The ONIS newsletter is a semi-monthly record of news concerning applications for nationally and internationally competitive scholarships, primarily for undergraduates and primarily for the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. If you would like to have a copy emailed directly to you, please send a request to natschol@umn.edu. Follow ONIS on Twitter (@natscholUMTC) for the latest news and updates.
Celebrations
Junior Sociology and Political Science major Gurtaran Johal was named the University of Minnesota’s 21st Truman Scholar. A member of MSA and a leader of the “It Ends Here” campaign against sexual violence, Gurty was also active in campaign politics during the 2020 election, helped to develop educational programs through the YWCA in her hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, and has conducted research on the legal probation system with Professor Michelle Phelps. She plans to attend law school and have a career in the federal judicial system.
Lilli Ambort (’20) is the second University of Minnesota graduate to be named a Yenching Scholar. In the fall she will join an international cohort of students at Yenching Academy of Peking University to complete a Master’s degree in China Studies. Lilli has worked with Professor Rachel Schurman on international environmental policy research and has been a member of the undergraduate leaders program of the Institute on the Environment. She plans to study environmental displacement and government policy in China.
Four seniors and recent graduates have been offered Fulbright awards to study or conduct research projects abroad next year. Senior Supply Chain and Operations Management major Emma Mulhern will go to Finland to study sustainable at Lappeenranta University of Technology. Emma previously studied in Finland as a Rotary Scholar in high school and has completed a Finnish minor at the University of Minnesota. ’20 graduate Erin Daniel will undertake graduate studies in Istanbul, Turkey with an emphasis on identity and displacement in the Middle East. A major in both Global Studies and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Erin has spent a summer studying Arabic in Jordan with a Critical Language Scholarship. Mahima Gupta, a ’20 graduate with majors in Marketing and Political Science, will spend next year in India completing a research project on the educational experience of Muslim girls in the Punjab. Senior Mattea Rice will undertake a project in Brazil to develop and promote sustainable agriculture practices. A Supply Chain and Operations Management major with a minor in sustainable agriculture, Mattea had her semester of study abroad in Brazil interrupted by the pandemic last spring. Two others, senior Annika Herdtle (Ecology and Evolution/Behavior) and graduate Cossette Haugen (Marketing) have been named as alternates for study/research in Germany and Spain respectively.
Fulbright English Teaching Assistant programs have been substantially disrupted by the pandemic this year. Senior Emily Shim has been offered a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award in Taiwan for next year. Ruby Hoglund, Casey Lagueras, and Shalyn Quandt have been named as alternates to teach in Spain, Palestine and Thailand.
Two seniors have been awarded Boren Scholarships to complete a year of immersive language study. Caleb Feltis and Maggie Lundberg are both participants in the Chinese Flagship Program at the University of Minnesota and will spend next year studying at the Defense Languages Institute in Monterey, California. Maggie, an AMES and Linguistics major, has been studying Chinese since middle school and spent the summer of 2019 at the East China Normal University in Shanghai. Caleb, who also studies Russian and French, spent a summer studying in Montpellier and has been awarded a Critical Language Scholarship to study Chinese this summer. Both plan to have careers with the US State Department’s Foreign Service. A third AMES major, Jessica Chang, has been named an alternate for the Boren Scholarship.
Deadlines
ONIS Priority Awards
- Fulbright US Student Program (Seniors and grads: one year of study, research or English language teaching in countries around the world): Campus deadline--August 25; National deadline—October 12
ONIS Supported Awards
- Schwarzman Scholarship (Seniors and grads: Full support for one year of study at Tsinghua University in Beijing): September 21
- Knight-Hennessey Scholarship (Seniors and grads: Full support for a graduate program at Stanford University): October 6
- Gates-Cambridge Scholarship (Seniors and grads: Full support for a graduate program at Cambridge University): October 14