In 1993, a group of Scripps Research faculty and leaders gathered in the Molecular Biology Building’s faculty club to witness the conferral of the institute’s first doctoral degree on a single graduate student, Jairo Arévalo, who studied the structural basis of antibody cross-reactivity with Professor Ian Wilson, Hansen Professor of Structural Biology. Within the confines of the wood-paneled room usually reserved for board meetings and faculty conversations, Arévalo stood proud as the nascent program earned its official accreditation and set into motion a science education model that would transform the institute and profoundly impact the landscape of higher education.
Just four years earlier, when then-president Richard Lerner decided to establish an unconventional graduate program, the La Jolla-based Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation was already 65 years old. Other doctoral training programs at major universities had been around for decades or longer. But Lerner and others at the institute were convinced that a doctoral program focused squarely on research training in the chemical and biological sciences—within an environment unencumbered by departmental boundaries, teaching assistant obligations and other distractions—would transform graduate education for scientists.
Fast forward to April 18, 2025, when another modest gathering of faculty, students and family members met outside Scripps Research’s faculty club. They were there not for graduation, but for a different celebration that takes place dozens of times each year: honoring a graduate student’s successful defense of their doctoral dissertation, the last major step toward earning their PhD. It’s a cathartic experience, wherein a graduate student distills every twist and turn of their entire multi-year graduate research project into a one-hour talk open to the campus community (plus invited family and friends), immediately followed by a closed-door grilling by the student’s committee of 3 to 5 faculty members. The usual sense of joy and relief at this post-defense party would quickly take on a special meaning with the announcement that newly minted Dr. Rebecca Mello was Scripps Research’s 1,000th graduate student to reach this impressive milestone.
“Rebecca investigated the impact of circadian clocks on clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer,” says Katja Lamia, professor and associate dean of graduate studies who oversaw Mello’s work. “In the process, she became an expert in technologies that were new to our lab, established collaborations with other key scientists in the field, and further developed her outstanding writing and mentorship skills. These are types of strengths we have always tried to develop in our students, preparing them for successful careers as independent scientists. I’m confident the next 1,000 graduates will make us just as proud.”
Credit: Scripps Research
Like most of the 61 graduates who accepted doctoral degrees at Scripps Research’s 33rd commencement on May 16, 2025, Mello embarked on graduate studies during unprecedented circumstances. Many joined the school in mid-2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, resulting in the postponement, cancellation or virtualization of most of the new student activities. Still others experienced a significant interruption to their research projects, requiring a great deal of adaptation, patience and resourcefulness to stay on track. However, given that those qualities are three of the essential training outcomes the program seeks to instill in all its students, it’s no surprise that these up-and-coming scientists rose to the challenge, many of whom applied their drive, determination and research acumen to contribute to new insights into the SARS CoV-2 virus, efforts that would ultimately play a role in saving lives.
This dedication to discovery isn’t a new phenomenon by any means. It’s always been woven into the relatively young program’s DNA. That, along with the commitment to an unfettered research environment, have been constants since the beginning, even while the program evolves to remain at the leading edge of science.
Learning by leading
“The ‘special sauce’ of the graduate program has always been a shared commitment to research without barriers,” says Professor Keary Engle, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, and an alumnus of the program. “We have always prided ourselves on a graduate program in which research is the core of the student experience, and that hasn’t changed. The graduate program has steadily grown and now, thanks to the support of the Skaggs family and other generous donors, an increasing number of students receive endowed fellowship support that is secured and not wedded to capricious grant funding cycles.”
Indeed, the growing number of endowed fellowships recently crossed the 100 mark, an ambitious milestone set in 2018 when the Skaggs family’s lead gift launched the campaign and Scripps Research renamed the graduate program the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences. Each endowed fellowship provides valuable funding for one graduate student for three years of their studies, lifting much of the financial burden on their laboratory and enabling more of increasingly limited and uncertain grant funding to be dedicated to critical research infrastructure and essential technologies. (Learn more about the importance of endowed fellowships in “Supporting the next generation of scientists.”)
Building a pipeline
Credit: Scripps Research
“The SURF program was a mind-opening experience for me,” says Apolinar. “I interned in the Engle lab where I worked on synthesizing new types of chemicals for future use in drug discovery, under the mentorship of then-graduate student Mingyu Liu. The curiosity-driven and collaborative environment fueled my yearning for discovery and advanced my chemistry knowledge. While I spent most of my time in the lab, I was able to have good fellowship with the other SURF interns, ranging from game nights to surfing the waves of La Jolla shores.”
The importance of outreach
Other programs aim to inspire future scientists at an earlier stage. As this magazine went to press, there were more than 18 summer interns from high schools around San Diego County immersed in Scripps Research laboratories and receiving one-on-one mentorship from graduate students, postdoctoral associates and faculty. These paid internships have the potential to transform students’ perspectives on their future academic and career objectives and build confidence in their ability to achieve anything they can conceive.
“We have a rich history of outreach programs that have arisen from grassroots efforts of students and faculty, such as the student-led Summer Program Application Mentorship (SPAM) initiative and our newest program, REACH, spearheaded by Professor Mike Constantinides,” says Engle. “The success of these programs is a testament to the impact that Scripps Research scientists can have on shaping the future of STEM.” (Read more about Constantinides’ REACH program for high school students here.)
Sharing the wide-ranging impacts and benefits of Scripps Research’s discoveries with the broader community has never been more important, which is why the institute has been investing more time and effort into community outreach activities. The all-day Scripps Research Science Day at the Fleet Science Center in November 2024 drew more than 1,000 visitors, and the new “Science in Action” activity stations that follow each Front Row public lecture have given visitors educational and often hands-on ways to connect more closely with the science they just learned about.
Last year marked Scripps Research’s centennial and provided opportunities to look back upon the achievements of a world-class institution that continues to have an profound impact on biomedical research. From the beginning, training tomorrow’s scientific leaders and innovators has always been foundational to Scripps Research’s mission, a fact that will endure for the next 100 years.