13 New England students named Rhodes Scholars

Jennifer Smith
Boston Globe

Noam Angrist traveled the 20 hours from Botswana to Cambridge a few days ago, stayed long enough to go through rigorous interviews for the Rhodes Scholarship and catch up with his mentors at MIT, was selected for the prestigious postgraduate award, and began the long trip back.

Angrist is one of at least 13 Rhodes Scholars of 2015 who have New England ties, the Rhodes Trust announced Saturday.

The scholarship, established in the 1902 will of Cecil Rhodes , is considered the oldest and best-known award for graduate international study.

Thirty-two Rhodes Scholars selected from the United States this year include two from Harvard University, three from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, four from Yale University, three from Brown University, and one from Dartmouth College.

Brown University senior Kate Nussenbaum, 21, sat with other applicants in a Philadelphia interview room. They waited for six hours, in and out of interviews, for the committee to deliberate.

When the Newton native found out about her selection, she “sat there in disbelief, and then just started texting everyone.”

Rhodes Scholarships fund two to four years of study at the University of Oxford in England and are awarded to students who demonstrate outstanding intellect, character, leadership, and commitment to service, according to the Rhodes Trust.

MIT senior Anisha Gururaj, 21, of Chesterfield, Mo., works on developing medical devices. She and three other students designed a low-cost blood warmer that can be used in the military to prevent soldiers from dying of hypothermia.

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