Doctoral student receives future faculty fellowship award

Student Ran Tao shares some of his work with Zohre German, clinical research coordinator in biomedical sciences, at the recent Research Scholars Day on campus.

Ran Tao, a third-year doctoral student in biomedical sciences at Texas A&M College of Dentistry, recently received the Texas A&M Future Faculty Fellowship (F3) Award for 2025-26.

The Future Faculty Fellowship (F3) Program provides professional development training to A&M graduate students, enabling them to become competitive on the academic job market and position themselves for early-career success. Only 21 candidates from across the university’s doctoral programs are allowed to apply, with openings determined by the college.

His mentor and advisory committee chair is Dr. Feng Tao, professor and associate department head in biomedical sciences.

In addition, Tao placed third in The IADR Neuroscience Group Investigators Award competition this month in Barcelona, Spain. The award is sponsored by the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation (Wiley-Blackwell).

While in Barcelona, Tao served as chair of the Insights into Mechanisms of Orofacial Pain session. His oral presentation was “Single-Cell Multi-Omics Sequencing Reveals Gut Metabolite Butyrate-Mediated TMJ Pain Modulation.”

Tao at the IADR conference this month in Spain.