Senior Alex Baron, majoring in philosophy-neuroscience-psychology and in political science, both in Arts & Sciences, has won a prestigious Luce Scholarship.
Baron is one of 18 scholars chosen nationwide for the program, which provides stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in a country in Asia.
Launched in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program targets highly qualified young American college students majoring in a variety of professional fields.
Baron is the fifth WUSTL student to have ever won a Luce Scholarship. The others were James K. Harlan in 1975, Barbara Shoback in 1976, Michael L. Riordan in 1979 and Timothy Geisler in 1993.
The program is unique among American-Asian exchanges in that it is intended for young leaders who have had limited experience of Asia and who might not otherwise have an opportunity in the normal course of their careers to experience working in a country on the Asian continent.
“I’m looking forward to becoming intimately acquainted with and knowledgeable about the increasingly important region of Asia,” Baron says. “After the program year ends, I hope to return to the United States with valuable insights regarding education that could reshape and reorient our currently failing system.”
Luce Scholars typically have backgrounds in fields other than Asian studies, including medicine and public health, the arts, law, science, environmental studies, international development and journalism.
Placements can be made in Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand or Vietnam.
Baron is not yet sure where he’ll be placed, but says it likely will be in Singapore, China or Taiwan to work for an educational policy agency.
The Luce Scholar Year involves a commitment of slightly more than 12 months, from late June until mid-July.