50 GS Students Named as 2020-21 Fellows

In recent years, GS students have collected an extraordinary series of accomplishments in the top fellowship allocations at both the national and international levels. Fellowships are funded opportunities offered by organizations to help students further their education, acquire skills, and broaden their horizons both personally and professionally. Their success underscores the unique strengths of the GS student body as a whole: intellectual maturity, depth of practical experience, dedication to social justice, and a commitment to overcoming obstacles on the way to achieving personal goals. This is especially true given the extraordinary achievements of this year’s fellows. Miyo Marlena Peck-Suzuki ’20, Jarrell Daniels ’22, and Joseph Raphael Nacio Aimard ’24 are three of these fellowship winners who all are the first School of General Studies students to receive their respective awards.

Miyo Marlena Peck-Suzuki ’20 is the first GS student to ever receive the Clarendon Scholarship at Oxford University. The generous funding provided by the Clarendon Scholarship covers the tuition and living expenses of outstanding graduate students attending Oxford University. As a result of their incredible dedication to and high-quality work in philosophy, Peck-Suzuki will be a Clarendon Scholarship recipient through 2023. "I am very excited to be joining the Clarendon’s international, multidisciplinary community, and to be studying with philosophers and political theorists whose work I very much admire. I have no doubt that the strength of my application stemmed from the work I did with Dean Novarr last year. My conversations with him helped me parse my interests to uncover the questions that motivate me, and I am deeply grateful to him for it," Peck-Suzuki said.

Jarrell Daniels ’22, an African-American Studies major, was one of only 62 students nationwide selected to receive the Truman Scholarship. Not only is this an exceptional achievement in and of itself, but Daniels is also the first GS student to be presented with this award. Originally founded in 1997, the Truman Scholarship is given to college juniors who demonstrate a love for public service and a desire to better the world around them.  

Joseph Raphael Nacio Aimard ’24 won the Ella Lyman Cabot Trust Award for the 2021-22 academic year. The Ella Lyman Cabot Trust seeks to financially support and reward students who are passionate about helping others and whose projects will make a positive impact on the people around them. Through this scholarship, Aimard will receive funding to put on a participatory photography exhibit with the migrant population in Paris next year.

Peck-Suzuki, Daniels, and Aimard, while being only a few of the 2020-21 fellowship recipients, embody the spirit and the leadership of the entire GS student population.

International Awards

Clarendon Scholarship at Oxford University, 2021-23
Miyo Marlena Peck-Suzuki, ’20, Philosophy

US Government Awards

Truman Scholarship
Jarrell Daniels, ’22, African-American Studies

Fulbright Study Award, 2021-22
Sabrina Delafield (England), ’21, Political Science
Elle Swenson (Brazil), ’21, Human Rights

Department of Defense SMART Scholarship (Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation), 2021-22
Connor Dunn Diaz, ’22, Earth Sciences

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
Alessandra Vecino Gazabon, ’15, Archaeology
Emily Rachel Simon, ’21, Astrophysics
Emily Carrero Mustelier (Honorable Mention), ’21 Earth Sciences

John S. McCain Strategic Defense Fellow, US Department of Defense
Olurotimi Osha, ’20, History

Foreign Language and Area Studies Award (FLAS)
Hailey Cherry (Arabic, full-year, 2021-22), ’22, MESAAS 
Lucy B. Davis (Arabic, summer ’21), ’24
Caitlin Buckley (Arabic, full-year, 2021-22), ’22, Comparative Literature & Society
Helene Seynabou Mbaye (Arabic, summer ’21), ’23, MESAAS
Kayla Zhu (Turkish, full-year, 2021-22), ’22, MESAAS
Iam Borim (Arabic, full-year, 2021-22), ’23, History
Michael Ge (Chinese, summer ’21), ’23, Comparative Literature and Society
Kambi Gathesha (Arabic, summer ’21), ’22, MESAAS

State Department Internship, Summer ’21
Hailey Cherry (Saudi Arabia), ’22, MESAAS

Critical Language Scholarship
Laura Fairlamb (Arabic, summer ‘21) ’23
Jodie Parkinson (Russian, summer ’21) ’22, Russian Language and Culture
Audrey Kost (Arabic, summer ‘21) ’23

Private Foundation Awards

Fondation de la Vocation, Prix de l’Esperance, ’21
Alix Trebaol, ’21, Sustainable Development

Ella Lyman Cabot Trust Award, 2021-22
Joseph Raphael Nacio Aimard, ’24

Elie Weisel Prize in Ethics, 2021
Aditya Narayan Sharma, ’21, Political Science

Jerome Lohez 9/11 Foundation Award, 2021-21
Vinzent Wesselmann, ’21, History
Aditya Narayan Sharma, ’21, Political Science

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
Harry (Charles H.) Foster, ’23, English (ex-Marine)
Runnie Exuma, ’23, French and Francophone Literature

Women’s Forum, 2021-22 
Kristi Lyn Eaton, ’23, Computer Science

Columbia University Awards

Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Persons, ’20 - ’21
Sumar Frejat, ’21, Neuroscience and Behavior

DeLoria Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Department of Anthropology, Summer ’21
Brittany Bailey, ’23, Anthropology and Philosophy -

Weatherhead Institute Scholarship (for MA Program in East Asian Studies), ’21- ’22
Rhe-Anne Tan, ’21, Political Science

GS Summer Research Fellowship, Summer ’21
Hualing Chen, ’22, English
Arda Yurctu, ’23

Tamer Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship, Columbia Business School, Summer ’21
Garrett Peter Modeste, ’23

Cold War Archives Research Fellowship 2021-22
Carole-Louise Ashby, ’21, Political Science
Rosa Geoghegan, ’23, French
Hannah Kunze, ’22, English
Rhe-Anne Tan, ’21, Political Science

SURF, Summer ‘21
Sylvester Benson, ’23, Neuroscience and Behavior
Marie Sproat, ’22, Neuroscience and Behavior
Ara Bakhteyar, ’23, Biophysics
Erica Hernandez, ’22, Biological Sciences

Graduate Study Awards

Dean’s Merit Scholarship, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2021-23
Elizabeth Ulanova ’19, Visual Arts