By Mariava Phillips, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Royster Fellow Alita Miller, PhD student at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, discovered pharmaceutical sciences unexpectedly.
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from Purdue University with the original intent of attending medical school and having an engineering job as a backup plan.
However, during her sophomore year she joined a lab and ended up falling in love with research.
“I understood more that research is where you actually get to come up with ideas, test those ideas, and then hand them off to people like doctors,” she said. “Doctors have to use more established ideas, and I don’t like to be kept within boundaries—I felt more passion for a research field.”
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In 2023 Miller was offered the prestigious Royster Fellowship, a five- year interdisciplinary fellowship administered by The Graduate School. The Royster Society of Fellows is a premier doctoral fellowship program at Carolina that recruits talented prospective students from around the world. Doctoral programs nominate a limited number of prospective students each year. Once selected, fellows become part of an exclusive community that extends beyond their time at the University, and they gain access to a wealth of benefits designed to enrich their academic journey and professional development.
Miller has enjoyed connecting with and learning from other Royster Fellows. The interdisciplinary community has helped her learn how to explain her research to those who don’t have a science background and challenges her to think about how she can engage the community with her research.
“The Royster Society of Fellows has been more impactful than I ever could have imagined with the campus-wide community and professional development opportunities,” she said.
Currently, she leads regular outreach events for local kids and youth alongside Professor Kristy Ainslie, PhD, to teach general science and perform making medicine experiments. Ultimately, they expose the students to what a career in science could look like and encourage them to pursue science in the future.
“I’m passionate about building a diverse workforce and this is a great way to reach others,” she said.