Rice student named Marshall Scholar

Rice student named Marshall Scholar
Senior earns prestigious scholarship to study at University of Oxford

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News Staff

Will Rice College senior Grant Belgard has earned a 2008 Marshall Scholarship. The nationally competitive scholarship will support Belgard as he studies biochemistry at the University of Oxford.

GRANT BELGARD

“Broadly, I’m interested in developing and implementing practical and interdisciplinary solutions to problems of medical significance,” Belgard said. “We live in exciting times. As our fundamental understanding of traditional scientific fields grows, there are ample opportunities to innovate at the interface.”

At Oxford, Belgard plans to do computational work to understand how a particular class of membrane proteins behaves in the cell. This knowledge could be important for developing drugs relating to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke and epilepsy.

Belgard said his research experience with Michael Wong, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry, has been an invaluable part of his scientific education. Facilitated by the Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program, Century Scholars and the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, Belgard worked with Wong on nanomaterials, and the team submitted a patent application on the work.

“I am thrilled and delighted that Grant has received this award, as he is most deserving,” Wong said. “He’s not just academically strong — he’s a triple major with great grades – but he also helps other people. Grant represents the best of Rice students and I know he will be successful in whatever he does in the future.”

Belgard is involved in the Houston Scholars Program (HSP), which aids economically disadvantaged high school students attending Houston’s most highly selective schools. The students, who attend school on academic scholarships, are provided with boarding and support from HSP. Belgard is one of four resident staff members who live with the students to serve as mentors, tutors, disciplinarians and friends.

“Rice has been an ideal environment to aggressively pursue wide-ranging interests, providing intellectual discussions with peers and professors and exposure to serious community service opportunities,” Belgard said. “My undergraduate research and courses that stressed analysis have prepared me for the accelerated nature of a British graduate program.”

The Marshall Scholarship Program was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1953 to commemorate the humane ideals of the European Recovery Program, also known as the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild Europe after World War II. Named for former U.S. secretary of state George Marshall, the scholarships are funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and administered by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission in the U.K.

Each year, about 1,000 students apply for the 40 scholarships. The program is designed to allow U.S. students to gain an understanding and appreciation of British values and the British way of life.