The McDonnell International Scholars Academy is welcoming this fall 17 students as its first cohort of highly select graduate and professional students from 12 of Asia’s leading universities.
The academy, a unique global education and research initiative, partners with universities and corporations around the world to provide the scholars with an extraordinary educational experience.
“Scholars from highly respected partner universities are selected based on their promise to become future leaders in government, academia, the professions or in business,” Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said.
“Each McDonnell Academy scholar has a one-of-a-kind opportunity to study and to experience American culture and people in a great university in the heart of America,” said James V. Wertsch, Ph.D., the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
“They’ll also form relationships and create an international network of fellow scholars that will serve them throughout their careers. But just as they learn from us, we hope to learn from them and to listen to what they can tell us. In today’s world, powerful forces of globalization have been unleashed, and we all need to understand them and each other.”
Each student is matched to a faculty mentor who also serves as an “ambassador” to the university partner from which the student is enrolled. The ambassador-mentor assists in the scholar’s academic and professional life and will travel annually with the scholar to the partner university to build relationships between that institution and Washington University.
The academy scholars are funded by a sustaining endowment gift from John F. McDonnell, additional endowment pledges and 11 multinational corporate sponsors. Sponsoring corporations also offer internships and on-site educational opportunities for the academy’s Corporate Fellows.
The sponsoring corporations to date are: Boeing Co., St. Louis; Brown Shoe Co., St. Louis; Cabot Corp., Boston; Charoen Pokphand Indonesia, Jakarta; Corning Inc., Corning, N.Y.; Emerson, St. Louis; Energy and Environmental Research, Ames, Iowa; Monsanto Co., St. Louis; Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., St. Louis; Rohm and Haas, Philadelphia; and Tyco Healthcare/Mallinckrodt, St. Louis. The Lee Foundation of Singapore is a foundation sponsor.
The McDonnell Academy not only provides these students rigorous graduate instruction in their chosen degree areas, but also steeps them in a cultural, political and social education program designed to prepare them as future leaders knowledgeable about the United States, other countries and critical international issues.
“One of the biggest benefits these students are going to get is the networking and the relationships they’re going to have in place by the time they leave here,” Wertsch said. “Our hope is that 20 years from now, they’ll be movers and shakers in global society.”
Other partner universities that will be providing students in future years include: China Agricultural University in Beijing, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel; Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, in Herzliya, Israel; University of Indonesia in Jakarta; and the University of Toyko.
Academy officials expect the numbers of partner universities as well as sponsoring corporations and foundations to grow.
The McDonnell Academy Scholars receive funding for full tuition, living expenses and travel to and from St. Louis. Most of the scholars reside in two fully-equipped and furnished rehabbed apartment buildings at Pershing Avenue and Skinker Boulevard.
The scholars, their corporate or foundation sponsors and their universities, WUSTL fields of study, and ambassadors (in italic) are listed below.
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An-Chun “Jenny” Chien Lee Foundation Fellow; National University of Singapore; molecular cell biology in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; Michael W. Sherraden, Ph.D., the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. |
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Wei-Jen Chua National Taiwan University; immunology, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; David Ho, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences. |
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Vikram Govindan Monsanto/Dr. Norman Borlaug Corporate Fellow; Indian Institute of Technology; M.B.A., Olin School of Business; Pratim Biswas, Ph.D., the Stifel and Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Science. |
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Ta-Chih Hsiao Boeing Corporate Fellow; National Taiwan University; environmental engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science; David Ho, Ph.D. |
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Woosung Kim Yonsei University; electrical and systems engineering, Sever Graduate School of Engineering; T.S. Park, M.D., the Shi H. Huang Professor of Neurosurgery and neurosurgeon-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. |
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Zhou Li Corning Inc. Corporate Fellow; Fudan University; chemistry, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; James T. Little, Ph.D., the Donald Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Olin School of Business. |
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Qing Nian University of Hong Kong; LL.M., School of Law; Stephen H. Legomsky, J.D., D.Phil., the Charles F. Nagel Professor of International and Comparative Law. |
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Hong Min Park Seoul National University; political science doctoral program, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; T.S. Park, M.D. |
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Hyun Cheol Roh Korea University; biology, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; T.S. Park, M.D. |
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Manoranjan Sahu Engineering and Environmental Research Group Corporate Fellow; Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; environmental engineering, Sever Graduate School of Engineering; Pratim Biswas, Ph.D. |
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Yuanming Shan Emerson Corporate Fellow; Fudan University; electrical and systems engineering, Sever Graduate School of Engineering; James T. Little, Ph.D. |
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Karavikar Svetasreni Nestlé Purina PetCare Co. Corporate Fellow; Chulalongkorn University; M.B.A., Olin School of Business; Gautam N. Yadama, Ph.D., director of international programs and associate professor in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. |
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Yanjiao Xie Peking University; environmental engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science; Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts & Sciences in biology. |
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Juanyi Yu Chinese University of Hong Kong; electrical engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science; Ping Wang, Ph.D., the Seigle Family Professor in Arts & Sciences and chair of the Department of Economics in Arts & Sciences. |
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Ziyan Zhang Tyco Healthcare/Mallinckrodt Corporate Fellow; Peking University; chemistry, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D. |
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Chuanzhen Zhou Rohm and Haas Corporate Fellow; National University of Singapore; chemistry, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; Michael W. Sherraden, Ph.D. |
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Ming Zu Cabot Corp. Corporate Fellow; Tsinghua University; M.B.A., Olin School of Business; Frank C.P. Yin, M.D., Ph.D., chair and the Stephen F. and Camilla T. Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering. |