduate and professional student community.
Jenny comes to the Chaplain’s Office after receiving a Masters of Divinity with certificates in Educational Leadership Ministry and Reformed Studies from Yale Divinity School in May of 2017. During Jenny’s time at Yale Divinity School, she served at Wesleyan University, Westminster Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, CT, and within Yale’s Title IX Office. Jenny is ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Prior to her time at Yale, Jenny worked with the Network for Victim Recovery of DC as a case manager and Lutheran Volunteer Corps volunteer and earned her B.A. in Psychology from Grinnell College. As a native Coloradan, Jenny loves exploring new pockets of the East Coast and can often be found playing the djembe, listening to musicals, or enjoying breakfast at all times of the day.
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Lauren Perrino
Director, Y-VISP; Associate Director, Study Abroad
Biography
Lauren Perrino advises students who are interested in studying abroad in France, Asia including the Middle East (except Light Fellowship sites), and North Africa. She also directs the Yale Visiting International Students Program (Y-VISP), which brings undergraduate students from Yale’s partner institutions to study at Yale for a semester or academic year. Lauren received an M.A. in International Education from the George Washington University and a B.A. in French and Education with an Italian minor from Gettysburg College. As an undergraduate, Lauren spent a semester abroad with IES Nantes. After her undergraduate graduation, she spent a year in Nîmes, France, teaching English through TAPIF.
Interests:
She enjoys karate, the gym, learning languages, and reading.
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Rafael A. Porrata-Doria, Jr.
Professor of Law
Biography
Interests:
Prof. Porrata-Doria is immersed in international and comparative law, as well as other areas of business law. He has substantial interests and experience in in economic development, community development, government service and healthcare. He is a veteran with over twenty years of service.
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Chandra Prasad
Author/Editor
Biography
Chandra Prasad is the author of the young adult novels Mercury Boys, a 2022 Connecticut Book Award finalist, and Damselfly, a racially diverse, female-driven survival tale published by Scholastic. Damselfly is used widely in schools as a modern parallel text with the Lord of the Flies. Her general fiction titles include On Borrowed Wings, another Connecticut Book Award finalist; Death of a Circus, which Booklist calls “richly textured and packed with glamour and grit;” and Breathe the Sky, a fictionalized account of Amelia Earhart’s last days. Prasad is the editor of—and a contributor to—the W.W. Norton anthology Mixed, the first-ever collection of short stories on the multiracial experience. Her shorter works have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Week, Teen Voices, School Library Journal, and in literary, arts, and poetry journals. Prasad is a frequent guest speaker on podcasts and at high schools, universities, and literary conferences. She is also a contributor to New Haven Noir, an anthology edited by Amy Bloom.
Interests:
Creative writing, editing, teaching, diversity in literature, public speaking, environmental sustainability, advocacy, and social justice.