Loyola students Win Fulbright, Goldwater and
other prestigious scholarships

Tania Ziegler, ’09, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study economics in Beijing during 2009-10. The resident of New Rochelle, N.Y., will use the prestigious scholarship to research global and domestic implications of Chinese international investment outside China’s borders, also known as outward direct investment.

“I hope to pursue my research on outward foreign direct investment in a meaningful and prudent way,” Ziegler said. “The study of foreign direct investment within the context of China has taken the forefront when discussing this nation’s economics.”

A double major in economics and political science, Ziegler studied abroad during fall 2007 in Beijing through Loyola’s partner program with the Beijing Center at the University of International Business and Economics. The idea for her research sprang from an economics course she took there on Sino-U.S. foreign relations.

Jomy Varghese, ’10, has been named a Goldwater Scholar. Varghese, a double major in mathematical sciences and biology/chemistry from Ellicott City, Md., plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. in bioinformatics after he graduates from Loyola.

Funded by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, the Goldwater Scholars program is designed to foster and encourage outstanding undergraduate students in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. The scholarships cover the costs of tuition, fees, books and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year for the winners’ junior and/or senior years in college.

Varghese is one of 278 Goldwater Scholars chosen from a field of 1,035 applicants. Two additional Loyola students received honorable mentions from the scholarship program: Kristin Abt, ’10, a biology and psychology major from Baltimore; and Paul La Plante, ’11, a physics and Spanish major from Hamilton, N.J. La Plante also received a Research Internship in Science and Engineering from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, which offers a great opportunity fro him to study overseas with a top German Ph.D. student.

In addition to these honors, Madeline Cronin, ’09, and Bridget Farrelly, ’09, from West Harford, Conn., and Matthews, N.C., respectively, have been accepted to the Erasmus Institute at Notre Dame’s 2009 Summer Seminar in the humanities and social sciences. The highly competitive program accepts just 12 students each year.