Summer Fellowships
Matching Passion With Action
The Michael Manzella Fellowship for Summer, 2024
Supporting Projects in Cancer Research, Music and Performing Arts, Education, and Youth Development
Michael Manzella (Yale ’93) touched all the people he knew with his energy, talent, and willingness to give of himself. He was an accomplished musician and composer who, while at Yale, devoted himself to music and volunteered much of his time to the community by working with children suffering from life-threatening illness, often in underserved communities. In 1993, this remarkable young man succumbed to a two-year struggle with cancer. In 1994, the Michael Manzella Foundation was founded to honor Michael’s legacy through its support of cancer research, music and the performing arts, education and youth development. The Summer Fellowship program is the cornerstone of our philanthropic strategy to invest in talented undergraduates whose summer projects align with the Foundation’s core areas of focus.
Yale undergraduates who are currently in their First year, Sophomore or Junior year.
The project can be a pre-existing opportunity (internship, formal research position) or an innovative idea designed by the undergraduate him/herself. Previous fellowship projects range from conducting research in a cancer laboratory, to developing a playground for underserved children, to spearheading a summer choir program for low-income residents of New Haven. Regardless of the project’s origin, those most likely to receive funding are designed with key partners in place (supervising faculty, community leaders, etc.), a realistic budget and timeframe for execution, and clearly articulated goals. While the Fellowship will support projects either in the USA or abroad, preference will be given to domestic projects.
Grant awards range from $3000 to $5000, to be used toward expenses (e.g., project
Application Requirements
Application requirements are:
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- A resume (with name, cell and home phone numbers, email and mailing address)
- A proposed budget for the term of the project, itemizing expenses and including any sources of support (such as fellowships already received for the summer)
- A proposal that describes the summer project (500 words or less), including its potential benefit to the student and, if applicable, to others in the community
- A personal statement that outlines the applicant's motivation and preparation for the proposed project (500 words or less)
- A Yale College transcript or copy of an unofficial academic record
- A letter of recommendation from someone who can evaluate the candidate and the feasibility and value of the proposed summer project.
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- Items #1-5 must be submitted via email as a single PDF attachment by the deadline to Diana Loukedis Doherty, President, at managerfoundation@gmail.com.
- Item #6, the recommendation letter, should be sent via email directly from the recommending party to managerfoundation@gmail.com
- Questions regarding the fellowship may be directed to Diana Loukedis Doherty via email.
DUE DATE: April 5, 2024 sent via email as PDF document
NOTE: Invitations for interviews will be sent via email between April 5th and April 12th, and awards will be issued by April 25th.
Over more than 25 years, the MMF has invested more than $274,000 in fellowship funding, helping more than 120 young people pursue dream-projects designed to make a difference.
MMF Fellowship Recipients
Past Manzella Fellows have participated in, and often created, exciting projects in the areas of cancer research, education, children’s causes and the arts. Click here for a complete list of our MMF Fellows since 1996.
Some examples of the wide variety of past MMF Fellowships include:
2023
Youth Development, Performing Arts, Cancer
Anya AitSahlia
Interning with Hear Your Song, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children and teens facing life-threatening illness to express themselves through collaborative songwriting.
2022
Education, Youth Development
Carmen Lopez Villamil
Working as a Peer Mentor with the International Rescue Committee, supporting the adjustment and empowerment of refugee youth.
2021
Children’s Causes
Katherine Du
Creating a mental wellness program for children at the New Haven Boys & Girls Club summer camp
2020
Performing Arts
Saphia Suarez
Interning at Cape Cod Theatre Project
2017
Cancer Research
Daniel McQuaid
To perform research investigating PROTAC-induced degradation of the MET oncogene in the context of exon 14 skipping mutations, related to lung, liver and gastric cancer, in the lab of Dr. Craig Crews at Yale University
2014
Music, Children's Causes
Emefa Agawu
Teaching music to children who are survivors of child-slavery in Ghana, through Challenging Heights (an NGO).
2014
Cancer Research
Marina Horiates
Head and neck radiation oncology internship at MD Anderson, Texas
2013
Performing Arts
Ethan Karetsky
To conduct research on American Musical Theater at the Warner Brothers Archives in Hollywood, purchase the rights to the musical Gypsy, and work with his production team to develop the musical Gypsy into a mainstage production for performance at Yale
2013
Music, Children's Causes
Stephanie Tubiolo
Creating the New Haven Youth Choir, a choral instruction and performance experience for low-income New Haven youth from 5th to 9th grades
2012
Cancer Research
Vasiliki Trantafillou
Lab research studying lung cancer, specifically lung cancer cells (miRNA) that have been identified to predict patient relapse, working with Don X. Nguyen, MD at the Yale School of Medicine Smilow Cancer Center
2010
Cancer, Children's Causes, Arts
Betsy Cowell
Art Therapy with pediatric cancer patients in Texas
2010
Children's Causes, Performing Arts
Natalia Emanuel
Teaching Poetry Slam classes to underserved youth in New York City, working through The Door (an NYC nonprofit)
2009
Children's Causes
Kelvin Vu
Designing a “wild zone” play area for disadvantaged youth in New London, CT, in conjunction with FRESH Community Garden project