MSU scholars receive awards, opportunity to study abroad

It was the most intense 30-minute interview of his life.

Rhodes Scholarship finalist Ramy Goueli’s only shot at the oldest of the major international fellowships rested on the interview.

While the biochemistry and molecular biology senior wasn’t selected, Goueli said competing with students from Princeton University and Dartmouth College opened his eyes — MSU is an academic force to be reckoned with, too.

The university has produced nearly 100 winning graduate and undergraduate fellows and scholars, including Rhodes, Marshall, Churchill and Truman scholars.

Monica Mukerjee, an international relations and psychology senior, is a 2008 Marshall Scholar, a 2008 Rhodes Scholarship finalist and was named a Truman Scholar last March.

Marshall Scholars win free tuition and stay for two years in the United Kingdom, she said.

Mukerjee said she plans to study forced migration at the University of Oxford for the first year, and violence, conflict and development at the University of London for the second year.

“It’s going to be incredible being in Oxford, working in the field with professors who have influenced so much policy already,” she said.

Jenni Marsh, coordinator of national/international fellowships and scholars, said the MSU community should recognize the great academic and scholarly things students are doing.

“I honestly think we need to toot our own horn a little more,” Marsh said.

MSU has had 13 Marshall Scholars since its 1954 inception, making it the top-ranked public Big Ten school and eighth-ranked public school in the country for number of scholars produced.

This year, MSU was named a Truman Honor Institution for producing 15 scholars since 1978. Awards for the fellowships vary, but many receive at least one year of study at a higher education institution – sometimes abroad.

Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the Honors College, said the honors are signals of the strength of MSU’s student body.

“With the assistance of these prestigious awards, talented individuals conduct undergraduate research, get involved in amazing community service, attend graduate school and go on to illustrious careers,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Goueli, whose background is in the sciences, said he wants to pursue a career in the global health sector, working toward education and disease prevention in Egypt. His parents moved from the country to the U.S. when they were about 25 years old.

Along with performing research at MSU, Goueli has gone on medical mission trips to the country, studying diseases like hepatitis C and malaria.

The type of students pursuing these scholarships varies, Marsh said. Students can be nominated, or can decide to pursue them on their own.

Many begin looking into the application process the spring before the year they are intending to apply, and work on their application throughout August, she said.

An internal selection committee at MSU interviews the candidates and makes nominations for the awards, she said.

Kate Leith, a zoology senior and finalist for the Churchill and Gates Cambridge Scholarships, said her professors and other MSU faculty were a big help throughout her application process.

“I had a few doubts along the way, and they were there helping to quell those fears,” she said.

Even if students aren’t nominated or selected for the awards, Marsh said many students benefit from going through the process.

“When students are preparing to apply for other things, like graduate school, their applications can become better, too,” she said.

And if students do win, they open a career network of opportunities.

“Very rarely does a Rhodes Scholar get told they’re overqualified,” Marsh said.