Craig Pearson, an Honors College senior majoring in neuroscience, biochemistry and molecular biology in the College of Natural Science and English in the College of Arts and Letters, has been awarded a Marshall Scholarship, making him Michigan State University’s 16th scholar.
Pearson is from Bloomfield Hills and graduated from University of Detroit Jesuit High School.
The Marshall Commission provides support to approximately 40 of the most outstanding undergraduates in the country to study at any university in the U.K. Marshall Scholarships pay tuition and fees, personal travel, book allowances and a living stipend for up to three years of study.
Pearson plans to pursue his doctorate in clinical neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. His passion for wanting to develop treatments for blindness and other visual impairments stemmed from a high school volunteering experience in which he worked with students who have visual impairments.
“I am thrilled to have been selected as a Marshall Scholar,” Pearson said. “It’s an enormous honor as well as a validation of all the hard work I’ve put in during my time at Michigan State, and I couldn’t be more excited to begin my studies in the U.K.
“I look forward to pursuing my doctorate in clinical neuroscience and researching new treatments for glaucoma and other conditions affecting the eye. I’m humbled and grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had at MSU and all the people who have helped me along the way – and I can’t wait to see what comes next.”
Pearson entered MSU as an Alumni Distinguished Scholarship recipient and now serves as an undergraduate research assistant in the MSU Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and an undergraduate lab manager and lead undergraduate researcher for the MSU Digital Humanities and Literary Cognition Lab.
He has served as a clinical volunteer at the MSU Department of Neurology and Ophthalmology. Pearson also is the student managing editor for ReCUR, the Red Cedar Undergraduate Research Journal, and is the founder and managing editor of Exceptions: The Art and Literary Journal for Students with Visual Disabilities.
Pearson was named a Goldwater Scholar in 2012 and he served on MSU’s 2013-14 Homecoming Court.
“Craig is an exceptional young man and we’re proud that he is now part of this elite group of scholars,” said Cynthia Jackson-Elmoore, dean of the MSU Honors College. “We wish him all the best as he finishes his studies here at Michigan State and moves onto his graduate studies.”