Ober-Achievers

In the arena of scholarships, prestigious internships, and Fulbright grants, Oberlin students are well represented. In the last decade, the college has become a top producer of Fulbright recipients among liberal arts institutions. This year, nearly a dozen students earned coveted Fulbright English Teaching Assistantships that will place them in countries across the globe. That’s a worthy contribution considering there are 1,700 slots available for students in the United States.

The achievements are well rounded, too, with awards going to students in the sciences, humanities, and the arts. The Goldwater Scholarship, which is the premier undergraduate award for students majoring in math, science, or engineering, chose three Oberlin students this year, one of whom is a double degree candidate. Five Obies have won a Dalai Lama Fellowship since 2011. And for the second consecutive year, an Oberlin student has been selected for the Grand Award for Excellence in Visual Arts by the The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio (AICUO).

A look at the awards and fellowships were awarded through Spring 2014.

AICUO Grand Award for Excellence in Visual Arts: Brannon Rockwell-Charland ’14, Africana Studies and Visual Arts double major. The Grand Award is the highest honor in the competition, in which fourth-year students from AICUO schools are nominated by their department chairs. This summer, Rockwell-Charland will intern for mixed-media artist and New York University professor Lyle Ashton Harris in New York.

Beinecke Scholarship: Emma Eisenberg, third-year English major and politics minor. This award provides substantial funding toward a graduate education in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. Eisenberg plans to pursue a PhD in English.

Dalai Lama Fellowship: Noa Fleischaker, third-year anthropology major and dance minor. Founded by the 14th Dalai Lama, the fellowship’s mission is to “build a global network of young social innovators working at the intersections of peace, justice, and ecology.” Fleischaker is developing a series of children’s books, conversation guides, and workshop curriculum to teach Jewish American children about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Fulbright Scholarship: Ten recent graduates were selected for English Teaching Assistantships: Anna Aronowitz ’14, Lily Bryant ’14, Dessane Cassell ’14, Sarah Feigelson ’14, Michael Fiorillo ’14, Matthew Kendrick ’14, Amelea Kim ’12, Nicholas Kuipers ’14, Laura Li ’14, Ian Zimmermann ’14; Brenna Larson ’14 was awarded a full research grant to study art history in Italy; Ryan Dearon ’17 earned a scholarship from the Fulbright Summer Institute to study acting at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre; Anne Posten ’09, a composition and creative writing instructor in the CUNY system, received a Fulbright research grant to translate the work of the young playwright Oliver Kluck.

Goldwater Scholarship: Holden Wan Hong Lai, fourth-year double-degree student majoring in percussion performance, chemistry, and physics; Sarel Loewus, second-year biochemistry major; and Megan Michel, third-year biology major with chemistry and history minors. This program provides tuition assistance for undergrads majoring in math, science and engineering, and attracts the attention of post-graduate fellowships.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program: Michelle Johnson, third-year neuroscience major and chemistry minor; and Megan Michel, third-year biology major with chemistry and history minors. The award provides 10 weeks of full-time research in the lab of an HHMI scientist, a $4,500 stipend, and participation in a local summer research program with other undergraduate researchers.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship: Kathryn Hobart, second-year geology major and chemistry minor. This two-year award provides up to $8,000 in tuition assistance for both years, and a 10-week, full-time summer internship at a NOAA facility during the second year.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship: Jocienne Nelson ‘14, physics major with a math minor. Fellows in the NSF graduate research program receive three years of financial support, with an annual stipend of $32,000 and a $12,000 cost of education allowance to the graduate institution, as well as international research and professional development opportunities. Nelson has been accepted into Cornell University’s PhD program in physics.

U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship: Joseph Lubitz ’14, comparative literature major. This program’s language institutes cover about one academic year of university-level language coursework during a seven- to 10-week program, and are designed to meet the needs of students from a variety of language levels and backgrounds. Lubitz will receive intensive Japanese language instruction at Himeji Dokkyo University in Himeji, Japan.

Venture for America Fellowship: Robert Palacios ‘14, Latin American studies and politics double major. This highly selective fellowship recruits and trains college graduates for two-year positions with start-up companies in lower-cost cities. Palacios is working as a business analyst for a natural foods startup in Cleveland.