Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Announces Winners of 2018 Cooke Graduate Scholarship and International Award

These scholarships will enable Cooke Scholars to continue their higher education at the world's top graduate programs

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Dec 17, 2018, 12:46 ET

LANSDOWNE, Va., Dec. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports high-achieving students with financial need, announced today the award of up to approximately $7 million total to 82 students who have recently begun graduate programs at some of the most highly selective institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. Each of the Cooke Graduate Scholarship recipients will be eligible to receive up to $75,000 total for up to four years. The three recipients of the Cooke International Award will receive up to $85,000 per year for up to four years of study at Lincoln College or Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, or Clare College at the University of Cambridge.

With average tuition topping more than $40,000 for private colleges and universities, graduate school is often beyond the economic reach of students with financial need. However, research suggests that graduate school can fuel profound increases in lifetime earnings, in relation to graduates that obtain a college degree alone.

"Even students who excel to and through college often face financial roadblocks on the path to graduate studies," said Seppy Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. "These scholars are poised to make an impact in fields from art to medicine in ways that will transform our lives and society. Cooke Scholars share a remarkable focus on solving pressing issues, and we can't wait to see what this year's recipients will accomplish."

While completing her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, Cooke International Award recipient Mandolyn Ludlum published a thesis proposing holistic equity as an analytical framework for pursuing educational equity. Mandolyn is a Grammy-nominated artist and has served as an advocate and leader in roles at the Revolve Impact/The California Endowment's #SchoolsNotPrisons Tour, Hip Hop Caucus, and the Roses in Concrete Community School. Now at the University of Oxford, Mandolyn has begun an M.Sc. in comparative and international education, which she plans to continue through a Ph.D. She sees her graduate work as "imperative to strengthening my abilities to advocate for children, influence policies that relate to children, and to more deeply understand how to collaborate with communities in cultural and governmental contexts as I continue to pursue creating a global children's program."

As a mechanical engineering undergraduate at Cornell University, Cooke Graduate Scholar Sebastian Roubert Martinez worked on projects encompassing biomechanics and electromechanical design for Professor Christopher Hernandez's research group, Cornell Hyperloop, MIT Media Lab, and Orthofit Inc. Sebastian is now working toward a Ph.D. in engineering at Harvard University. He states that the common theme of his work is "the application of engineering in the pursuit of improving human experience. I found that the most worthwhile area of study is also the one most in need of help: human health."

A full list of this year's Cooke International Award recipients and Cooke Graduate Scholars can be found below:

Cooke International Award Recipients:

Mandolyn Ludlum
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: Oxford University

Rozhin Parvaresh
Undergraduate Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge

Nuno Pereira
Undergraduate Institution: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Graduate Institution: Oxford University

Cooke Graduate Scholars:

Jon Alexander
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin

Mariia Alibekova
Undergraduate Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Graduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Benjamin Arbaugh
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Davis
Graduate Institution: University of California, Davis

Katelyn Armbruster
Undergraduate Institution: Lehigh University

Biruktawit Assefa
Undergraduate Institution: Yale University
Graduate Institution: Yale University

Ahmed Attia
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University

Elyse Barnard
Undergraduate Institution: Middlebury College
Graduate Institution: Georgetown University

Alyssa Barratt
Undergraduate Institution: University of Kansas
Graduate Institution: University of Kansas

Roxana Berinde
Undergraduate Institution: Loyola University Chicago
Graduate Institution: Columbia University

Louisa Dru Brenner
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: University of Chicago

Preston Butler
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Dallas
Graduate Institution: Boston University

Leib Celnik
Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge

Simbarashe Change
Undergraduate Institution: Pacific Lutheran University
Graduate Institution: University of Washington

Wesley Close
Undergraduate Institution: Wesleyan University
Graduate Institution: Middlebury College

Diego Cruz-Burbano
Undergraduate Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: EADA Business School

Melissa Cunningham
Undergraduate Institution: University of Southern Maine
Graduate Institution: University of Southern Maine

Maria De Abreu Pineda
Undergraduate Institution: Stephens Institute of Technology

Melissa Diaz
Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida

Timothy Diovanni
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: Dublin Institute of Technology

Emily Duong
Undergraduate Institution: Occidental College
Graduate Institution: University of California, Irvine

Marwa Elgazzar
Undergraduate Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Graduate Institution: George Washington University

