Student awards support educational endeavors

Student awards support educational endeavors

BY PATRICK McLAUGHLIN
Rice News staff

Will Rice College senior Grant Belgard has received the British Marshall Scholarship, an award sponsored by the British Consulate that provides up to two years of study at any university in the U.K. The scholarship recognizes students who exhibit academic excellence, strong leadership skills and superior research commitment.

Joshua Tyler Dillard, Lovett College senior, received the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, a nationally competitive scholarship sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance named in honor of the former U.S. senator’s contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process. The Mitchell scholarship is designed to introduce and connect upcoming generations of future American leaders to Ireland while recognizing and fostering intellectual achievement, leadership and a commitment to public service and community.

Felipe Serrano, Jones College senior, received the Merage American Dream Fellowship. The Merage Foundation for the American Dream, established by Paul and Lily Merage, both immigrants to the U.S., presents recipients with a $10,000 stipend annually for two years to help them pursue their American dream.

Alumna Noorain Khan ’06 was awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. The fellowship provides opportunities for continuing generations of able and accomplished new Americans to achieve leadership in their chosen fields. The program is established in recognition of the contributions new Americans have made to American life and in gratitude for the opportunities the U.S. has afforded the donors and their family.

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Martel College senior Sanna Ronkainen and Wiess College senior Catherine Branch were awarded Thomas J. Watson Fellowships. The $25,000 grant allows recipients to study abroad independently for one year. The fellowships are awarded to up to 60 students from 50 outstanding private colleges and universities each year.

Four Rice undergrads, one graduate student and an alumnus received Fulbright Scholarships this year: Hanszen College senior Philip Cheng, Sid Richardson College senior Rachelle Hunt, alumna Noorain Khan ’06, Will Rice College senior Sophie Kim, graduate student in religious studies Brian Nichols and Wiess College senior Elizabeth Peng. The Fulbright program is administered by the U.S. Information Agency and awarded by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board on the basis of a national competition. Fulbrights are awarded nationally each year to graduating seniors and graduate students who are U.S. citizens. Awards are based on the applicant’s personal statement, proposed project, transcript, faculty recommendations and a language exam, if applicable. Each scholarship covers one year of university study and research abroad.

Martel College seniors Carina Baskett and Celine Santiago both received scholarships from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in Excellence in Education Program. Established by Congress in 1986 to honor Barry Goldwater, the scholarships promote undergraduate study in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering.

Wiess College senior Jeremy Caves has received a Morris K. Udall Scholarship. The scholarship provides up to $5,000 to juniors and seniors in fields related to the environment and to Native American and Alaska natives in fields related to health care and tribal policy.

Brown College senior Ben Carson has been named a Presidential Fellow by the Center for the Study of the Presidency. The nonresident initiative provides 85 undergraduate and graduate students from leading colleges and universities a yearlong opportunity to study the U.S. presidency and the public policymaking process.

Hanszen college junior Katherine Gomer has received an Emerson Fellowship from StandWithUs, an Israel advocacy group. The annual fellowship selects and trains students from campuses across the United States and Canada to run events that teach about Israel.

Wiess College senior Steve Xu was named to the 2008 All-USA College Academic First Team, USA Today’s recognition program for outstanding undergraduates. He was among 20 first-team members selected by a panel of judges from among nearly 500 juniors and seniors. Each will receive a $2,500 cash award as representatives of all outstanding undergraduates.

Eight Rice graduate students, three undergrads and two alumni have received National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships. The fellowships provide three years of support for graduate students and are intended for students who are in the early stages of graduate study. Recipients of the fellowships are Paul Boyle, graduate student in mechanical engineering; alumnus Drew Bryant ’07; Carrie Cloonan and Lesa Tran, graduate students in chemistry; Andrew Coughlin and Nadhi Thekkek, graduate students in bioengineering; Sid Richardson College senior Jennifer Gillenwater; Lovett College senior John Kiappes; alumna Nastassja Lewinski ’06; Stephen Schnelle, Joseph Young and Samantha Summerson, graduate students in electrical engineering, and Jones College senior Wafa Soofi.

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships have been awarded to Lissett Bickford, graduate student in bioengineering; Paul Boyle, graduate student in mechanical engineering; Layla Booshehri, graduate student in applied physics; Andrew Coughlin, graduate student in bioengineering; and Brett Kaufman, graduate student in electrical engineering. The primary goal of the program is to provide the United States with talented, doctorally trained American men and women who will lead state-of-the-art research projects in disciplines of greatest benefit to national defense. The Department of Defense has awarded approximately 3,000 of these fellowships since the program’s inception 20 years ago.

Jones College senior Alicia Burns-Wright and Wiess College senior Tito Escobar have both been nominated as Jack Kent Cooke Scholars. One of the nation’s most prestigious and
generous academic scholarships, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Graduate Scholarship covers up to
$50,000 for tuition, room, board and fees for graduate school.

Melissa Chow has received the Roy and Hazel Zeff Memorial Fellowship. The Zeff fellowship was created by Stephen Zeff, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Accounting at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, for the Rice student who received the most votes to be nominated for a Watson Fellowship but did not receive that award. The fellowship gives students $25,000 to travel abroad and spend one year working on a research project.

Wiess College senior Laura Campo has received the C.D. Broad Exchange Scholarship, which supports a one-year exchange between students at Trinity College, Cambridge and Rice University.

Hanszen College senior Brian Mothersole has received the Kathryn Leebron Smyth Travel Fellowship. Established by Rice President David Leebron and Y. Ping Sun in 2004, the fellowship provides support for an undergraduate student to participate in an international internship; international travel, study or research abroad; or other international program.

The Brotzen Summer Travel Award has been presented to Brown College senior Klara Wojtkowska. Established by Franz R. Brotzen, professor emeritus in mechanical engineering and materials science, the $3,000 award provides students with an opportunity to pursue a personal interest in an international setting.

This year, Rice awarded 24 Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarships, the most prestigious study-abroad award offered by the university. Rice established the scholarships in 1997 through provisions made by the late James T. Wagoner ’29 in memory of his parents. Recipients are Wiess College junior Sukhdeep Aneja; Brown College senior Tyler Barth; alumna Kristin Bresnahan ’07; Wiess College seniors Tim Burke, Christina Lagos, Edward Tung and Igor Gorlach; Hanszen College senior Stacy Cheng; Juan Duque, graduate student in chemical engineering; Dan Erchick, research assistant in bioengineering; Lovett College seniors Ariel Travis and Qian Liu; Mickie Hudson-Koster, graduate student in history; Sid Richardson College seniors Pareen Bathia, Rachelle Hunt and Laura Shepard; Martel College seniors Brandy Ma, Katherine Miller and Alley Lyles; alumnus Douglas Mata ’07; Brian Nichols, graduate student in religious studies; Wiess College senior Elizabeth Peng; Sid Richardson senior Apoorva Shah and Will Rice College senior Keif Stonum. Lagos declined the scholarship in favor of a graduate fellowship to Hard School of Public Health. Hunt and Peng did the same to accept Fulbright Scholarships instead.