Washington: Five Indians are among 83
students chosen for the prestigious Rhodes scholarship for
the year 2012.
Apart from them, five Indian-Americans students and a
Tibetan are among those selected for the scholarship.
The students who are selected from India are: Vrinda
Bhandari from National Law School of India University,
Bangalore; Akul Dayal from IIT New Delhi; Nikita Kaushal from
the University of Pune; Amit Kumar from IIT Roorkee; and Sujit
Thomas from St Stephen`s College, University of Delhi.
Indian-American students Ishan Nath, Aysha Bagchi, Nabeel
Gillani, Anand Habib, Mohit Agrawal and Tenzin Seldon, an
emerging leader in the Tibetan Diaspora, are selected from the
US for the scholarship.
The selected students will now begin courses at the
Oxford University next year across the entire range of
Oxford`s academic disciplines.
Vrinda Bhandari is completing the fifth and final year of
her law degree.
Driven into the study of law by her keen interest in
using the legal system as a tool for social change in India,
she has already published a number of articles.
Besides her course-work, Vrinda has acted as Chief Editor
of the Socio-Legal Review and Editor for the Indian Journal
for Alternate Dispute Resolution.
Akul Dayal is in the final year of the BTech, focusing on
Thermodynamics and Manufacturing Practices.
He hopes to undertake research in aero-thermal
engineering at Oxford and longer-term would like to contribute
to developing and designing aerospace technologies.
Nikita Kausahl completed her Master`s in Geology in 2010,
specialising in Quaternary Geology and Climate Change.
Her fascination with the beauty of nature, and consequent
love of the Earth Sciences, led to her travelling across India
as an instructor for a wildlife and trekking organization, and
working for ACWADAM - the Advanced Centre for Water Resources
Development and Management - a not-for-profit organization
which develops solutions for groundwater problems.
Amit Kumar is in the final year of the five-year
Integrated MSc in Chemistry.
Akul is a keen writer and reader of Hindi poems and
articles. In 2008 he was selected as one of the top 10 Hindi
poets of Uttarakhand.
Sujit Thomas is in his final year of a Master`s in
Sociology. In Oxford he hopes to focus on modern British and
European history.
His long term ambition is to mentor, research and develop
the facilities and resources necessary for students to study
European history in India.
Elliot F Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust,
said Rhodes Scholarships are "the oldest and best known award
for international study, and arguably the most famous academic
award available to American college graduates."
Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for two or three
years of study at the University of Oxford in England, and may
allow funding in some instances for four years.
Mohit Agrawal from Indiana received his BA in Mathematics
at Princeton and is currently reading for the Master`s in
Economic Policy Evaluation and Planning at the National
University of Ireland.
Aysha N Bagchi from Texas graduated from Stanford earlier
this year, with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and History
and Honours in Ethics in Society.
She is now studying at the Rothberg International School
in Jerusalem.
Nabeel Gillani from Virginia is a senior at Brown
majoring in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.
He has served as a research assistant on a biotechnology
project, as a Microsoft project manager, and is conducting
research in Brown`s Optimisation Laboratory on electricity
restoration for disaster relief.
Anand R Habib graduated from Stanford in June with a BS in Biology and honours in International Security Studies.
He is currently on a global health fellowship in Haiti
where he is working in a variety of community health programs.
Ishan Nath from Georgia is a senior at Stanford where he
will receive Bachelors’ degrees in Economics and Earth
Systems, and with a minor in Mathematics.
His senior thesis focuses on clean energy and a
national cap-and-trade emissions trading system.
Tenzin Seldon from is a senior at Stanford University
majoring in honuors Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity,
with a Feminist Studies minor.
A Truman scholar, she is an emerging leader in the
Tibetan Diaspora, having served as Regional Coordinator for
Students for a Free Tibet and executive member of San
Francisco Team Tibet.
PTI
