OURS National Scholarships

Cooper Jacobus

Cooper Jacobus (’25, Astrophysics and Logic) is passionate about Computational Physics and fascinated with Cosmology and Machine Intelligence. He currently works toward solving problems in Cosmology using AI methods at UC Berkeley’s Department of Astronomy and Berkeley Lab’s Computational Cosmology Center. His research attempts to leverage the latest developments in technology to gain new insights into the origins of the universe. Questions about what came before the Big Bang have captured his imagination, and he is using next-generation supercomputers to simulate the birth of the Cosmos. He hopes to remain […]

Nitish Dashora

Nitish Dashora (’24, EECS) was born and raised in Columbus, OH. He is extremely interested in machine learning algorithms for general intelligence, namely those concerned with robotics. He has been researching AI algorithms for high-speed, off-road self-driving at Berkeley AI Research (BAIR). He has also been working with the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience to explore semantically meaningful learning representations in computer vision. He worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with autonomous racing and published as a first author in the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). He […]

Freja Ekman

Freja Ekman (’18, Chemical Biology) was born in Erlangen, Germany, to parents from Sweden and Norway. Her family immigrated to San Diego, California when she was five. Freja is currently in her second year of an MD-PhD in genetics at Stanford University. She is interested in developing new genome editing tools for the treatment of hematological diseases and rare genetic diseases. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, Freja studied chemical biology, with the hope of understanding how to harness basic chemical principles to better characterize the behavior of genetic mutations […]

Benjamin Davis

Benjamin Davis (’25, Business Administration) will use his Boren Scholarship to study Hebrew in Israel, spending the Fall semester at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Spring semester at Tel Aviv University. Ben’s career and research interests include the convergence of international markets and security, tech, and business innovation, particularly regarding dual-use technology. In Fall 2022, Ben went to London as part of the Global Management Program studying international financial institutions, markets, and trade policy. On campus, Ben is involved with the Berkeley Finance Club, Berkeley Venture Capital, and […]

Alex Edgar

Alex Edgar (’25, Political Behavior, with minors in Public Policy and Education) most loves working with his peers to inspire Generation Z to become the most civically engaged generation in American history. He currently serves as the Director of the Associated Students of the University of California Vote Coalition, Civic Engagement Coordinator for the UC Student Association, and an Andrew Goodman Foundation Vote Everywhere Ambassador. Alex’s civic work has been widely recognized, and he was honored with the 2023 John Lewis Youth Leadership Award from the National Association of Secretaries […]

Nitish Dashora

Nitish Dashora (’24, EECS) was born and raised in Columbus, OH. He is extremely interested in machine learning algorithms for general intelligence, namely those concerned with robotics. He has been researching AI algorithms for high-speed, off-road self-driving at Berkeley AI Research (BAIR). He has also been working with the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience to explore semantically meaningful learning representations in computer vision. He worked at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with autonomous racing and published as a first author in the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). He […]

Samuel Alber

Samuel Alber (’24, Computer Science and Physics) is interested in the mathematics and physics underlying the immune system and plans to pursue a PhD in computational biology. His research involves developing and applying statistical/computational methods for analyzing single-cell multiomics data from immune cells. He also develops computer vision algorithms for analyzing immune cell interactions from microscopy images and videos. Outside of research, Sam enjoys teaching and is currently a teaching assistant for Berkeley’s machine learning course.  

Bryce Wallace

Bryce Wallace (‘23, English and Linguistics) is a transfer student from Southern California. While at Berkeley, he has been doing research in the linguistics department, focusing on the rhetorical use of metaphor in public discourse. This research led to an honors thesis on the rhetoric of anti-vax websites. Bryce is also working on an honors thesis in the English department where he is assessing metacritical approaches to meaning-making in literary texts. He is currently a Haas Scholar conducting research on the ethics of literary criticism and literary representations of Otherness. […]

Julian Martinez-Garcia

Julian Martinez-Garcia (’23, Linguistics) will spend his summer in Malang, Indonesia studying Bahasa Indonesia. An avid language learner and traveler, Julian has taken four semesters of Polish classes at UC Berkeley and previously lived in Maastricht, The Netherlands as an exchange student. He is excited to learn a structurally different language in a fully immersive environment. Julian plans to use his skills in Indonesian and other languages as gateways to further study of linguistic diversity and language change, or in a career in an international organization.

Sara Ahlich

Sara Ahlich (’24, Conservation and Resource Studies) is concentrating on Ecosystem Management and Interpretation and also working toward a minor in Forestry and Natural Resources. While she loves language-learning for its own sake, she hopes to use her Portuguese and Russian skills to facilitate environmentally sound and socially just resource management in critical regions worldwide. Having studied Russian language in the inaugural year of the online CLS Spark program, Sara is excited to now experience the culture and languages of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan first-hand. Upon her return to Berkeley, she plans […]