Charlotte Clarke, Jake Dow and Lauren Williams are the 2023 recipients of the C. David Naylor Fellowships, among the University of Toronto’s most prestigious awards for graduate students.
Graduates of Atlantic Canada universities, these three Naylor Fellows are now completing fascinating research – on topics from greener air travel to the history of Renaissance sex workers – at U of T.
Awards for early-career researchers have far-reaching effects. Graduate students go on to increase knowledge and solve humanity’s challenges.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, the Naylor Fellowships support outstanding students with ties to Atlantic Canada.
The awards were established in 2013 with a generous gift from the Arthur L. Irving Family Foundation, which focuses on empowering young people through education.
Awards for early-career researchers have far-reaching effects. Graduate students go on to increase knowledge and solve humanity’s challenges.
The award’s name honours U of T President Emeritus David Naylor, a respected advocate for investment in research.
“Awards for early-career researchers have far-reaching effects,” says Joshua Barker, vice-provost, graduate research and education and dean of the School of Graduate Studies.
“Graduate students not only create meaningful impact during their studies, they launch careers that go on to increase knowledge and solve humanity’s challenges.”
David Naylor (centre) with all the Naylor Fellows who are currently attending U of T, celebrating at the Naylor Fellows dinner on Oct. 18, 2023 in Toronto.
“I’m delighted to welcome Charlotte, Jake and Lauren to U of T,” says Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “We’re excited to see what they will accomplish here. My sincerest thanks to the Arthur L. Irving Family Foundation for its sustained and meaningful support of such outstanding students.”
David Naylor (centre) with all the Naylor Fellows who are currently attending U of T, celebrating at the Naylor Fellows dinner on Oct. 18, 2023 in Toronto.
We asked the 2023 Naylor Fellows about their stories, their work, and where they might be by the time the fellowships celebrate their next milestone.
For Lauren Williams, the first engineering student to receive a Naylor Fellowship, her path to research started with “I can do it!” energy.
“I loved all the advanced math and science courses,” she says, “but I wasn’t familiar with engineering. When the boys in my classes started talking about engineering, I was like, if they can do it, I can.”
“Anything you can think of probably has an engineer behind the scenes making it happen,” says Lauren Williams.
Williams earned her BEng at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and today she’s working on her MASc at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.
Her area is fluid mechanics – a combination of engineering and math – and she’s working on algorithms to make the lab’s flow solver more efficient. “A flow solver simulates airflow over the wings and body of an aircraft,” she explains. “In our lab, it is used to design unconventional aircraft configurations that experience less aerodynamic drag and therefore consume less fuel compared to today’s conventional aircraft.”
“Anything you can think of probably has an engineer behind the scenes making it happen,” says Lauren Williams.
Williams impressed the scholarship committee by leading engineering student groups, swimming at the varsity level (freestyle and butterfly), and with her passion for fluid mechanics. “U of T was the only school I applied to!” she says. The award proved a big support for her first move outside the Maritimes.
Thinking ahead to the future, Williams is sure she’ll be encouraging other women to pursue engineering. “A lot of women have similar stories to me where they had never really heard of engineering. Why is that? I want to support women, continue learning, and solve challenging problems. Anything you can think of probably has an engineer behind the scenes making it happen, which I think is pretty cool.”
Jake Dow was taking all science courses in high school when his brother sat him down. “‘Listen,’ he said, ‘the thing you’ve always wanted to do was write and read. Why not try and do that?’”
Dow signed up for a BA in English and the great books program at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. “I totally reoriented myself with regards to my outlook on life and how to carry yourself as an adult in community,” he says. “English is like a case study in what it means to be human.”
“English is like a case study in what it means to be human,” says Jake Dow.
That’s why Dow’s goals centre around building community as well as sharing his love of literature.
“Ten years from now,” he says, “I really do hope to be back in New Brunswick, working with a community based around writing and music. I want to increase a sense of opportunity and meaning, in a world that seems like it often destroys our sources of purpose.”
Now studying 20th-century American literature in a U of T MA program, Dow is planning to show how purpose, faith and politics play out in culture. He’s drawing not only on his BA experience, but a previous gap year working in Fredericton, and a reading list that spans from poetics to philosophy, literature to law.
“English is like a case study in what it means to be human,” says Jake Dow.
“If it wasn’t for the Naylor fellowship, I simply would not have continued my education,” he says. “I don’t want to overstress it, I’m not of an impoverished background, but my dad is a plumber and my mom runs a daycare. The award brought what would have been an almost infinitely far horizon right to me. It changed everything.”
Charlotte Clarke has always loved history. “How the past shaped the way things are now. How everyday people lived their lives,” she says. In her final year at Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, she took a course on early modern Italy and knew she’d found her topic.
“Florence and Tuscany in the 16th century have quite a bit of archival material, including material on sex work,” she says. “There are Office of Decency records, court records. It’s interesting because I don’t know what I’ll find. It’s like a treasure hunt to read between the lines and see what I can learn about everyday lives, especially with regard to health care.”
“It’s like a treasure hunt to read between the lines and see what I can learn about everyday lives,” says Charlotte Clarke.
Active in peer mentorship at Cape Breton University, Clarke went on to earn her MA at U of T last year, while working on the Department of History’s flagship Florence mapping project. She’s now embarking on a PhD. “I fell in love with the research process,” she says. Her 10-year dreams include sharing that love.
“A huge part of my interest in history is making people excited about it,” she says. “I do hope I’m teaching, back in the Maritimes, and I would love to do some public-facing projects to make history a bit more accessible.”
“It’s like a treasure hunt to read between the lines and see what I can learn about everyday lives,” says Charlotte Clarke.
Clarke is grateful for the financial freedom and supportive community that come with a Naylor Fellowship. Above all, she says, she’s honoured. “David Naylor is a wonderful role model and the Irving family have a huge impact in the Maritimes. Those two names associated with me is mind-blowing. A very big thank you to all of the donors and everyone involved in the fellowship.”
Since 2013, the Naylor Fellowships have supported 22 outstanding scholars and generated impactful research: from improving diabetes care for Black patients to understanding queer resilience in discriminatory online spaces. The previous Naylor Fellows include: James Johnson, Nathan Doggett, Shuya Kate Huang, Neal Callaghan, Amanda Loder, Kenneth Holyoke, Vincent Auffrey, Cara Locke, Seshu Iyengar, Joel Goodwin, Kayla Preston, Nicholas Fernandez, Jad Sinno, Carly MacEacheron, Lauren Squires, Damilola Iduye, Nayani Jensen, Jill Downey and Kate Mitchell.
Are you a Canadian student at a university in Atlantic Canada? Will you be starting a master’s or doctoral degree at U of T in the fall of 2024?
Apply through your prospective department in early 2024.