Seven Named Rhodes Scholars

By Susan Peterson

Gazette Staff

For the fifth straight year, Harvard has led the nation in Rhodes Scholars with five seniors receiving the prestigious award. Georgetown came closest with three, and Cornell, Notre Dame, and Yale each have two. Two other Harvard seniors were chosen as Canadian Rhodes Scholars.

The winning Harvard students hail from all over the U.S., coming from four of the eight geographical areas represented by this year's 32 Rhodes Scholars. The American scholars were selected from 990 applicants from 323 U.S. colleges and universities.

The following seniors were awarded Rhodes scholarships: Edward Boyda of Leverett House and Portland, Ore.; Suzanne Goh of Winthrop House and Toledo, Ohio; Lana Israel of Winthrop House and Miami Beach, Fla.; Daniel Kim of Eliot House and Agoura Hills, Calif.; Kweli Washington of Pforzheimer House and Berkeley, Calif.; Demetra Koutsoukos of Eliot House, and Toronto, Ontario; and Thomas Wei of Pforzheimer House and Calgary, Alberta.

The coveted scholarship, established by the estate of British philanthropist and colonialist Cecil Rhodes in 1902, provides tuition, travel expenses, and a stipend for two, and in some cases three, years of study at Oxford University. Candidates are chosen on the basis of academic excellence, compassion for others, leadership qualities, and athletic and extracurricular interests.

A Writer and Teacher

Edward Boyda, whose concentration is physics, plans to pursue a second B.A. at Oxford in English language and literature.

Boyda believes his background and love of physics is complemented by an appreciation for literature -- preparing him for an eventual career in writing and teaching. "Physics and literature are really quite similar," he wrote in his Rhodes application essay. "To me, they are the two most basic keys to knowledge -- one to the physical world, the other to the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual world of humanity."

At Harvard, Boyda already is indulging these interests by assisting Shlomo Sternberg, George Putnam Professor of Pure and Applied Mathematics, with writing a book. He has also tutored eighth-grade algebra students in Cambridge for the past three years. And as captain and two-time letter winner of the Harvard golf team, Boyda says he is "learning daily what it means to be a leader . . . as a writer and teacher must be."

Hailing from Portland, Ore., Boyda's original independent research in physics on the manipulation of micro-particles by light is pending publication. He has also been a research assistant in optics and data analysis at the Oregon Graduate Institute, and co-invented a new digital filter based on pseudo-random code and the Fast Fourier Transform.

Among his achievements at Harvard, Boyda is a Harvard University Group One Scholar, a Junior Phi Beta Kappa, and has been awarded the Detur Book Prize.

A Science Historian

A ballroom dancer and violin instructor for high school students, Suzanne Goh will pursue a master's in philosophy at Oxford. She will be combining her Harvard concentration in history and science toward researching the social history of medicine.

"The history of science is, in reality, comprised of diverse events and ideas which are situated in historical and cultural contexts," Goh wrote in her Rhodes application. "My own interest lies in the aspect of the history of medicine which has been termed the 'fluidity' or 'instability' of the human body."

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Goh's experience at Harvard has been well-rounded. In addition to being president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Ballroom Dance Club and a Varsity Swimming letter winner, she is a John Harvard Scholarship recipient, Junior Phi Beta Kappa marshal, and Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Scholarship recipient.

"Being in Harvard's History of Science Department makes me feel like a part of a small and personal community," Goh said. "The professors and tutors invest much of their time and thoughts into their students' academic interests."

Education Revolutionary

As a business founder, co-author of two books, and producer of two award-winning videos on learning and memory, Harvard psychology major Lana Israel will now go to Oxford to study for a master of science in experimental psychology.

"This gives me an opportunity to further pursue a passion I've had since I was 13," Israel said. "I found this interest at that age and knew this is what I wanted to do."

That passion is focused in education.

"I want to revolutionize education by making 'mental literacy,' (a metacognitive understanding of the brain, mind, and learning) a global priority and reality," Israel wrote in her Rhodes essay. Her vision is already under way, as she has given more than 200 presentations on memory and learning in 12 countries on five continents.

Raised in Miami Beach, Israel's involvement at Harvard includes the Harvard-Radcliffe Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society, where she received first place in the 1996 Yale University Debate and Boston University Debate competitions. She has also been a Harvard Crimson science editor, and participated in Junior Varsity Soccer and the Harvard Boxing Club. Her academic achievements include Junior Phi Beta Kappa, a John Harvard Scholarship, and the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Merit Award.

A Musician

Oboist, community servant, and legislator are a few ways to describe Daniel Kim's involvement both at Harvard and elsewhere. As a musician looking forward to a career as a conductor, Kim will be studying for a B.A. in music at Oxford, with an emphasis on early music performance and practice.

