Four Indian-Americans chosen as Rhodes Scholars
FOUR Indian-Americans are among the cohort of 32 students chosen from the US as Rhodes Scholars virtually for the first time this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The diverse group, that won scholarships to the Oxford University in England, comprises immigrants and students of colour. American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust Elliot Gerson announced the names of the 32 Americans chosen as Rhodes Scholars representing the US on Sunday.
The four Indian-American students include Swathi R Srinivasan, Vijayasundaram Ramasamy, Garima P Desai and Savarni Sanka.
‘Never before has a class of Rhodes Scholars been elected entirely virtually, with both candidates and selectors participating safely, independently and digitally,’ Gerson said.
He said this year’s class for the prestigious scholarship reflects the ‘remarkable diversity that characterises and strengthens the US.’
Out of the 32 students, 22 are of colour; 10 are Black, equal to the greatest number ever elected in one year in the US, nine are first-generation Americans or immigrants and one is a Dreamer with active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. Seventeen of the winners are women, 14 are men, and one is non-binary.
These bright young Americans will go to Oxford October next year to study in fields broadly across the social, biological and physical sciences, the humanities, and public policy.
‘They are leaders already, and we are confident that their contributions to public welfare globally will expand exponentially over the course of their careers,’ Gerson said.
Srinivasan from Ohio is a senior at Harvard College with double concentrations in Social Studies and History of Science, with a focus on public health inequality. She is also writing a thesis for the Chemistry Department.
She was an intern at the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS in Geneva, has done extensive research and activism on the opioid epidemic, and chaired the Policy Program at the Kennedy School Institute of Politics.
She is also a Ghungroo choreographer. At Oxford, she intends to do the MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine and the MSc in Comparative Social Policy, the press release from the Rhodes Trust said.
Ramasamy from Kansas graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2018 with a major in Public Health Studies.
Since graduation, he was for one year a Special Assistant in the Baltimore City Health Department and is currently working as Policy and Budget Advisor in the Office of Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, with responsibilities for the state’s Covid-19 re-opening plan.
While at Johns Hopkins, he was an active volunteer in healthcare and social services in underserved neighbourhoods. He was also co-President of the University Hindu Students Council, worked as a research and teaching assistant in public health, and has been very active in political campaigns.
At Oxford, he intends to do the MSc in Comparative Social Policy and the Master of Public Policy, the release said. Desai, hailing from California, graduated in May 2020 from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a double major in Environmental Studies and Economics.