February 23, 2006

Six students receive high academic honors

Four selected Gates Scholars; one awarded Soros Fellowship; one named to USA Today team

Four students — two current seniors and two 2005 graduates — are among the 40 Gates Cambridge Scholars selected this year.

Students Laura Hughes and Rachel Pike and graduates Ben Gross and Thomas Johnson III are among 40 American students selected from more than 550 applicants. They will receive full funding for a year of post-graduate study at the University of Cambridge in England. Northwestern had more recipients than any other institution except for Princeton.

Amit Bouri, a Kellogg School of Management student, is among the thirty 2006 Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellows. 

Fellows receive up to a $20,000 stipend plus half-tuition for as many as two years of graduate study at any institution of higher learning in the United States.

Michael Chanin, a senior, has been named to USA Today’s 2006 All-USA College Academic First Team.

The Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences student is among 20 students honored by the newspaper last week.

They were selected in the 17th annual undergraduate recognition program from more than 600 nominees to receive trophies and $2,500 cash awards as representatives of all outstanding students.

First Team members have excelled in the classroom, averaging above a 3.9 grade-point average while earning 33 undergraduate majors and a master’s degree. They have extended their education beyond the lab and lecture hall, and most have studied or worked abroad,

Two others were honored by USA Today. Blake Bible, a School of Communication senior majoring in communications and legal studies, was named to the College Academic Third Team. He co-founded and directs StartingBloc, training students to be socially and ethically responsible leaders. Jodi Anderson, a Weinberg senior, received an honorable mention.