A history and literature concentrator at Harvard, Kim's deep interest in the arts prompted him to write legislation for Massachusetts -- House Bill 5170, nicknamed "The Kim Bill" -- which amended the 1993 Education Reform Act to include the arts as a subject with assessment criteria in the core curriculum of public schools. He is writing his honors thesis in history and literature and received the Harvard College Research Grant for summer research on American Transcendentalism and the music criticism of John Sullivan Dwight.

Kim, who is from Agoura Hills, Calif., is an active volunteer at a homeless shelter in the Boston area, and was a co-director of the Philips Brooks House University Lutheran Homeless Shelter. As a musician, Kim shares his music with shelter guests through concerts. In his Rhodes application essay, Kim described these experiences: "It dawned on me that with music we can transcend time and space for replenishment. Just because instrumental classical music can't address social problems doesn't mean it can't speak directly to the people who struggle the most with these problems."

Kim's musical performance experience includes collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma in a quartet performance in 1995; serving as principal oboe at the 1995 Pacific Music Festival; as a member of the International Winds, a touring woodwind quintet; and the youngest musician selected for the 1991 Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. At Harvard, he is the artistic director of the Pusey Room Chamber Series at the Memorial Church and secretary of the Signet Society.

Social Scientist

Kweli Washington has a dream. He wants to establish a nongovernmental development organization in a depressed black township in Capetown, South Africa. The social studies and anthropology concentrator has already spent one semester as a development assistant in Capetown, and plans to pursue a master of philosophy in development studies at Queen Elizabeth House International Development Center at Oxford.

Raised in Berkeley, Calif., Washington is a board member of the Summer Search Foundation in Boston, which helps place high school students from under-represented groups into leadership and education summer programs. He has also been an assistant director and teaching assistant for the Stanford Youth Environmental Science Program, and has been a 'Big Brother,' through the One-on-One program, to a Cambridge 9-year-old.

"The opportunity to engage in (particularly South) African studies with focuses on the psychology of race and race relations would provide me with a firm grounding in the theoretical/methodological considerations of holistic development," Washington wrote in his Rhodes application essay.

At Harvard, Washington is a senior editor and contributing writer for Perspective magazine, a disc jockey for WHRB, enjoys intramural basketball and cycling. He is a recipient of the Mellon Minority Research Fellowship, the Leadership Alliance Comprehensive Fellowship for Summer Research, and the John Harvard and Harvard College Scholarship awards.

An International Focus to Medicine

This past summer, Demetra Koutsoukos researched the perceptions and rationalizations of risk for HIV among adolescents in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for her senior honors thesis in social studies. Next year, the Toronto, Ontario, native will pursue a master's in public health at Oxford, further preparing herself for a career in medicine.

At Harvard, Koutsoukos admits to pursuing a rather unorthodox route in her pre-med curriculum, taking seminars in the Social Studies and History of Science departments. She is also a member of the Radcliffe Varsity Crew and competed in the 1996 World Indoor Rowing Championships, and was a finalist in the 1996 Intercollegiate Rowing Association.

At Oxford, Koutsoukos wrote in her Rhodes application, "the Honour School of Human Sciences provides the multidisciplinary approach to the biological and social sciences that I have been attempting to create as an undergraduate by combining a pre-medical preparation with a Social Studies concentration."

Koutsoukos' achievements at Harvard reflect her academic and professional interests. She received a Harvard Institute for International Development Award, a Radcliffe Traveling Fellowship, a Dean's Summer Research Award, a John Harvard Scholarship, a Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Scholarship and a Harvard College Scholarship.

A Different Path to Economics

Thomas Wei sees his Harvard concentration in biochemical sciences as a complement to his pursuit of a bachelor's degree in economics and management at Oxford next year. Having completed his Harvard requirements for an honors degree by his junior year, Wei discovered a new interest in economics when he signed up for a class to fulfill a core Social Analysis requirement.

"I think everyone ought to graduate from school knowing a little about economics," Wei said. "It was fascinating for me to take a class that is so well taught and that gave me an entirely different perspective on real-world problems."

Since then, Wei has developed an interest in health care policy and economic concerns. Wei, who is from Alberta, Canada, has been involved with the Harvard Model United Nations for the past four years where he was on the administrative staff and currently serves as comptroller in charge of finances. He also continues to study sign language while volunteering with a program integrating deaf and hearing students in afterschool activities.

"It is of the utmost importance that those policymakers who shape the direction of health care in the future have a strong empathy, if not complete understanding, of all aspects which contribute to good health care, from the economics concerns to the scientific issues," Wei wrote in his Rhodes application.

Wei is also a musician, and has served as co-principal clarinet in the Mozart Society Orchestra, the Dunster House Opera Orchestra, and the Lowell House Opera Orchestra. He also works as a classical music announcer for WHRB.