As a history major, Wang has worked as a staff member for Berkeley’s War Crimes Study Center. She became interested in human after participating in the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program. She intends to continue her foray into Human Rights by pursuing an M.Phil. at the London School of Economics in the Fall. Elizabeth is Berkeley’s first Marshall Scholar in 3 years.
Heather Bischel is a Civil and Environmental Engineering major at Berkeley. She has an interest in integrating biology with environmental engineering and wishes to work on habitat restoration after graduate school. She has already been involved in the restoration of coastal terrace prairie grassland in Northern California.
As a sophomore at Berkeley, Austin is well on his way to making a difference in the sciences. Austin majors in computational engineering Science and is focused on the design of simulations and numerical methods. He has already worked at the prestigious Los Alamos National laboratory in which he participated in simulation development and programming. Austin is also an accomplished musician. He hopes to pursue a Ph.D. Computational Fluid Dynamics.
David Sontag is a junior majoring in computer science. Initially David attended Rutgers University where he formulated an approach to the problem of integrating numerical attributes as features of machine learning. David wishes to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science and pursue advanced research in computer science theory and artificial intelligence. David, who speaks several languages, has also traveled the globe as a coordinator for the youth organization Nation 1.
Ryan Houk is a junior majoring in social welfare. Ryan developed a course, "Student Advocates for the Homeless: Education Through Social Action" which will result in the creation of an outreach project to the homeless. His goal is to close the gap in services offered to the homeless population. Ryan has a genuine desire to help others.
Merage Institute for the American Dream Fellowship
Laura Alarcón is the first student from UC Berkeley to win the prestigious Merage Fellowship in its inaugural year. As a Haas Scholar she has embarked on research on the evolving middle class in her native Venezuela. Laura was vice president of the Re-entry, Transfer Student association and Berkeley. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology and work towards helping others to access the opportunity of higher education.