Eight Yale students from the United States — five undergraduates and three recent alumni — will be studying in Britain and Ireland next year as either Rhodes or Mitchell Scholars.
Seven of the students were awarded 2013 Rhodes Scholarships for study in Britain. This is not only a record number of Yale students chosen in one year, but Yale boasts the highest number of U.S. Rhodes Scholars for 2013.
In addition, a recent Yale graduate has received a George J. Mitchell Scholarship for study in Ireland.
Rhodes Scholars
Among the most prestigious awards for international study, Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 at the bequest of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. The award provides all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England to those students who best exemplify “academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness and leadership potential.” Each year, 83 students from over 20 countries are selected to receive the award, The 32 students in the 2013 American Rhodes Class were chosen from a pool of 838 applicants.
Jennifer Bright (Davenport ’13)
Bright is an ethics, politics, & economics major who plans to pursue a master’s degree in public policy at Oxford’s Blavatnik School. She is interested in the legal, medical, economic, and political aspects of urban public health policy and has held internships related to that field, including a Liman Summer Fellowship. She is editor-in-chief of the Yale Undergraduate Law Review and president of the Yale Urban Collective.
David Carel (Pierson ’13)
Carel is an economics major who plans to earn an M.Phil. in comparative social policy at Oxford. Fluent in Zulu and Hebrew and a leading advocate on issues relating to AIDS, Carel performs in a West African dance troupe and teaches Rukdan Israeli dancing. He has done community work in South Africa, the country of his parents’ birth. At Yale Carel co-founded a technology start-up, and he plans on a career in development.
Rhiana Gunn-Wright (Saybrook ’11)
Gunn-Wright double-majored in African American studies and in women’s, gender, & sexuality studies, and won senior thesis prizes in both. Currently she is working at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Her interests focus on the complex causes of inequality and poverty, and she plans on a career in public policy to help ensure more opportunities for the disadvantaged.
Micah Johnson (Trumbull ’13)
Johnson is a double-major in molecular biophysics & biochemistry and in psychology. He plans to study medical anthropology at Oxford before continuing on to medical school. Earlier this fall he was awarded Yale’s Hart-Lyman Prize, and last summer he took part in the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. He hopes to have a career as a physician and advocate.
Catherine Laporte-Oshiro (Calhoun ’13)
Laporte-Oshiro is an ethics, politics & economics major, who plans to pursue modern Chinese studies at Oxford. A former Richard U. Light Fellow, she has studied Mandarin in Beijing and done an internship in Hong Kong. She hopes to have a career in international relations.
Benjamine Liu (Trumbull ’12)
Liu is an intensive biology major. Currently studying computational biology at Cambridge as a Paul Mellon Fellow, Liu plans to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience at Oxford. He is the winner of a Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a Josephine De Karman Fellowship, and Yale’s Alpheus Henry Snow Prize. After medical school, he hopes to promote better care for those suffering from mental illness.
Dakota McCoy (Branford ’13)
McCoy is a major in ecology & evolutionary biology with a broad range of scientific research experience. At Oxford, she will pursue research in the field of behavioral ecology. As a sophomore, she won the Barry Goldwater Scholarship. She hopes to pursue a degree in environmental policy and a career in science.
Mitchell Scholar
The George J. Mitchell Scholarship, sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, is named in honor of the former U.S. senator who made a pivotal contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process. It is designed to introduce and connect generations of future American leaders to the island of Ireland, while recognizing and fostering intellectual achievement, leadership, and a commitment to public service and community. Twelve Mitchell Scholars between the ages of 18 and 30 are chosen annually for one year of postgraduate study in any discipline offered by institutions of higher learning in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Harold McNamara (Branford ’11)
McNamara is currently studying micro- and nanotechnology in Cambridge, England, under a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. He has helped develop medical imaging technology and plans to pursue a doctorate in physics. McNamara will study neuroscience at Trinity College in Dublin.
