Hult Prize Foundation
Rutgers Business School senior Gia Farooqi and alumni Hanaa Lakhani, Moneeb Mian, and Hasan Usmani (left to right with former President Bill Clinton) won the 2017 $1 million Hult Prize Challenge to create a start-up that would help 1 million refugees by 2022. In a six-minute pitch, the Rutgers team detailed a compelling plan for Roshni Rides, a business to provide electric-powered rickshaws in refugee settlements as an affordable hop-on, hop-off way for residents to travel to jobs, schools, and vital services, such as hospitals and markets. The team bested finalists from Harvard, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, the University of Waterloo, the University of Calgary, and York University to claim the top prize. In March they won the regional competition in Boston besting teams from 70 schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the London School of Economics. During the regional competition, Farooqi, Mian, and Usmani were all students and Lakhani was a recent graduate, class of 2016. With the Boston win, they advanced to the global September 2017 finals.
Gates cambridge trust
As a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Chelsie Riche was named a 2017 Gates Cambridge Scholar. Riche was one of 36 students nationwide awarded the scholarship that supports graduate studies at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Riche's plans include pursuing a master’s degree in African studies.
Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation
Viktor Krapivin, a junior physics and mathematics major in the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, was named a Goldwater Scholar for 2017–2018. Krapivin was the 21st Goldwater Scholar from Rutgers in the past 10 years; his award marked 12 consecutive years that a Rutgers student has earned the scholarship. With his award, Rutgers physics and astronomy undergraduates had won 14 Goldwater Scholarships overall, including the last eight years in a row.
Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation
Mussab Ali, a junior majoring in neurobiology and economics at Rutgers University–Newark, has been named a 2017 Truman Scholar. An Honors College student, Ali is Rutgers University–Newark’s first Truman Scholar and the 10th from Rutgers University overall. The scholarship will support Ali’s pursuit of a graduate degree in health policy.
Computing Research Association
Hoon Oh, a senior computer science major at Rutgers University–Camden, has earned a 2017 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award from the Computing Research Association, one of the top honors in the United States awarded to an undergraduate student majoring in computer science. Oh is the first Rutgers University–Camden student to earn the award, which recognizes undergraduate students who show outstanding research potential in an area of computing research.
Poets & Quants for undergrads
Four Rutgers Business School undergraduates—two from RBS–Newark and two from RBS–New Brunswick—have been named to the Poets & Quants list of the "Best and Brightest Business Majors, Class of 2017." Poets & Quants bestowed the honor on 100 students from 49 schools across the nation. Rutgers and Cornell University landed the most students on the list, tying at four each. The Rutgers students are (left to right) Lauren Kelly and Zoe Makropoulos of RBS–New Brunswick and Chanel Clarke and Jorge Paneque of RBS–Newark.
Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament and National Debate Tournament
Rutgers University–Newark debaters hold not one but two national titles, making them one of only two teams in U.S. history to win both the Cross Examination Debate Association’s (CEDA) National Tournament and the National Debate Tournament in a single year. At the 2017 CEDA tournament, debate pair Devane Murphy and Nicole Nave defeated close to 100 of the nation’s best teams. At the invitational National Debate Tournament sponsored by the American Forensic Association with the Ford Motor Company Fund, the two placed first among 78 teams.
United States Federal Reserve
Besting Dartmouth, Princeton, the University of Chicago, and Appalachian State, a team of Rutgers University–New Brunswick undergraduates won the 13th annual national College Fed Challenge held in December 2016 in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Rutgers–New Brunswick Department of Economics and advised by professor emeritus of economics Jeffrey Rubin (far left in photo), the Rutgers team (left to right, surrounding Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen) included School of Arts and Sciences student Ali Haider Ismail (economics and mathematics), Rutgers Business School student Andrew Lee (finance), and School of Arts and Sciences students Shivram Viswanathan (economics and mathematics), Karn Dalal (economics and biomathematics), and Ashton Welles (computer science and economics).
CME Group Trading Challenge
Rutgers Business School graduate students (left to right) Jiachen Chu, Chengran Su, Cheng Xu, Wanyu Zhang, and Zhihao Zhou placed trades that more than doubled their $250,000 in simulated seed money, earning them a strong win at the 2017 CME Group Trading Challenge futures trading contest. CME Group, a Chicago-based operator of trading marketplaces, sponsors the college competition as a way to educate students about the derivatives markets and the global economy. Trading only natural gas futures over the month-long contest, the team amassed a simulated account balance of $530,615, more than $124,000 ahead of the next closest competitor.
Sperry Fund Beinecke Scholarship
Diego Atehortua, a junior art history major in the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, has been named a 2017 Beinecke Scholar. Beinecke scholarships provide substantial support for the graduate education of young men and women of exceptional promise pursuing a course of study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. Atehortua is the first Rutgers student to win a Beinecke Scholarship, and one of only 20 students in the United States to receive one in 2017.
Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program
Eunice Ajayi, a 2016 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, has been awarded a 2017 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship, which supports extraordinary individuals who want to pursue careers as Foreign Service Officers in the U.S. Department of State. She was one of only 30 fellows selected nationwide. Ajayi is the second consecutive recent graduate of Rutgers–New Brunswick to be named a Rangel Fellow and the third overall.
U.S. Department of Energy
School of Arts and Sciences physics major Jennifer Coulter, a 2017 graduate of Rutgers University–New Brunswick, begins studies at Harvard in fall 2017 under a U.S. Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. Coulter completed her Rutgers career as a 2016–2017 Goldwater Scholar.
United States Department of State/Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars
Rohini Bhaumik, a 2013 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, has been named a 2017 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellow. According to the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars—which administers the Pickering program on behalf of the U.S. State Department—fellows “receive two years of financial support, mentoring, and professional development to prepare them for a career in the Foreign Service.”
Public Policy and International Affairs Program
School of Arts and Sciences junior Sarah Lin has been named a 2017 Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow. As a PPIA fellow, she participates in a Junior Summer Institute Fellowship at Princeton University. Last year, School of Arts and Sciences undergraduate Antoinette Gingerelli was a 2016 PPIA Fellow, which allowed her to study over the summer at the University of Michigan. PPIA prepares undergraduates for graduate study and careers in public and international affairs.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(Left to right, with professor Anton Nelessen in red cap) Chelsea Moore-Ritchie, Christine Winter, Jane Allen, and Sharone Small, graduate students from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and Kimberly Tryba, far right, a graduate student in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University–New Brunswick, won the 2017 Innovation in Affordable Housing Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Besting finalists from the University of Michigan, Yale, and NYU/Columbia, the Rutgers team created an award-winning proposal to turn an aging public housing development in Cleveland, Ohio, into a vibrant community.
National Science Foundation
Thirteen students from Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and Rutgers University–Newark were selected as 2017 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program awardees. According to the NSF, the “program has nurtured economic innovation and leadership in the U.S. continuously since 1952 by recruiting and supporting outstanding students with high potential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics very early in their graduate training.”
U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Fifteen graduating seniors and graduate students were named U.S. Fulbright Students for 2017–2018. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers research, study, and teaching opportunities in over 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students. For eight consecutive years, Rutgers University–New Brunswick has earned a spot as one of the nation's “Top Producers of U.S. Fulbright Students” as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.