Sameera Nayak receives 2022 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award

Congratulations to Sameera Nayak, who has been selected to receive the 2022 Outstanding Student Teaching Award from Northeastern University.

Sameera Nayak awarded 2022 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award from Northeastern University

Nayak is a PhD Candidate in the Population Health PhD Program and works on multiple research projects in the Molnar Violence and Trauma Research Lab at the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research. Nayak’s dissertation explores the impact of immigration status and the immigration policy climate on the violence victimization and preterm birth experiences of immigrant women in the U.S. Part of the dissertation is funded by a seed grant from the Boston Area Research Initiative.

The award recognizes Nayak’s “accumulated accomplishments as a graduate student at Northeastern University.  As stated by your recommender, your ‘passion and dedication to reducing health inequities among women and children speak to [your] continued growth and promise as a leading researcher, educator, and prevention scientist. [You are] a person of deep compassion, social conscience, and dedication to public health.'”

Nayak has taught as the instructor of record at Bouvé for the undergraduate Community and Public Health course for health sciences students and the graduate MPH Intermediate Epidemiology course.

Nayak has been a member of the department’s Social Justice Steering Committee for two years. As a part of this, she co-mentored the inaugural Health Scholars for Social Justice students as part of an OIDI grant led by Dr. Elizabeth Glowacki.

According to Dr. Beth Molnar, who helped nominate and write a letter of recommendation, Nayak is “an incredibly gifted instructor and mentor, receiving glowing evaluations from her students at all levels.”

In addition, Molnar praised Nayak’s passion for mentoring students.

“She regularly teaches them research skills such as analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, conducting literature reviews, writing IRB protocols, conducting interviews and focus groups, and helping me supervise their capstone research studies and conference abstract submissions and presentations,” said Molnar. “Nayak’s efforts were recognized by our university when she was invited to speak on a university-wide panel on how to be a strong mentor.”

She will be starting as a tenure-track assistant professor of public health at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the fall upon her graduation.

Nayak says she’s honored to receive the award and thanked Dr. Beth Molnar and Dr. Elizabeth Glowacki for nominating her.

The University received more than 100 nominations for this year’s awards.