Students and Alumnae Awarded Prestigious Scholarships

Sanya Gupta ’25

Sanya Gupta, a physics major with minors in mathematics and anthropology, was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship to support her final year at Barnard. After graduating, Sanya will pursue a doctorate in high-energy and plasma astrophysics. Gupta has worked with Columbia’s assistant professor of astronomy Lorenzo Sironi to theoretically model properties of particle energization in plasma. She has also worked with Shina Adegoke and the Caltech NuSTAR, as part of the SURF Fellowship, to model the observed interactions between a low-mass X-ray source and a stellar-mass black hole in the galaxy. With her scholarship, Gupta plans to further her research in plasma physics.

Y. Zoe Cho ’25

As a junior, Y. Zoe Cho was selected for the Goldwater Scholarship, which will financially support her final year at Barnard College. The biochemistry major plans to pursue a doctorate in cancer biology after graduating. Cho’s research is at the intersection of cancer and chromatin biology, and at Carla Concepcion’s lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, she focuses on cancer-associated mutations. Her senior thesis will concentrate on utilizing precision gene-editing technologies to develop effective therapeutic approaches in the long term.

Ana Eveleigh '24

Ana Eveleigh majored in religion and human rights. As a Laidlaw Scholar, she published research focusing on Indigenous religious rights and U.S. foster care law. Eveleigh concentrated in Arabic and completed the Advanced Arabic Language program at the Council for International Educational Exchange during a semester abroad in Amman, Jordan. As a recipient of the Alan Segal Research Grant, she traveled to Egypt and undertook an archival study at the American University in Cairo for her senior thesis. Eveleigh will return to the university in Cairo as a CASA Fellow and will immerse herself in modern standard Arabic and the Egyptian dialect. She plans to use her Arabic fluency toward advancing a more culturally and religiously literate approach to U.S. foreign policy.

Rachel Burns ’24 | English Teaching Assistant in Guatemala

Rachel Burns majored in Political Science and minored in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. With her knowledge of Spanish, Rachel is thrilled to have the opportunity for linguistic and cultural exchange. She also looks forward to engaging with her local community through textiles. 

Marina Chiaramonte ’21 | Study/Research Award in Italy

Marina Chiaramonte graduated from Barnard as a sociology major and a psychology minor. As a Fulbright scholar, Chiaramonte will research STEM gender disparities in higher education in southern Italy. Her work will be in collaboration with the Università degli Studi di Palermo in Sicily. Her great-grandmother immigrated to New York City from Sicily to pursue her education at Columbia’s Teachers College. Nearly 100 years later — after receiving a master’s degree in social-organizational psychology from the same institution — Chiaramonte is excited to return to her great-grandmother’s home in Sicily.

Nilufahr Cooper ’23 | Study/Research Award in Germany

Nilufahr Cooper majored in history and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies with a concentration in the modern Middle East. After graduating, Cooper completed an intensive Persian language program at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul, Turkey, through a grant from the Columbia Middle East Institute. She currently works as an English teacher in Madrid, Spain.

As part of her Fulbright award, Cooper will continue to explore her interests in oral and public history through her research project “Engendering Germany’s Iranian Diaspora: Voices from Iranian Feminist Collectives in Berlin,” in affiliation with the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt University and the Berlin Institute for Migration and Integration Research.
 

Maya Darville ’24 | English Teaching Assistant in Ghana

Maya Darville completed her degree in Africana studies and American studies with a minor in anthropology. She distinguished herself as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, focusing her research on the intersection of African diaspora history, activist narratives, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies.

In addition to her academic pursuits, Darville served two terms as the president of the Barnard Organization of Soul and Solidarity (BOSS). During her 10 months in Ghana, Darville will deepen her understanding of West African culture, learn more about Ghanaian culture, and examine the connections between West African culture and the history of the African diaspora. She is excited to improve her Twi as she continues to pursue a passion for exploring the rich tapestry of African diaspora history and her commitment to social justice.

