Oyedeji-Olaniyan Awarded Watson Fellowship to Explore Music in Faith-based Communities

What does worship look like across belief systems, denominations and ethnic groups? Moyo Oyedeji-Olaniyan ’25 was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to explore this question by engaging with church leaders, youth directors, service planners, musicians and digital creators in diverse Christian communities around the world.

”I’ve often relied on my faith, my music and the communities I’ve built to navigate change and stay rooted,” Oyedeji-Olaniyan said. “I started to wonder: how do people around the world, especially those in communities very different from my own, use music as a tool of faith and connection? How does worship look and feel in cultures where Christianity may intersect with indigenous identities, secularism or historical struggle? These questions formed the basis of my Watson project.”

The Watson Fellowship provides a year of unparalleled international discovery for graduating college seniors. Fellows receive $40,000 for 12 months of travel and college loan assistance as needed. Oyedeji-Olaniyan is one of 37 fellows selected this year from 41 participating institutions.  She proposed exploring the various expressions of worship in Sweden, South Africa, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Brazil and the Philippines.

“Each of the six countries I chose offers a unique context for exploring worship through music and community,” Oyedeji-Olaniyan said. “I wanted to engage with diverse expressions of Christianity across racial, cultural and denominational lines. For instance, in Sweden, I’m curious about how worship and church communities are present in a predominantly secular society. In South Africa, I’m drawn to the deep history of African-inspired music and children’s choirs. Brazil and the Philippines allow me to explore worship influenced by colonial histories, while New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika communities offer a compelling look at faith intertwined with native traditions. The Netherlands adds a new dimension with its vibrant street music movement. These countries would challenge me to step out of familiar spaces (and languages) and deepen my experience of faith music across radically different environments.”

Oyedeji-Olaniyan says the idea for the project was born out of years of reflection on what keeps her grounded through life’s transitions. She moved from Nigeria to the U.S. for high school, and then from the East Coast to the West Coast for college.

At Harvey Mudd, Oyedeji-Olaniyan has been involved in research, music and student organizations. During the spring and summer of her first year at Mudd, she worked with Alberto Soto, a postdoctoral fellow working under the Lab for Autonomous and Intelligent Robotics. She designed an aquatic testbed for robotic fish experiments aimed at studying predator-prey interactions and fish locomotion. Beyond the technical work, she served as a student communicator for the lab, presenting their research to public audiences on- and off-campus, including at the 2022 SACNAS Conference in Puerto Rico.  She is an off-campus major at Claremont McKenna College in Science Management, and also has a minor at Harvey Mudd in computer science.

This past year, she has been working on her senior thesis at the Keck Graduate Institute, participating in a year-long Team Masters Project—a clinic-style collaboration with a biotech company. She worked with Pfizer on integrating AI into clinical trials, alongside a multi-faceted group of graduate and undergraduate students. 

“This experience gave me hands-on exposure to real-world biotech challenges and pushed me to grow as both a leader and a communicator—someone who can bridge disciplines and make an impact on real lives,” Oyedeji-Olaniyan said. “These research experiences have taught me the importance of adaptability, empathy and collaboration, values I would hope to carry with me into my Watson year.”

Oyedeji-Olaniyan has been involved in several student organizations that she credits with helping her grow as a leader and build community. She served as co-president of Black Lives at Mudd and also helped revive the college’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers alongside a group of her engineering peers. She also restarted the Black Campus Ministries, a 5C group where students gather weekly to explore faith, reflect and fellowship in community.

She also works part-time at the Department of Computing and Information Services, setting up AV for events, troubleshooting tech issues and collaborating with the computing team on projects to support the college behind the scenes. Oyedeji-Olaniyan will be the Class of 2025 student speaker at Commencement this month.

“As I leave Harvey Mudd, I want to grow into the kind of leader who sees the opportunities in challenges, who imagines new ways of connecting and who moves with integrity, responsibility and emotional maturity,” Oyedeji-Olaniyan said. “I hope to embody the Watson principles—not just in theory, but through lived experience: leading with vision and courage, acting with independence and resourcefulness and continually reflecting on how these lessons can shape both my own future and the communities I return to. Whether I find myself in the corporate world, or any other field, I want to lead with a global perspective.”