PASADENA—Students from the California Institute of Technology won a large number of awards this spring, including three Fulbright Awards, two Hertz Fellowships, a Churchill Scholarship, four Department of Defense Fellowships, and a Chateaubriand Fellowship. Recipients include an engineering student who will study Russian in St. Petersburg and travel through Russia and Eastern Europe, an applied physics student who will spend a year in Japan doing research for Mitsubishi, and a geophysics student who will study Portuguese at the University of Brasilia and conduct seismic research on the Amazon Basin.
Fulbright Awards
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's premier scholarship program. Set up by Congress in 1946 to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges, Fulbright Awards enable U.S. students and artists to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world. Each year more than 800 Americans study or conduct research in more than 100 nations through the Fulbright Program.
Christopher Chang, who earned a bachelor's and master's degree in chemistry from Caltech, won a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship, and a Department of Defense (DOD) Fellowship. For his Fulbright year, he will go to the Université Louis Pasteur, in Strasbourg, France, to work on the role of electron transfer in protein-based systems. He has accepted the NSF Fellowship for the following year. Chang is the son of Serlina Chang of Palo Alto, California, and graduated from Palo Alto High School. He will pursue a PhD in chemistry at MIT. Cindy Quezada, a PhD candidate in chemistry at Caltech, will be spending her Fulbright year at Oxford University, where she will continue her work involving the study of inhibitory mechanisms of several enzymes. At Oxford she will learn how to use nuclear magnetic resonance. After her year in England she will bring her newfound knowledge back to Caltech to apply to her PhD studies. Quezada is the daughter of José and Melba Quezada of Visalia, California. She graduated from Redwood High School and earned her bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California at Davis. Hertz Fellowships
The Hertz Graduate Fellowship Program, started in 1963 by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, supports outstanding graduate students in the applied physical sciences. It is one of the most generous fellowships, with living stipends in the $20,000 range and tuition and fees paid. The Hertz Foundation was established by John and Fannie K. Hertz, who founded the Yellow Cab Company and the Hertz Corporation, the worldwide rental car agency. Sebastian Maurer, with a bachelor's in physics from Caltech, was also awarded an NSF Fellowship, but accepted the Hertz Fellowship instead. He is a graduate student in physics at Stanford University. Maurer is the son of Joseph and Ghislaine Maurer of Sunnyvale, California. He graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. Samson Timoner, a graduate student in applied physics at Stanford, won a Hertz Fellowship, a DOD Fellowship, an NSF Fellowship, and a Tau Beta Pi Fellowship. Samson will defer the Hertz award for one year. Timoner is the son of Julian and Chana Timoner of Orange, Connecticut. He graduated from Amity Regional High School, District #5 and earned his bachelor's degree in applied physics from Caltech.
Churchill Scholarship
The Churchill Scholarship funds one year of study and research in the sciences, math, or engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge University, England. Only 10 awards are given nationally each year.
Brian Bircumshaw, who earned his bachelor's degree in engineering and applied science from Caltech, was also named a Watson Fellow, but chose to accept the Churchill Scholarship.
Bircumshaw is the son of Kristie and Harold Bircumshaw of San Diego, California. He graduated from San Diego High School.
Bourses Chateaubriand
The Chateaubriand Fellowship Award is a fellowship from the French government to conduct research in France. The award is for 12 months as a post-doctoral fellow. Elizabeth Nagy, a PhD candidate in geology at Caltech, will explore geochronology and isotope geochemistry of magmatic and metamorphic events preserved in shear zones in northern Vietnam. Her results will have implications for the history of collisional events in Indochina. She will be based in France and conduct field work in Vietnam.
Nagy is the daughter of Robert Edward Nagy of Morristown, New Jersey, and Julia Mary Nagy of Scottsdale, Arizona. She graduated from Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Michigan, and earned a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Colorado and a master's in geology from Caltech.
Luce Scholars Program
The Luce Scholars Program seeks to increase understanding between Asia and the United States. The foundation was established by the late Henry R. Luce, the cofounder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc. Each member of a pool of 67 top universities nominates two to three students to the Luce Foundation. From this group of approximately 150 students, 18 are chosen each year to spend a year in Asia in a specially designed internship based on the scholar's career goals and interests.
