Mory’s Gathering | Tackling Food Insecurity
Please join us again at our monthly social, Gathering@Mory’s, May 8, 5:30-7:30 pm, at Louis’ Lounge at Mory’s, as we celebrate the end of the academic year.
Over drinks (first drink on us!) and appetizers (also on us!) specially prepared by Mory’s chef, we will chat with our Special Guest, Chrishan Fernando, the President of Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Yale. He will talk to us about the GPSS efforts to address students’ food insecurity and how local alumni can help.
About our speaker:
Chrishan Fernando is a 5th year PhD student in the Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry. He is studying ancient RNA molecules in bacteria. Chrishan uses techniques from bioinformatics, biochemistry, and microbiology to discover and characterize genes for biotechnological purposes. His research can also provide clues to the origin of life. Chrishan grew up in Carmel, Indiana and holds bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and mathematics from Purdue University. He has been involved in GPSS since the beginning of his studies at Yale and currently is its president. At GPSS, Chrishan manages GPSS’s advocacy projects and social programming. He champions several causes, such as access to free menstrual hygiene products on campus and expanding student access to free public transit in our State, UPASS. Recently, together with Alex Rich, Chrishan has been trying to bring to Yale’s attention the results of recent student survey that revealed that as many as a third of Yale graduate and professional students experience food insecurity. They hope that the local alumni may get involved by organizing trips to supermarkets and sharing tips on how to put together nutritious meals on the budget, using only basic kitchen equipment available in the dorms. Chrishan is also involved in the administration of Gryphon’s Pub, Yale’s official graduate and professional student bar. He enjoys playing rhythm guitar and vocalizing in a band with some of his PhD classmates.