University | 4:04 pm | November 18, 2012 | By Amy Wang

Seven Yalies named Rhode Scholars

Seven students from Yale broke a University record today when they were named to the Rhodes Scholars Class of 2013 — the largest delegation ever, topping the previous record from 1968 when six Yalies received the prestigious award.

Jennifer Bright ’13, David Carel ’13, Rhiana Gunn-Wright ’11, Micah Johnson ’13, Catherine Laporte-Oshiro ’13, Benjamine Liu ’12 and Dakota McCoy ’13 were selected as part of a group of 32 students for the prestigious award, which offers several years of fully funded postgraduate study at the University of Oxford. The winners were chosen out of a nominated pool of 838 students.

Bright, who currently studies ethics, politics and economics, is the editor in chief of the Yale Undergraduate Law Review and plans to pursue public policy at Oxford. She has focused on the legal, medical and economic aspects of urban public health policy.

Carel, also a senior at Yale, is majoring in economics, and has been a leading advocate of issues relating to HIV/AIDS. He will pursue a degree in comparative social policy at Oxford.

Gunn-Wright graduated last year with a degree in African-American studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. She has proposed to study comparative social policy at Oxford, and has been extremely active in community service.

Johnson is a senior double-majoring in psychology and molecular biophysics and biochemistry. His academic focus has been on brain disorders and he was awarded Yale’s Hart Lyman Prize earlier this year.

Laporte-Oshiro is a senior studying ethics, politics and economics. A former Light Fellow, she has studied multiple times in China and will pursue modern Chinese studies at Oxford, aspiring to a career of international relations and public service.

Liu, who majored in biology at Yale and is currently studying computational biology at Cambridge on a Mellon Fellowship, will pursue a D.Phil. in neuroscience at Oxford. He is interested in promoting better care for those suffering from mental illness. Liu is also the recipient of the Alpheus Henry Snow Prize, awarded to the student who, through intellectual achievement, character and personality, has “done the most for Yale.”

McCoy is currently studying ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale and will pursue a scientific career at Oxford. She has participated in in several research projects and is interested in behavioral ecology and environmental policy.

Congratulations to the record-breaking seven students!

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