CRITICAL LANGUAGE SCHOLARSHIP
Andrea Parry ’23, a political studies and Middle East and North Africa studies double major, has been awarded the Critical Language Scholarship for the study of Arabic in the summer of 2020 in Tangier, Morocco. CLS, a program of the US Department of State, is part of a wider government initiative to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering foreign languages that are critical to national security and economic prosperity. Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Andrea is participating in the CLS Virtual Institute program to develop her Arabic language skills. Andrea aims to work in the field of international affairs focusing on Middle East policy after graduation.
DAVIS PROJECTS FOR PEACE
Angel Sherpa ’21, a human biology major on the pre-med track, has been awarded the Davis Projects for Peace Award for her project “Reusable and Eco-friendly Sanitary Pads for Dalit Women in Rural Nepal: Empowering Dalit women through innovation, skill training and awareness.” Sherpa is interested in global health and health equity. Her plans include working at the intersection of medicine and public health to address and reduce health disparities in underserved communities. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this program was canceled for this summer. Sherpa plans to apply again next year.
DONALD M PAYNE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP
Deve Mehta ’20, a public health: sexual and reproductive health major/anthropology minor, is a recipient of the Donald M. Payne International Development Graduate Fellowship. Mehta was one of nine awardees this year out of 526 applicants. The Payne Fellowship seeks to attract outstanding young people who are interested in pursuing careers in the foreign service of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Fellowship provides up to $93,000 in benefits over two years for graduate school, internships and professional development activities and provides a unique pathway to the USAID Foreign Service. Mehta is a first-generation college student, as well as a Gates Millennium Scholar at Pitzer.
GLOBAL HEALTH AWARD
Benjamin Sievers ’22, majoring in biochemistry and philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE), has been awarded the Global Health Award for developing a simple, inexpensive and non-invasive method to diagnose sickle cell disease and malaria using a cellphone and specialized machine-learning software. Ben is passionate about deploying nimble technological solutions to address intractable challenges—particularly for those with limited resources. Brandon Apodaca, Harvey Mudd ’21, is Ben’s collaborator, and they plan to finish the prototype by early June. Ben and Brandon have established a company named B-squared to manufacture handheld medical devices for developing nations.
HEALTH RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM
Angel Sherpa ’21, a human biology major, has been accepted to the Health Research Training Program (HRTP) with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for Summer 2020. The program will enable Angel to gain valuable, real-life experience in public health research and practice in New York City. She plans a career in global health and health equity.
JAPAN EXCHANGE AND TEACHING (JET)
Matthew Brunstad ’20, an economics and planetary geology major, is the recipient of a JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) award to teach English in Japan. The program aims to promote internationalization in Japan’s local communities by helping to improve foreign language education and developing international exchange at the community level.
INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION CORPS FELLOWSHIP
Sam Neufeld ’19, an international relations major, is the recipient of an International Innovation Corps Fellowship in India sponsored by UChicago. As a fellow with the International Innovation Corps (IIC), he is working in Delhi, India as a strategy and public policy consultant for a philanthropic foundation as well as assisting a team embedded in the Indian Ministry of Health with initiatives related to COVID-19. Ultimately, Sam aims to pursue a career at the intersection of the development sector and the startup world, working on novel solutions to persistent socio-economic challenges.
MEMPHIS TEACHING REACHING RESIDENCY (MTR)
Dejah Taylor ’20, an Africana Studies major/Chemistry minor, has been awarded MTR’s (Memphis Teaching Residency) Marjorie Lee Browne STEM Education Fellowship, where she will be mentoring and teaching rising 7th-grade students math during summer 2020. In the future, Dejah’s plans include participating in the Teach for America Corps beginning in 2021, where she will teach chemistry at an economically disadvantaged school. After Teach for America, Dejah’s plans are to attend graduate school, working her way up to becoming an organic chemistry professor.
NAPIER FELLOWS
Sophie Basseches ’20 is a sociology and gender studies major. Basseches’ concern about the large number of girls considered at-risk victims of neglect and abuse in Israel informed her proposal to implement a project that explores the root causes of violence against young women of all backgrounds, and to see how the regional political situation relates to problems that exist for young women.
Carla Condori Bazan ’20 is a Latin American studies and Spanish major. Bazan’s proposal is to create women’s cooperatives for sorority, alternative economics, fair trade and community healing within the immigrant and undocumented community in Mexico City with the goal to develop at least two migrant women cooperatives and safe spaces for healing in Mexico City.
Micah Sallus ’20 is a psychology major. While participating in the Pitzer in Nepal program, Sallus learned that suicide is a massive problem in Nepal. With a strong background in mental health issues, Sallus proposed to develop a major conference in Nepal where medical professionals, NGOs staff and patients struggling with suicide could come together to communicate ways of addressing this major problem.
NEW HARVEST SEED GRANT
Julian Cohen ’21, a biophysics major, is the recipient of a New Harvest Seed Grant to conduct his own bio-engineering research project on cultured meat at Tufts University during summer of 2020. New Harvest is a non-profit organization dedicated to enabling and funding scientific and technological advances in cellular agriculture, particularly in academia. Julian’s project is an attempt to use tissue engineering techniques to create cultured beef, otherwise known as “lab grown” beef. In the future, he hopes to pursue a career centered around using cellular agriculture and synthetic biology to help transition food systems away from intensive animal agriculture and toward a more humane and sustainable method of food production.
Project AHEAD (Asian American Health Education and Development)
Angel Sherpa ’21, a human biology major, has been selected for a nine-week summer internship program with Project AHEAD (Asian American Health Education and Development). Every summer, six to 10 applicants are chosen to work with the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center in Manhattan, NY, to give training and experience to college students who have an interest in pursuing a career in healthcare. Sherpa’s interest in global health and health equity makes her uniquely qualified to receive this award.
WATSON FELLOWSHIP
Izzy Manson ’20, a studio art major/art history minor, has been awarded a TJ Watson Fellowship where she will create a series of documentary photographs that explore the global movement of people who are deciding to move “off-the-grid” and learn why people are deliberately foregoing modern-day conveniences, moving from cities and even other countries, to live off the land and back to nature. Are their motivations political, environmental, financial or personal? The countries she will visit are: Panama, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Spain.
2020-21 Fulbright Fellows
