Five meritorious students from the Indian-origin community in America have been selected for the Rhodes Scholarship 2022. The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest, most prestigious, and best-known academic award for international study at Oxford University. This scholarship is a fully funded fellowship for postgraduate studies at Oxford University. Since 1903, the Rhodes Scholarship has been an opportunity for the brightest students from across the world to study for a greater purpose.
Veer Sangha, Atharv Gupta, Amisha Kambath, Jupneet Singh, and Shreyas Hallur are the Indian American students among the 32 Rhodes Scholars from the USA in 2022. Two of them have interned at the US Capitol.
Atharv Gupta, Amisha Kambath, Jupneet Singh, Shreyas Hallur (left to right)
Atharv Gupta, Virginia
One of the five Indian Americans among the Rhodes Scholars 2022, Atharv Gupta from Virginia wishes to take up Social Science of the Internet as a post-graduate discipline at Oxford. An M.Sc. degree in Social Science of the Internet will equip him with knowhow of local economies being shaped by digital technologies in the post-pandemic world. Atharv, a Georgetown University senior, has interned with the US State Department and the World Bank.
Studying the impact of digital technology on small-scale entrepreneurs in emerging markets became his interest on trip to India during the pandemic. His grandparents live in Rishikesh, north India. He saw his grandfather and other people pay for essential commodities with digital money through an app in the local market unlike the pre-pandemic times. “All of a sudden, my grandfather was a savvy digital payment user,” he said.
A major in science, technology, and international affairs; Atharv Gupta among the 2022 Rhodes Scholarship winners has researched on several international development institutions supporting emerging digital economies. He received Paul F. Pelosi Scholarship in 2021, which funded his full-time internship in public service. Interestingly, he also writes about television and cinema, an altogether different genre.
Amisha Kambath and Jupneet Singh, California
Two of the six Harvard College Seniors among the 2022 Rhodes Scholars are of Indian origin and from California. They are Amisha Kambath and Jupneet K Singh. A resident of San Ramon, Amisha is a Harvard College senior and a major in social studies. She will be pursuing a post-graduate degree in social studies and American studies at Oxford. Amisha Kambath, also a Truman Scholar, has been President of the Harvard College Project for Justice.
Criminal justice reform and economic opportunity in the American criminal legal system are the areas that she is passionate about. How the legal system can be leveraged to explore economic opportunities hidden in incarceration has been the focus of her research and studies. Community wealth building, labour market marginality, and alternatives to incarceration are her other interests. She is also a research assistant for a program in criminal justice policy and management.
Indian-origin Jupneet K Singh from California is one of the three MIT seniors selected for the Rhodes Scholarship 2022. She will do her postgraduate studies in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation at Oxford next fall. She studied the biochemistry of human innate immunity and microbial pathogenesis while majoring in Chemistry. Her portfolio includes her experience in natural products research at the Nolan Lab. She worked with de-addiction centers across India this summer 2022.
Jupneet Singh aspires to be a trauma surgeon in the US Air Force. Following Oxford, she wants to attend a medical school. Establishing the representation of minorities in health care through the US Public Health Commissioned Corps is one of her goals. She initiated a few programs, including Pathways to Promise, to support the health of the juvenile victims of domestic violence in Ventura. She supported the programs with her fellowships.
Shreyas Hallur, Arizona
Among the 2022 Rhodes Scholars from the USA, Indian-origin Shreyas Hallur is looking to study Medical Anthropology at Oxford University in 2023. A resident of Phoenix in Arizona, he is a research assistant for autism and brain development at Duke University, North Carolina. He is also a member of STEM Advisory Board at Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center. At the same time, he is an undergraduate research fellow at Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
Shreyas Hallur, a staunch advocate for autistic individuals, interned at the US Department of Health and Human Services this year. He was also a staff intern at Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. He launched a program to support the inclusion and representation of autistic students in museum-based STEM activities. He is co-president of the Duke Disability Alliance and co-director of Disability Policy for the Duke Student Government.