National Scholarship Awardees & Finalists
2020–21
We are delighted to announce this year’s national scholarship awards recipients and finalists as they come in. University of Massachusetts Amherst’s undergraduates, graduates, and post-graduate students share how they plan to utilize their awards to fulfill their research, studies, and teaching goals. Congratulations to all recipients and finalists!
Boren National Security Education Scholarship & Graduate Fellowship
The Boren Fellowship enables me to participate in a domestic Swahili language program over the summer (2021), and then overseas in Tanzania for nine months. I am grateful for this opportunity, which will give me valuable knowledge of Tanzania. Achieving proficiency in Swahili is vital to communicate with community members and for forming partnerships. My future goal is to strengthen USAID’s collaboration with East Africa regarding the educational system and women’s empowerment. Thank you to Mujtaba, Heidi, Ellen, Chalais, and Mwalimu Agnes for your support and guidance. I am forever grateful.
As a future public health scientist, it is my responsibility to recognize and advocate not only for public health threats here in the United States, but also globally. My goal is to reduce and prevent public health threats in developing countries. When I learned about the Boren Scholarship and the African Language Initiative through the Office of National Scholarship Advisement, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to not only experience and research the public health threats in another country, but also to continue my studies in Swahili. I selected to study Swahili because I immigrated to the United States from Kenya at a young age and never got the chance to learn the language. I am also interested in researching for the Department for Global Health Protection and Security at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention after graduation. With this scholarship, I have the ability to do both.
DAAD Scholarships and Grants (German Academic Exchange Service)
This DAAD award provides doctoral candidates and young academics and scientists with a fully-funded opportunity to carry out research and continue their education in Germany. The project Alyssa Ryan will be undertaking in Germany focuses on driver safety and speed. In 2016, there were 4.41 deaths per one billion vehicle kilometers traveled on U.S. interstates. While lowering speed limits continues to be a leading conversation to decrease the seriousness of crashes, highway speed limits in the U.S. continue to rise. Conversely, in Germany no speed limits exist on many portions of their motorways (a policy unique to the country) and even higher average speeds. However, their motorways are achieving double the safety level than in the U.S., with 1.61 deaths per one billion vehicle kilometers traveled. Alyssa’s research aims to investigate methods to achieve higher levels of motorway safety through the modeling of infrastructure, human behavior, and survey data of German motorways, along with the completion of government official interviews. This holistic safety approach is a shift away from traditional traffic safety policy and has begun to be adopted by many countries under the title “Vision Zero.” The goal is to achieve a roadway system with no fatalities or serious injuries through perfecting the transportation system, not the user. Alyssa will be working in coordination with Dr. Constantinos Antoniou, chair of Transportation Systems Engineering at the Technical University of Munich.
Fulbright Scholarship
Cigarette smoking disproportionately affects the health of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Similar to other LMIC, smoking prevalence is high in Nepal—particularly among people who inject drugs (PWID). Given this burden, Gaurav’s project seeks to evaluate the effects of the 5A (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, and Arrange) smoking cessation program among PWID attending opioid substitution therapy (OST) in Kathmandu, Nepal. This project will be carried out in partnership with the Society for Positive Atmosphere and Related Support to HIV and AIDS and Kathmandu Medical College. During Gaurav’s ten-month stay, he will conduct a baseline survey, intervention, and follow-up surveys at two OST sites in Kathmandu Valley. The primary outcomes of this project will include quit rate, quit attempts, quit duration, and changes in smoking frequency. Additionally, he will utilize local health care workers at the OSTs to conduct the group-based counseling for tobacco cessation. Systematically educating this population already vulnerable to various detrimental health outcomes may be beneficial to PWID, their families, and the nation’s health care infrastructure as a whole.
My future goal is to teach English as a second language in a Lusophone community. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Brazil will help me gain experience working in the classroom. I want to center my classes in Brazil on social justice, culture, diversity, and social issues, and to connect and compare these issues to the United States. I want my future students, both in Brazil and the United States, to not only improve their English skills, but also become people who are socially and culturally aware.
FULBRIGHT ALTERNATE
FULBRIGHT ALTERNATE
FULBRIGHT ALTERNATE
Goldwater Scholarship
Marshall Scholarship
NATIONAL FINALIST
Truman Scholarship
NATIONAL FINALIST
Luce Scholarship
NATIONAL FINALIST
Gilman Scholarship
With my award, I will attend Yonsei University (the Harvard of South Korea) to study organizational culture in three settings. I will study the culture of my academic host, the company hosting my business internship, and the local culture outside of academia and business.
As I am the first in my family to attend college, I have always been concerned about financial matters as I am the sole person responsible of paying for my education. I applied to the Gilman Scholarship in the hopes of receiving their aid for my study abroad program in Japan, that I have dreamt about since middle school. The Gilman, however, is nationally competitive, which made me think that I would not be awarded. As I was gratefully chosen to be a Gilman recipient, I am feeling more secure in knowing that I am able to afford paying for school and the costs that come with studying in another country. Not only will one of my dreams come true, but I will also be able to conduct preliminary research and have access to academia in Japan for my senior thesis.
UMass Presidential Scholarships
Robert S. Karam Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
Robert S. Karam Scholarship
James Pappas Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
Rick Pitino Presidential Medal Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
Jack M. Wilson Presidential Scholarship
Grace K. Fey Scholarship
Robert S. Karam Scholarship
John F. Smith, Jr. Presidential Medal Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
Robert S. Karam Scholarship
UMass Club Academic Excellence Program
Putnam UMass Scholars Program
William M. Bulger Presidential Scholarship
Rosalind A. Matthews Scholarship
Robert S. Karam Scholarship
James J. Karam Scholarship
Rangel Fellowship
As part of the Rangel Program, Jane will intern with a Member of Congress on issues related to foreign affairs in summer 2021. In summer 2022, the U.S. Department of State will send her overseas to intern in a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to get hands-on experience in U.S. foreign policy and the work of the Foreign Service. Upon successful completion of the program, Jane will become a U.S. diplomat in summer 2023, embarking on one of the most challenging and rewarding careers of service to her country. She will work to advance U.S. interests, protect American citizens, and promote peace and prosperity around the world. Jane is also a past recipient of the Boren Scholarship, Gilman International Scholarship, Critical Language Scholarship, and is a Fulbright Scholar.
