Minnesota: 2 new Rhodes Scholars chart a course in the sciences

Steve Karnowski
Pioneer Press
Twin Cities

One of the two Minnesotans named Rhodes Scholars last weekend wants to become a doctor dealing with global health issues. The other wants to help develop computer technology to harness the power of a patient's mind to control artificial limbs.

Georgianna Whiteley of Wayzata and Clayton Aldern of Cedar were among the 32 American students named Sunday to the newest class of Rhodes Scholars. Both appeared Saturday morning before a selection committee in Chicago and learned that afternoon that they will get to study at Oxford University in England starting in October.

"They told me that my face was so pale they were afraid I was going to pass out," said Whiteley, 21, a senior at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where she's majoring in chemistry and minoring in biology.

Aldern, who turned 22 on Monday, is a senior at Brown University in Providence, R.I., where he's majoring in neuroscience. His work at Brown focuses on how the brain processes visual information and how human memory functions.

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