Brown University senior, Class of 2025 graduate named two of nation’s 32 Rhodes Scholars

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Brown University senior Keidy Palma Ramirez and Class of 2025 alumnus Nicholas Sanzi were elected to the Rhodes Scholar Class of 2026 on Saturday, Nov. 15.

The Rhodes Scholarship, widely considered to be one of the most prestigious academic awards available to undergraduate students, provides 32 recipients funding to cover all expenses for two or three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford in England.

A native of El Paso, Texas, Palma Ramirez is pursuing concentrations in education studies and social analysis and research. She co-founded the Brown Dream Team, a student organization dedicated to supporting undocumented community members, and has conducted research with the Immigrant Student Research Project on how immigration status shapes educational access - work that she now continues independently as a Royce Fellow. Since June 2025, Palma Ramirez has served as an intern at the Pew Research Center, where she is aiding in the development and implementation of the 2025 National Survey of Black Americans and the 2025 National Survey of Latinos.

At Oxford, Palma Ramirez will pursue concurrent master's degrees in migration studies and social data science.

Sanzi, a Providence native, earned his bachelor's degree in international and public affairs in May 2025. Much of Sanzi's research at Brown - where he served as managing editor of the Brown Journal of World Affairs - focused on the origins of populist nationalism and democratic renewal. As a Saxena Fellow, he studied industrial policy and local development in Chennai, India, and he received a William R. Rhodes Fellowship to assist the rollout of rural broadband infrastructure grants at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in Washington, D.C. An oil painter and graffiti muralist, Sanzi was also the recipient of the Guiliano Global Fellowship, which supported his filming of a documentary about street art in France.

Sanzi will pursue a master's degree at Oxford, where he plans to study political theory to inform the rehabilitation of contemporary liberal politics and policy.

Rhodes Scholars are chosen based on their academic records, as well as their leadership, personal qualities and demonstrated commitment to the betterment of society. Applicants are first endorsed by their college or university. This year, nearly 2,800 students sought their institution's endorsement, with 965 ultimately endorsed by 264 different colleges and universities. Selection committees in each of 16 U.S. districts invite the strongest applicants for interviews, and each committee makes a final selection of two Rhodes Scholars from the candidates of the states within the district.

Palma Ramirez, Sanzi and 30 other U.S. Rhodes Scholars will join an international group of scholars from more than 60 countries around the world. They will begin studies at Oxford in October 2026.

This is a developing story and will be updated.