Recipients of these prizes have demonstrated exceptional leadership combined with excellence in academic achievement.
The Alpha Omicron Pi Prize Scholarship honors students who best represent the combination of very high scholarship and significant participation in social service work.
Well on her way towards an impressive and impactful medical career, Beverly Udegbe has been involved in extensive research on Black maternal healthcare, has provided medical support for the Somerville Homeless Coalition, and has served as an intern at the White House. Beverly brings an active and positive influence to the Tufts community, acting as the Co-Captain of Tufts’s ENVY Ladies Step Team, where her aptitudes for leadership and empathy truly shine.
The Xi Delta Prize is awarded to a junior with the greatest promise of future achievement.
Throughout his time at Tufts, Ishan Ahuja has established himself as a student who excels both professionally and scholastically. As a budding chemical engineer, Ishan has founded a chemical engineering car team, participated in two internships at Regeneron, and helped conduct research on new water treatment membranes. In addition to this academic and professional work, Ishan has been the co-president of the Tufts Wind Ensemble and has worked with K-12 teachers to help incorporate engineering activities into the curricula.
The Cowdery Memorial Scholarship recognizes outstanding academic achievement and personal qualities of leadership and high principle.
Brendan Harnett is an amiable and collegial young scholar who is respected and liked by faculty and peers alike. Brendan’s prowess as a political scientist is undeniable: the work he has performed on assaults against liberal democracy has been circulated in prestigious publications such as the New York Times and garnered critical and academic acclaim. Outside of his scholastic endeavors, Hartnett has demonstrated his aptitude for leadership through his involvement with the Tufts Daily and devotion to community service.
Olif Hordofa is a promising young mechanical engineer and truly a light on the Hill. Described by one of his professors as “warmly embracing ideas and people at the same time,” Olif is a diligent and thoughtful student who improves the learning environment of every classroom he enters. In addition to being an excellent student, Olif has worked alongside professors to help improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in mechanical engineering courses.
Anton Shenk is writing a senior honors thesis in Economics and has held several leadership roles during his time at Tufts, including chapter president of the Petey Greene Program, and Tufts Daily investigative reporter and editor. Deeply dedicated to improving campus culture, Anton has also been involved with the Committee on Student Life, working to revise the university’s code of conduct.
Alex Viveros has a strong academic record and impressive journalistic skills. He has held numerous editorial roles for The Tufts Daily, at one point serving as the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief. Dedicated to keeping the university community informed during the pandemic, Alex built The Tufts Daily COVID-19 Dashboard to track cases at Tufts. In addition to keeping Tufts informed through the Daily, he has published in the award-winning Science magazine.
Positive, poised, and articulate, Sam Wilner is a proactive learner and a positive force within the classroom. Sam is a hardworking a student, maintaining scholastic excellence her double major in Spanish and Sociology, as well as a minor in Education. In addition to her excellent work as a student, Sam is an asset to her community, generating support through her sorority for students plunged into financial turmoil by the pandemic.
The Phyllis J. Karno Dean’s Award for Leadership and Academic Excellence is awarded to sophomores who have shown great promise in their academics and demonstrated leadership on or off campus. Created in loving memory of Phyllis Karno, Jackson ’79.
Arysha Madhani is a joint Economics and Environmental Studies major who has demonstrated a keen aptitude for leadership as part of the Tufts Energy Conference where she worked with the Office of Sustainability to implement Meatless Mondays in the dining halls and maintain composting in residence halls. An advocate for human rights, Arysha has presented her research tracing goods made with child labor and forced labor in the Indian garment sector to the International Labor Organization, anti-trafficking advocates, and stakeholders in Indian cotton supply chains.
Trisha Musall is an academic leader in Physics who was selected to serve as a Physics Lab TA based on her academic excellence and leadership in the classroom among her peers. Teaching assistants in physics are almost always graduate students, occasionally seniors, but almost never sophomores. Nonetheless, student feedback speaks to the powerful role that Trisha has played in facilitating their learning.