Steven Jay Sanders, a graduate student in applied physics at Caltech, was one of this year's recipients. He will be doing applied physics research for Mitsubishi in Japan.
Sanders is the son of Helen and Bernard Sanders of Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Alameda High School and earned his bachelor's degree in engineering physics from UC Berkeley. He was also named as a Fulbright alternate.
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship is funded by the British government and honors George Marshall and the Marshall Plan. Forty students are chosen from approximately 1,000 applicants to spend two years doing graduate work at any university in Britain.
Albert Lee, who earned his bachelor's degree in engineering and applied science and economics from Caltech in 1996, will be attending Trinity College, Cambridge University and working on his PhD in law.
Lee is the son of Benson and Fung Wing Lee of Hong Kong. He graduated from Beverly Hills High School.
New Century Scholarship
The New Century Scholarship is for one or two years of study at Oxford University by citizens of Japan.
Kanna Shimizu, who earned her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Caltech, will spend one year at Trinity College to earn a master's in computation. She will then work on her PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University.
Shimizu is the daughter of Hiroshi and Machiko Shimizu of Chibashi, Japan. She graduated from the International Christian University High School in Tokyo, Japan.
National Security Education Program Undergraduate Fellowship
The National Security Education Program (NSEP) fellowships allow undergraduates to spend anywhere from a summer to a year studying in a non-Western, non-English-speaking country. The student must study the country's language and can do research related to his or her undergraduate major.
Zane Crawford, a senior majoring in engineering and applied science, will study Russian in St. Petersburg with Intelcross for the first half of the summer, and will spend the remainder of the summer traveling independently in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Crawford is the son of Dick and Scotti Crawford of Sanger, California, and graduated from Sanger High School.
Jeanne Wilson, a junior majoring in biology, will spend the summer in Istanbul, Turkey, studying the Turkish language and the nation's culture and politics.
Wilson is the daughter of Jane and James Wilson of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Merion Mercy Academy in Merion Station, Pennsylvania.
NSEP Graduate Fellowship
Jane Heinemann, a graduate student in geophysics, was awarded an NSEP Graduate Fellowship. Similar to the undergraduate awards, these fellowships allow graduate students to spend a year abroad learning the language of a non-Western country and doing research in their field. Heinemann will study Portuguese at the University of Brasilia and will also conduct seismic research on the Amazon Basin.
Heinemann is the daughter of Jacqueline and Dennis Heinemann of Newbury Park, California. She graduated from Newbury Park High School. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships
The National Science Foundation awards approximately 1,000 Graduate Fellowships and Minority Graduate Fellowships each spring to students at or near the beginning of their graduate studies in science, mathematics, or engineering. NSF Fellows are expected to contribute significantly to the continued vitality of research, teaching, and industrial applications in their fields. The following 12 Caltech graduating seniors and four Caltech graduate students have accepted NSF Fellowships for next year:
Caltech Graduating Seniors
Cyrus Behroozi will study applied physics at Harvard. Mike Cai will study theoretical physics at UC Berkeley. Christopher Chang will study chemistry at MIT after spending a year in Strasbourg, France, on a Fulbright award. Marc Coram will study statistics at Stanford. Amy Herr will also go to Stanford to study mechanical engineering–thermosciences. Jason Hong will study chemistry at Harvard. Ted Laurence will study physics at UC Berkeley. Jeffrey Miller will study biology at MIT. Laura Muñoz will study mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley. Pauline Ng will study biology at MIT. Janet Sun will study bioengineering at Stanford. Elwyn Uy will study applied physics at Stanford after taking a year off to work for a management consulting firm in San Francisco.
Caltech Graduate Students
Bijan Pesaran, an alumnus of Cambridge University, will continue his studies in physics. Catherine Sarisky, an alumna of the New College of the University of South Florida, will continue her studies in chemistry. Jason Scanlin, an alumnus of Columbia University, will continue his studies in astronomy. Daniel Zimmerman, an alumnus of Caltech, will continue his studies in computer science.
Written by Sue McHugh