Students honored with scholarships, fellowships, awards

Students honored with scholarships, fellowships, awards

BY ARIE WILSON
Rice News staff

Rice undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates were honored with a myriad of scholarship, fellowship and awards.

Christina Lagos, a Wiess College senior, has received the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, which includes $23,000 for one academic year of study in a foreign country.

Graduate student Mark Little has been named a Henry Luce Scholar. He will receive a stipend and internship to live and work in Asia for one year. The program’s goal is to increase awareness of Asia among future leaders in American society.

Kristin Bresnahan ’07 has received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. 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 undergraduates and one graduate student received Fulbright Scholarships this year. Undergraduate recipients include Brian Mathes ’07, Annalise Gill ’07, Sabina Bharwani ’07 and Nicola Lugosch ’07. Anna Holman, a graduate student in Hispanic and classical studies, also was a recipient.

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.

Emily Fortuna, a Hanszen College senior, and Shuai “Steven” Xu, a Hanszen College sophomore, have received Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships in Excellence in Education.  Scott McIsaac, a Martel College senior, received honorable mention. Established by Congress in 1986 to honor Barry Goldwater, the scholarships promote undergraduate study in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering.

Two Rice students have received Morris K. Udall Scholarships this year. Jeremy Caves, a Wiess College senior, and Niki Von Hedemann, a Lovett College senior, have received $5,000 awards to promote their study in fields related to the environment.

Hrishikesh Hari, a Jones College senior, 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.

Jeremy Caves has been awarded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship. The scholarship provides $8,000 for study during the academic school year and a paid 10-week summer internship for undergraduate training in the oceanic and atmospheric sciences.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security Scholarship has been awarded to Lauren Jennifer Laustsen, a Sid Richardson senior. The scholarship provides undergraduate students with a $14,000 stipend for an academic year and summer internship.

Six Rice graduate students 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 include Ulyana Nadia Horodyskyj, Leah Suzanne Witus, Michelle Elizabeth Afkhami, Andrew Cyril McUsic, David Alexander Carr and Juli Ann Carrillo.

Natalie Gwilliam ’07 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.

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

Seventeen Rice students have received 2007 Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarships, the most prestigious study-abroad awards 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. This year, university officials decided to take full advantage of the bequest’s annual distribution by more than doubling the number of student scholarships.

Winners include Kristin Anne Bresnahan, Emily Miriam Dahl, Smita Das, David Getman, Ulyana Nadia Horodyskyj, Jimmy Webster Jessup, Maureen Alice Johnson, Anne Mason Kemper, Jo Ling Kent, Natalie Audrey Kone, Jason Lee, Jue “Julie” Liao, Douglas Alexander Mata, Andrew Miller, Deepa Vijay Panchang, Aaron Samuel Reese and Amelia Scholtz.

Landon Roussel, a Jones College senior, 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 given to Heather Barnett, a Brown College senior. 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.