Michigan State University has two finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship – Sarah Kovan, an Honors College senior majoring in comparative cultures and politics in the James Madison College and human biology in the College of Natural Science; and Irene Li, an Honors College senior majoring in genetics and molecular genomics in the College of Natural Science and interdisciplinary studies in social science in the College of Social Science.
Both students will interview on Nov. 21 in Chicago with the Rhodes Trust.
The Rhodes Trust, the oldest of the major international competitive award foundations, provides 32 of the most outstanding undergraduates in the United States an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in England.
Sixteen Rhodes Scholars have come from MSU.
“I am incredibly honored and thrilled to have been chosen as a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship,” Kovan said. “This selection provides me with an opportunity to continue furthering my understanding and appreciation of health, within a broader international context, as I pursue future work within the medical field.”
Li said, “I’m extremely honored to be recognized as a Rhodes Finalist - through my research and coursework here at MSU, I’ve developed an academic and personal interest in cancer epidemiology and prevention. The link between smoking and lung cancer was actually discovered at Oxford, and as in many others it is a world leader in this field. Continuing my studies at Oxford would be a realization of my investigations in this field.”