Yvette Fisher, assistant professor of neuroscience, has been named a 2025 Freeman Hrabowski Scholar by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and has also won a 2025 McKnight Scholar Award from The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience.
The Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program recognizes outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to become leaders in their research fields and to create lab environments in which everyone can thrive. Fisher was one of 30 Freeman Hrabowski Scholars chosen this year. She will be appointed for up to two, five-year terms that include salary, research funding, equipment, and professional development to advance her leadership and mentorship skills.
The McKnight Scholar Awards are granted to exceptional early-career faculty who have demonstrated a commitment to neuroscience, mentorship, and fostering a diverse scientific community. Fisher was one of 10 recipients this year, and she will receive $75,000 per year for three years to support her research program.
Fisher studies spatial navigation in fruit flies to understand how nervous systems flexibly process information. Her lab’s goal is to understand how flexible brain function is orchestrated at the level of molecules, cells, and circuits.