Five Brown University students and a recent alumna earn prestigious fellowships

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - In recognition of their own academic achievements and Brown University's commitment to developing exceptional scholars, four undergraduate students, a medical student and a recent alumna were awarded coveted scholarships to support their pursuit of graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines.

Brown juniors Erin Kim and HaiTian (HT) Wu, sophomore Simon Nirenberg, and Everest Yang, a member of the Class of 2026.5, were awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for their achievements in mathematics, engineering and natural sciences.

This year, the program awarded scholarships to 454 second- and third-year students, selected from a pool of more than 5,000 nominees representing 482 academic institutions from across the country. Winners are awarded up to $7,500 per full academic year to help cover costs of tuition, mandatory fees, books and room and board.

Clara Tandar, a first-year medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School who earned her bachelor's degree from Brown in 2025, earned acceptance to the National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. The highly competitive program, which accepts roughly 20 applicants each year, enables accelerated doctoral study and collaborative research between the National Institutes of Health and the universities of Oxford or Cambridge. Scholars receive a generous funding package that covers living expenses, all tuition and fees, health insurance and international travel allowances for the approximately four years it takes to earn their doctoral degree.

Class of 2025 graduate Alexandra Mork was named to the 2026 Class of Knight-Hennessy Scholars. The program enables three years of fully funded graduate study at Stanford University, where Mork will pursue a law degree. This year, the program awarded scholarships to 87 scholars, selected from a pool of more than 9,200 applicants representing 31 countries across the globe. In addition to covering all costs of tuition and mandatory fees, Knight-Hennessy Scholars are awarded a living stipend, a one-time relocation stipend and an annual travel grant.

Each of the six scholarship recipients leveraged Brown's distinctive academic environment, marked by the Open Curriculum, close faculty mentorship and a culture of collaborative exploration, to tackle bold research questions and drive positive change in their respective disciplines.

Below, the newest Goldwater Scholars share their research interests, how Brown supported them in focusing their academic paths, and what they hope to achieve after completing their graduate studies.