David Ellis
Undergraduate Institution: Villanova University

Elijah Evans
Undergraduate Institution: St. Edward's University
Graduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin

Maria Gonzalez-Trevino
Undergraduate Institution: University of Houston
Graduate Institution: South Texas College of Law Houston

Adam Hamilton
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Sharmen Hettipola
Undergraduate Institution: Bucknell University
Graduate Institution: Oxford University

Chien-Hsiang Huang
Undergraduate Institution: Duke University
Graduate Institution: Duke University

Silvia Huerta
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Institution: Harvard University

Eric Huynh
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge

Amayha Jimenez
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: Nova Southeastern University

Anastasia Jones
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Institution: Drexel University

Matthew Jordan
Undergraduate Institution: Texas Tech University
Graduate Institution: Louisiana State University

Deanna Keller
Undergraduate Institution: College of St. Scholastica
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University

Rosanna Kim
Undergraduate Institution: Swarthmore College
Graduate Institution: Stanford University

Nandjui Koutouan
Undergraduate Institution: Kettering University

Rey Laurencio
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Graduate Institution: Texas Southern University

Christopher LeFlore
Undergraduate Institution: Williams College
Graduate Institution: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

Yong Tong Li
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science

Bianca Lin
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Ryan Liu
Undergraduate Institution: Yale University
Graduate Institution: Oxford University

Xinyu Liu
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: Brown University

Yessica Maltes
Undergraduate Institution: University of Miami
Graduate Institution: University of Miami

Gabriela Maurier
Undergraduate Institution: California Institute of Integral Studies
Graduate Institution: California Institute of Integral Studies

Amara McCune
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara

Karen Meacham
Undergraduate Institution: Texas Woman's University
Graduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Cristina Mihailescu
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: New York University

David Millar
Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida
Graduate Institution: University of Florida

Jeremy Neill
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Graduate Institution: University of California, Merced

Nguyen Nguyen
Undergraduate Institution: Texas A&M University
Graduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University

John Niroula
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institution of Technology
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institution of Technology

Samuel Offei
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University

Jonah Okike-Hephzibah
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University
Graduate Institution: Cornell University

Ricardo Pagulayan
Undergraduate Institution: University of Notre Dame

Ana Parra Vera
Undergraduate Institution: Stevens Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Suhaily Penix
Undergraduate Institution: Wellesley College
Graduate Institution: Brandeis University

Bryce Primavera
Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
Graduate Institution: University of Colorado, Boulder

Siira Rieschl
Undergraduate Institution: Bard College
Graduate Institution: Bard College

William Ritter
Undergraduate Institution: University of Rochester
Graduate Institution: University of Rochester

Brittany Robbins
Undergraduate Institution: Florida International University
Graduate Institution: Emory University

Sebastian Roubert
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University
Graduate Institution: Harvard University

Manuel Ruiz
Undergraduate Institution: Southern Polytechnic State University

Sharalyn Sentinella
Undergraduate Institution: Western Washington University
Graduate Institution: Northeastern University

Tessa Seymour
Undergraduate Institution: Curtis Institute of Music
Graduate Institution: Goldsmiths, University of London

Kaitlyn Shin
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Fernanda Silva Celaya
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
Graduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Colin Skinner
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Kristina Smolenski
Undergraduate Institution: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Graduate Institution: University of Hawaii at Manoa

Jacob Sorenson
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Graduate Institution: University of Arizona

Homero Sosa Mendoza
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University

Amin Syed
Undergraduate Institution: University of Virginia
Graduate Institution: Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

Marjada Tucker
Undergraduate Institution: Rice University
Graduate Institution: University of Mississippi

Monique Urrutia
Undergraduate Institution: Emerson College
Graduate Institution: Harvard University

Nicole Valenzuela
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University

Hollie Wagner
Undergraduate Institution: Evergreen State College
Graduate Institution: University of Washington

Konrad Walek
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University
Graduate Institution: Brown University

Lauren Whittaker
Undergraduate Institution: Barnard College
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University

Christopher Wilbur
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University
Graduate Institution: The Institute for World Politics

Kataeya Wooten
Undergraduate Institution: Barnard College

Zachary Zumbo
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded $190 million in scholarships to nearly 2,500 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive counseling and other support services. The Foundation has also provided over $100 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. www.jkcf.org

Media Contact: Amber Styles
571-799-8063
[email protected]

SOURCE Jack Kent Cooke Foundation