From no research experience to IEEE published and admitted to Brown
Sadaf joined the YRI Fellowship the summer before senior year with an interest in AI but no research background, and was paired with a PhD mentor. In 10 weeks she completed original research on neural network optimization for real-time classification systems, and the paper was accepted at an IEEE conference. The publication became the centerpiece of her college applications. The research did not stop at the paper: she went on to build a venture on top of the same work, and in April 2026 it was selected for the WUHC Incubator Pitch Competition at Wharton.
Rising senior interested in AI and technology with strong academics but no research experience, no publications and no differentiator on her application.
IEEE published first author, admitted to Brown, Johns Hopkins and UT Austin.
“Having a real publication changed everything. Admissions officers could see I wasn't just talking about research, I had actually done it. The IEEE paper was the centerpiece of every application I submitted. Without YRI, I wouldn't have had that.”
