Ashley Watson is a sixth-year doctoral student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Like many graduate students of color, she doesn’t just want to do some good research. She wants her research to do some good.

“Well, who doesn’t?” you might reply. But for doctoral students from demographics that are underrepresented in Ph.D. programs and on the faculty, the chance to perform relevant research can tip the decision about whether to stay in graduate school, or go at all. “Relevance” in this case means research that matters to one’s community, broadly conceived. These are students who retain a strong connection to the people and places they came from — and want to give back.