By Alvin Powell

Special to the Gazette

The British government awarded Marshall Scholarships to eight Harvard students, enabling them to study for up to two years at a British university.

Harvard led U.S. colleges and universities, garnering more than one-fifth of the 38 Marshall Scholarships awarded this year. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was second with four.

Harvard's winners plan to study a range of topics, from immunology to radio astronomy to politics. The winners are Sewell Chan, Rhiju Das, Matthew Lima, Joshua McDermott, Ramesh Johari, Geoffrey Rapp, Brian Saccente, and Eric Sheu.

Marshall Scholarships were set up in 1953 to thank the United States for its aid rebuilding Britain and Europe after World War II. The awards were named after former U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, whose support was crucial to the Truman administration's postwar aid program.

The scholarships cover tuition, books, and travel and living expenses.

"This a terrifically interesting group of students, and the only puzzle is the gender imbalance, since we nominated a number of very accomplished women," said Paul Bohlmann, director of fellowships in the FAS Office of Career Services. "Last year, Harvard had an equal number of men and women Marshall winners."

"This is the second year in a row that we have captured eight Marshall Scholarships," he added. "That attests to the remarkable quality of our students."

Studying SocietyÕs Safety Net

America's social policies are more than just policies to Sewell Chan, whose family emigrated from Hong Kong in 1970 and benefited from federal aid programs, including the education funding that enabled Chan to attend Harvard.

Chan, a social studies concentrator who lives in Quincy House, hopes to use his latest opportunity -- a Marshall Scholarship -- to gain an M.Phil. in European politics and society at Oxford University. By studying Europe, he hopes to better understand America and the makeup of its social networks. Chan, a New York City native, has already taken several steps toward fulfilling his plans to pursue a journalism career, working as executive editor and writer at the Harvard Crimson and completing internships at the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Passion for the Big Bang

To Rhiju Das, the mysteries of the universe provide moments of pure exhilaration. Das, a physics concentrator who lives in Lowell House, says physics is his passion. He plans to spend his two years at Cambridge University studying background radiation left over from the Big Bang. He also plans to make a career of probing the universe's deeper secrets.

Das, from Bartlesville, Okla., said he enjoys sharing his passion with students and seeing their joy when a fundamental law of the universe becomes suddenly clear. At Cambridge, Das hopes to complete the coursework for an M.Phil. degree in physics in his first year, and spend his second year conducting radio astronomy research at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. The Marshall Scholarship just adds to Das's list of awards, which include the Goldwater Scholarship for achievement in natural sciences, a Gold Medal at the International Physics Olympiad, and winner of the U.S. Physics Bowl.

Reviving Lost Voices

Matthew Lima is a musician on a mission. The music concentrator wants to resurrect 17th-century instruments for use in modern classical music. Lima, who lives in Winthrop House, plans to seek an M.Mus. at the Royal Academy of Music. He hopes to study in its Composition Department and afterward embark on a career composing and teaching music.

Lima, of New York City, started playing piano before his feet could reach the pedals from the piano bench. He began composing small pieces even before high school. His work since then has gained him a host of awards, including first place in the Bertelsmann Music Group's "World of Expression" Scholarship Program, the Harvard Music Department's Hugh MacColl Prize, and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award. Lima's thesis project is to create a piece for a mixed ensemble of 16th- and 20th-century instruments.

Thinking About the Brain

Joshua McDermott is heading to University College London searching for clues to how the conscious mind arises from the brain. McDermott, who is affiliated with Leverett House, makes no bones about his plans to spend the rest of his life researching and teaching about the brain.

McDermott, of Arlington, Va., created his own area of concentration in cognitive science by combining resources at both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In London, McDermott plans to gain a master's degree in applied mathematics and statistics, giving him the mathematical tools he believes essential to investigate the most pressing questions in brain science. He then plans to return to the U.S. and earn a doctorate degree in vision and brain sciences. McDermott has already begun conducting his own research on the brain, determining in 1996 via functional magnetic resonance imaging that the brain shuts itself off from outside sounds shortly after a person falls asleep.

Searching the Numbers

To Ramesh Johari, teaching is one of the most important things a researcher can do. Johari, a mathematics concentrator living in Leverett House, ultimately wants to be a university mathematics professor and hopes to improve the way mathematics researchers both communicate and teach. An effective leader has to be an effective communicator, he believes.

Johari, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., plans to seek a masterÕs degree in mathematics at Cambridge University and follow that up by beginning work on his doctoral degree in mathematics. Johari has used his math skills in a variety of settings, working to reduce the time it takes to decode DNA for the Human Genome Project, researching cryptography at the National Security Agency, and teaching Mathematics 10 as a course assistant in the Mathematics Department.

The Economics of education

Geoffrey Rapp believes that learning opens doors, and he wants to help others attain the education that will enable them to cross whatever thresholds they desire. Rapp's mother showed him the power of education as she taught others and continued her own education so that she could advance her career. Rapp, who is concentrating in economics, plans to seek an M.Phil. in economics at Oxford University. He plans to focus on labor economics and its application to education.

Rapp, who lives in Leverett House, saw firsthand the impact of economics on education during a summer visit to Russia, where his teacher continued working, even though she hadn't been paid in six months. Rapp feels his own sense of dedication and wants to return to his home in Honolulu and start one of the state's first charter schools, a format that he believes gives teachers the flexibility they need to improve education in this country. Rapp has already gotten a taste of the classroom, teaching two high-school classes at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and teaching math and public speaking to seventh- and eighth-graders in a summer program in Hawaii.

Reaching Out to the Audience

An actor's art is communication, and to Brian Saccente, an actor and an avowed ham since he was in diapers, that means not just communicating to the audience, but to himself as well. Acting has helped Saccente understand himself over the years. Language has always interested Saccente, a linguistics concentrator who lives in Lowell House. He is writing an honors thesis on the syntax of Irish Gaelic and remembers being fascinated by foreign languages since junior high school.

Saccente, of Roslyn, N.Y., plans to seek an Acting Diploma at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has had a wide variety of acting and singing parts in recent years, including Donal de Burca in the Irish language production of In the Shadow of the Glen. His other roles include Papageno in the Onionweavers Puppet Opera's production of The Magic Flute, and the role of Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, produced by the Dunster House Opera.

Tracking MalariaÕs Secrets

Eric Sheu wants to combine his love of science and his desire for public service by fighting malaria, which annually kills three million people, largely children. Sheu, who is concentrating in biochemical sciences and lives in Kirkland House, plans to seek a doctoral degree in immunology during his two years at Oxford and conduct research in hopes of finding a malaria vaccine.

Sheu, of Dunwoody, Ga., has already tested the waters of both research and public service. A peer counselor at Room 13, an undergraduate peer counseling service, he has spent long nights talking with troubled and lonely students in person and on the phone. He has also taught music to Cambridge elementary and secondary school children and conducted research on human natural killer cells in the laboratory, finding mutant cells that could prove important in stopping the rejection of transplanted organs.