Lana Kalfas ’23 | English Teaching Assistant in Greece

Lana Kalfas will complete her Fulbright in partnership with Athens College. Lana majored in education studies, student-taught for several public schools across New York City, and conducted academic research on the racialization of immigrant youth in American schools. Kalfas also graduated from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with a master’s in public administration concentrated on urban and social policy through Barnard’s SIPA 4+1 pathway program. Kalfas is thrilled to spend the next year in Greece — strengthening her proficiency in modern Greek, spreading her love of language learning, and immersing herself in the culture and land from which her family hails. 

Cierra Martinez ’24 | English Teaching Assistant in Berlin

Cierra Martinez majored in linguistics and focused on Germanic phonology. After learning German as an undergraduate, Martinez is eager to make firsthand observations of English language acquisition and pedagogy — while enhancing her own German speaking skills — as an ETA in Berlin. 

Sidney Rojas ’21 | Study/Research Award in Costa Rica

Sidney Rojas graduated with a degree in medical anthropology, completed a fellowship with EARTH University in Costa Rica, and is currently working at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health as a research data associate. She looks forward to returning to Costa Rica this fall to conduct research on community-based conservation of the Las Mercedes archaeological site in the Limón province. Drawing upon community archaeological scholarship and the discipline’s movement to decolonize archaeology, Rojas will consider archaeology’s shared value and use within the community.

Kiara Skalnes ’24 | Study/Research Award in Brazil

Kiara Skalnes majored in neuroscience with a minor in computer science. She worked within Barnard’s Fernandez Lab to study circadian rhythms in fruit flies. In Brazil, Skalnes will continue to research circadian rhythm through a collaboration with the Chronobiology and Sleep Lab at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Her project will address the limitations of current postpartum depression treatments by investigating the efficacy of bright light therapy as a safe and inexpensive option. 
 

Eliza Marie Tagle ’24 | Study/Research Award in Philippines

Eliza Marie Tagle, who majored in biology with a concentration in physiological and organismal biology, is interested in developmental biology, maternal health, and reproductive justice. For her Fulbright assignment, Tagle will work with Jose R. Taton Jr. at the University of the Philippines Visayas on her family’s native island of Panay. She will conduct anthropology research and interview members of the indigenous Ati tribe for her project, “Ethnographic Study of Maternal and Women’s Health of the Ati People in Iloilo, Philippines.” Tagle is interested in learning about the Ati’s health practices and how socioeconomic and political factors impact the tribe’s way of life. Outside of her research, she is excited to learn more about her cultural roots and volunteer with local health clinics on the island.

Maïa Berthier ’26

The NOAA’s Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship will fund Maïa Berthier’s final two years at Barnard, as well as support her in completing a research project at any NOAA site in the United States in 2025. Maïa is a member of the Science Pathways Scholars Program (SP²), which facilitated her previous research experience in physical oceanography and her current research pertaining to urban environmental resilience. With NOAA’s generous grant, Berthier hopes to combine her two previous years of research into a project that uses ecology-based solutions to improve the environmental resilience of coastal communities.

Summer Motton ’20

Summer Motton majored in psychology while at Barnard and conducted child development research at the Neurocognition, Early Experience and Development Lab at Columbia’s Teachers College. The NSF GRFP grant will support her graduate work as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan as she investigates how racism, discrimination, and social inequality impact mental health outcomes for Black youth. She will study how psychology research can be applied to promote health equity and support for children and families from historically marginalized communities.
 

Raven Rothkopf ’24

Raven Rothkopf graduated from Barnard with a degree in computer science and will begin her Ph.D. in the discipline at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), this fall with the UCSD programming systems group. Rothkopf’s research experience includes program synthesis research with the Barnard Programming Languages Lab and software engineering research with the Sunshine Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Rothkopf’s NSF GRFP grant will fund her graduate research for the next three years as she continues her work in the intersection of programming languages and human-computer interaction. With a passion for education, Rothkopf is interested in making programming safer and more approachable for all. After co-founding the CS@BC Social Hour and Mentorship Program, Rothkopf hopes to continue mentoring while at UCSD.

Ruby Zeidman ’24

Ruby Zeidman graduated with a degree in psychology and human rights. With the Princeton in Asia Fellowship, she will work as an English lecturer in northern Thailand.