OURS National Scholarships

We would like to wrap up the 2023–2024 academic year by congratulating all of the current Cal Bears and recent alums who received nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships this academic year, as well as those who submitted strong applications for the more than 30 scholarship programs our office supports. Astronaut Scholars – Clara Hung (’25) and Cooper Jacobus (’25) Beinecke Scholarship – Danielle Tran (’25) Critical Language Scholarship – Sara Ahlich (’24), Fraser Byers (’25), Charlie Kim-Worthington (’26), Ava Ratcliff (’26), David Villani (‘24), and Valerian Weinzweig (’25) Gates Cambridge Scholarship –

We would like to wrap up 2022–2023 by congratulating all of the current Cal Bears and recent alums who received nationally competitive scholarships this academic year, as well as those who submitted strong applications for the more than 30 scholarship programs our office supports. This year’s recipients are: Astronaut Scholars – Nitish Dashora (‘24), Cooper Jacobus (’25) Beinecke Scholar – Bryce Wallace (’23) Boren Scholar – Benjamin Davis (’25) Critical Language Scholars – Sara Ahlich (’24), Julian Martinez-Garcia (’23), Clio Smith (’23), Kyle Terrizzi (’23) Goldwater Scholars – Samuel Alber

In Fall 2021, Bryce Wallace (’23, English & Linguistics) was still stunned that he had gotten into Cal as a transfer student from Irvine Valley College, when more UC-related honors started pouring in. He has since received the merit-based Sharer and Gilman Scholarships and was granted a College Corps Fellowship for his strong commitment to community service, especially in the areas of literacy and DEI work on campus. He has participated in URAP and was recently named a Haas Scholar. Then, last month, Bryce gained national recognition when he was

Two Berkeley undergraduates – Nitish Dashora (EECS, ’24) and Arun Johnson (CBE, ’23) – have received the prestigious Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) award for STEM majors who have demonstrated exemplary academic performance and have completed substantial work in their chosen fields outside of the classroom. The honor comes with $15,000, an accomplished mentor, and membership in the ASF network, which includes alumni, astronauts, and leaders in academic, technical research, and corporate leadership. Sophomore Nitish Dashora, from Columbus, Ohio, is interested in machine learning algorithms for general intelligence, namely those concerned

Mrunali Manjrekar (Bioengineering/EECS, ’23) has been awarded a $7,500 Goldwater Scholarship, a program established in honor of Senator Barry Goldwater to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. She is one of 417 recipients from across the U.S. who were nominated by their universities and then selected by the Goldwater Foundation this year. Mrunali, a Bay Area native, became interested in genetics in middle school, intrigued by the idea that the logic and simplicity of sequences could hold

by Lauren Miller Roxana (Qinhong) Wang, a recent graduate of the UC Berkeley class of 2024, has been awarded a 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholarship. Wang, who studied Comparative Literature and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies in the College of Letters & Science, was selected as one of 150 scholars from a pool of nearly 5,000 candidates. She is Berkeley’s sixteenth recipient of the award since its inception in 2013. “Many highly qualified Berkeley students apply for the Schwarzman Scholarship every year, so it is impossible to predict who will be offered