Students Win Fellowships to Research, Learn Languages

Over the next one to two years, several Wesleyan students will embark on research, enrichment, and language-learning experiences abroad after being awarded competitive fellowships and scholarships. These awards—which include the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Barry Goldwater Scholarship, Critical Language Scholarship, and Yenching Academy Fellowship—offer students the chance to work on personal projects, learn a language, or pursue further education and research to benefit their long-term career paths.

Watson Fellowship

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship provides graduating seniors with funding to engage in their deepest interests over the course of a year of global travel. Fellows develop original projects, then map out a series of organizations and individuals to learn from throughout the world. This year, Tamira Le ’26 was one of 39 students selected nationwide.

Le, a College of Social Studies and environmental studies double-major, will travel to the United Kingdom, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Indonesia to learn more about community-owned energy. Her project builds on a previous study abroad experience in Nepal, where she saw how community-owned solar panels both helped local farmers irrigate crops and gave farmers more agency over how they wanted to use energy.

She is interested in learning how community energy projects are started, governed, and sustained over time and how they meet the needs of the communities they serve, she said. A native of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, she wants to bring the lessons she learns back to her home country, which is amid a large-scale energy transition from coal to renewable sources.

“I am particularly interested in developing solutions that are not only environmentally sustainable but also socially equitable and responsive to local needs,” Le said.

Goldwater Scholarship

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship, established by Congress to honor the life and work of Barry M. Goldwater, is one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in the nation for those studying natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. College sophomores and juniors seeking a career in a STEM field can apply. Lorraine Hillgen-Santa ’28 and Miki Lynch ’27 were awarded a Goldwater Scholarship to support their interest in research-based careers.

Hillgen-Santa, a Neuroscience and Behavior major, currently studies how thirteen-lined ground squirrels regulate their temperature during hibernation through Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Behavior Ni Feng’s lab. This research potentially has implications for humans, she explained, as there has been rising interest in inducing human hibernation in recent years. She also studies why squirrels go through periods of overeating and reduced appetite during hibernation through Professor of Physiology and of Neuroscience Elena Gracheva’s Lab at the Yale School of Medicine.

“I am so honored to have been awarded the Goldwater Scholarship as it demonstrates my potential, connects me to a network of scholars, and hopefully offers further research and academic opportunities in graduate school,” Hillgen-Santa said. She aims to become a professor in the future.

Lynch, a molecular biology and biochemistry major, hopes to pursue a research-intensive career in the medical field. On campus, she is involved with Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Teresita Padilla-Benavides’s lab studying the biological roles of transition metals like copper, iron, zinc, and manganese.

Critical Language Scholarship

Three Wesleyan students—Jenny Ongele ’26, Lizbeth Ramirez ’28, and Bella Rosenblatt ’26—were among over 300 undergraduate and graduate students to receive the 2026 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), a program of the US Department of State and American Councils for International Education. The CLS program provides an immersive eight-to-10-week experience for students to learn languages of strategic importance to US national security and economic prosperity.

Ongele, sociology and film studies double major, will study Swahili through an intensive program at a training center in Arusha, Tanzania. Ongele grew up in Los Angeles, but her parents and extended family are from Kenya and Uganda. She was introduced to East African languages like Swahili, Luo, and Rutooro at a young age and hopes to gain confidence in speaking Swahili through this experience.

She dreams of working in the entertainment industry to tell stories within “the African diaspora that thoughtfully and accurately depict our experiences and dreams, allowing me to collaborate directly with creatives in the East African community,” Ongele said.

Rosenblatt, science and technology studies major, is interested in the social and cultural dimensions of reproductive healthcare and she aims to work in reproductive medicine after graduation. She first began learning Portuguese while preparing to volunteer as an abortion doula and patient care coordinator at a hospital in Mozambique in 2024 and this summer she will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to take daily language courses. She is continuing her study of the language so she can return to the doula training program in Mozambique and better connect with patients.

Ramirez, government and education studies double major, will travel to Gwangju, South Korea to hone her Korean language skills and experience the cultural and regional nuances of the country, she said. She aims to work in international education and diplomacy, with a goal of working in the Foreign Service.

Yenching Academy

The fellowship program at Yenching Academy at Peking University provides full funding for students to receive a master’s degree in China Studies. Baron Fisher ’26 and Natalie Sweet ’26 each received a placement in this fellowship program this year—both will study Chinese law and society.

Fisher, East Asian Studies and English double major, will research how the intellectual debates about democracy during the New Culture Movement, a progressive reform movement from 1915 to 1921, shaped Chinese governance.

“I hope to pursue a career in diplomacy, and being immersed in China provides me with a platform to strengthen U.S.-China relations,” Fisher said.

Fisher said he looks forward to strengthening his proficiency in Mandarin and studying at the largest library in Asia, which is on Peking’s campus. Sweet is excited to try new local specialty foods and learn more about China’s history while studying at the school. Her research will focus on the development of China’s environmental education policy over time.