2018 Marshall Scholarship winners announced
This year marks an increase in scholarships awarded for 2nd straight year.
The British Government has today announced the 2018 recipients of Marshall Scholarship awards. Following a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, 43 outstanding students from across America will be taking up degree courses at leading British universities in a wide variety of disciplines beginning in September 2018.
Sir Kim Darroch, British Ambassador to the United States said:
I’m proud to congratulate the recipients of this year’s Marshall Scholarship, who represent the brightest young minds and leaders the U.S. has to offer. For over six decades, the Marshall Scholarship has played an important part in maintaining the strong bonds of friendship between our two countries. This further expansion of scholarships continues to demonstrate our commitment to our Special Relationship with the US and promoting strong academic ties.
Christopher Fisher, who chairs the Marshall Scholarship Programme, added:
I look forward to welcoming another outstanding class of Marshall Scholars to the UK next year. Marshall Scholars are wonderful students, and their presence in British universities is a mutually enriching experience which creates great promise for our common future.
The announcement marks an expansion for the second straight year of the number of post-graduate students joining the scholarship programme and a 34% increase in scholarships offered since 2015. This year’s class marks the largest Marshall Scholars cohort since 2007. The Programme is principally funded by the British Government but also benefits from a number of partnership arrangements, in which regard significant and growing support from leading British academic institutions is much appreciated.
The expanded 2018 class also includes the first Marshall Scholarship funded by the Marshall Scholarship Endowment Fund. Created by the Association of Marshall Scholars, the official alumni organisation of the Marshall Scholarship, the Fund will support one scholarship in perpetuity beginning this year. The Fund is made possible by donations from over 200 Marshall Scholars, as well as a matching grant by Marshall Scholar and LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman (1990).
Dr. Nell Breyer, Executive Director of the Association of Marshall Scholars stated:
The Marshall Scholarship Endowment Fund is the alumni community’s gesture of gratitude for the life-changing experience of the Marshall Scholarship. Building on the legacy of the Marshall Plan, this gift ensures that the Marshall Scholarship program will continue to thrive and have meaningful impact on UK-US ties long into the 21st century.
Since its inaugural class in 1954, the Marshall Scholarship has remained uniquely positioned among national scholarships for its prestige and scope. It continues to be one of the only scholarships available to Americans to study any academic subject at any university in the UK. This has given rise to an unprecedented breadth of expertise in almost every academic field, producing numerous university presidents, six Pulitzer Prize winners, one Nobel Laureate, thirteen MacArthur Fellows, two Academy-Award nominees and two current Supreme Court Justices, including recently appointed Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (1992). With over 1,900 scholarships awarded to date, Marshall Scholars are leading the conversation and direction of some of the most critical issues of our time.
Today’s announcement offered a chance for many to celebrate and reflect on the scholarship. Thomas Friedman (1975), New York Times Columnist and Pulitzer Prize winning author said:
What wonderful news that not only does the Marshall Scholarship live on – but that the Foreign Office has increased its funding for this program that has enabled three generations of young Americans to get a first-class British higher education.
Angela Duckworth, New York Times Bestselling Author of “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance:
Congratulations to the new class! As a Marshall Scholar, I made lifelong friends, met my husband, and explored intellectual interests that led to the research I do - and love - today.
Harold Koh (1975), International Legal Scholar at Yale Law School:
I knew those years [in the UK] would change my life, but I didn’t know how, or how much. So travel, explore, make friends, and think hard–you will be changed forever! Be adventurous! How I envy you!
The full list of 2018 winners of the Marshall Scholarship are:
| Student | US University | UK University |
|---|---|---|
| Lars Benson | Northwestern University | London School of Economic and Political Science |
| Logan Brown | Vanderbilt University | King’s College London |
| Lucia Brunel | Northwestern University | University of Cambridge |
| Christopher Cantillo | U.S. Naval Academy | University of Cambridge |
| John Chellman | University of Virginia | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Josephine Cooke | CUNY - Queen’s College | Imperial College London |
| Michaela Coplen | Vassar College | University of Oxford |
| Nathaniel Dolton-Thornton | University of California - Berkley | University of Cambridge |
| Sandra Dorning | University of Oregon | University of St. Andrews |
| Kobi Felton | North Carolina State University | University of Cambridge |
| Dakota Foster | Amherst College | King’s College London |
| Valerie Gutmann | University of Chicago | University of Oxford |
| Aasha Jackson | Brown University | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Klaudia Jazwinska | Lehigh University | Cardiff University |
| Benjamin Johnson | Georgetown University | University of Cambridge |
| Elizabeth Keto | Harvard University | Courtauld Institute of Art |
| Rebecca Kuang | Georgetown University | University of Cambridge |
| Jamie Kwong | University of Southern California | King’s College London |
| Joshua Lappen | Stanford University | University of Oxford |
| Attiya Latif | University of Virginia | University of Oxford |
| Abby Lemert | Purdue University | University of Edinburgh |
| Antonio Lopez | Duke University | University of Oxford |
| John Lu | Duke University | London School of Medicine and Hygiene |
| Erika Lynn-Green | Yale University | Queen Mary, University of London |
| Annee Lyons | Georgetown University | University of Oxford |
| Victoria Maloch | University of Arkansas - Fayetteville | University of Oxford |
| Pradnya Narkhede | University of Chicago | University of Edinburgh |
| Jackson Neagli | Rice University | School of Oriental and African Studies |
| Porter Nenon | University of Virginia | University of Manchester |
| Emma Oosterhous | University of Colorado - Boulder | University of Dundee |
| Shruthi Rajasekar | Princeton University | Guildhall School of Music and Drama |
| Phoenix Rice-Johnson | University of Wisconsin - Madison | King’s College London |
| Amanda Royka | Yale University | Queen Mary, University of London |
| Joy Schaeffer | U.S. Military Academy | King’s College London |
| Nick Schwartz | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Imperial College London |
| David Shimer | Yale University | University of Oxford |
| Frank Smith | Arizona State University | University of Oxford |
| Craig Stevens | American University | University College London |
| Meghana Vagwala | Duke University | University of Edinburgh |
| Derek Wang | Stanford University | University of Oxford |
| Garrett Wilkinson | Kansas State University | London School of Medicine and Hygiene |
| Olivia Zhao | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | University of Oxford |
| Liang Zhou | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | University College London |