Thirty-two people have been chosen for the next class of Rhodes Scholars representing the United States, including students who have used data to visualize sea level rise, some who speak several languages and a son of undocumented immigrants.
The Rhodes Trust announced the names on Sunday. They will attend Oxford University in the fall of 2017 to pursue post-graduate studies. The American students will join an international group of scholars chosen from 18 jurisdictions around the world. Ninety-five scholars will be selected worldwide this year.
Scholarships cover all expenses for two or three years of study at the prestigious university in England, starting next October. In some instances, they may allow funding for four years. The scholarships are worth about $68,000 per year. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.
Among those chosen this year are:
- Jory Fleming of Columbia, South Carolina, who is double majoring in geography and marine science at the University of South Carolina. He lists his interests as three-dimensional mapping and data visualizations related to sea level rise, aquatic habitat and underwater archaeology.
- Oscar De Los Santos was born the son of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, and was one of the top 20 graduates from the University of Southern California last year. At Oxford, he plans to pursue a master of public policy and a master of studies in theology with a focus on Christian ethics.
- Hannah Carrese of Colorado Springs, Colorado, who graduated from Yale earlier this year with a humanities degree. She currently is in Mexico working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
- Nancy Ko, a senior at Harvard University, plans to do her graduate work in modern Middle Eastern studies, and ultimately wants to become a professor of Jewish history. She traces her interest to growing up near a Jewish community in Brooklyn. The daughter of Korean immigrants is proficient in both Hebrew and Arabic.
