Three students and a recent graduate have won national scholarships that will prepare them for future global leadership and careers in STEM and public service.
A fifth student received an honorable mention.
You Min (Steve) Choi ’21 and Liam Galey ’23 were elected to join the eighth cohort of Schwarzman Scholars, a program that nurtures a network of future global leaders.
Colin Murphy ’25 has received a Goldwater scholarship, the top undergraduate award for students pursuing careers in mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.
Henry Hua ’24 has been awarded a 2023 Udall scholarship, which supports undergraduates with excellent academic records and who show potential for careers in environmental public policy, health care and tribal public policy. Siobhan Hull ’24 received an honorable mention for the Udall award.
Schwarzman scholars
Choi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in government in the College of Arts and Sciences, with a minor in history of art. A native of Seoul, South Korea, he is interested in leading Asia’s digital transformation as an investor and operator. He raised more than $50,000 in seed funding for a consumer internet startup in Vietnam that he co-founded. Choi is currently an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan’s Mergers and Acquisitions Group, where he is building his financial analysis and project management skills. Choi is also a DJ and is passionate about modern art and modern culinary history.
Galey was born and raised in Singapore, where he spent two years in the Singapore Army before coming to Cornell. He is studying philosophy and political science, with a minor in China and Asia-Pacific Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Galey is president of Logos, the Cornell undergraduate philosophy journal and club, and captain and logistics chair of the Mock Trial Association. He co-founded and serves as co-president of the China-U.S. Cultural Exchange Association, and he co-founded and leads Big Red Billiards, a pool and snooker club with a competitive travel team. For two years, he wrote and edited the local news section of the Cornell Daily Sun. Galey has interned at the U.S. House of Representatives and worked one summer as a research intern for the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University.
He plans to pursue international law and to explore the relationships between Eastern and Western thought through the lens of normative jurisprudence.
This year’s class of 151 Schwarzman scholars represents 36 countries and 121 universities. They were selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 applicants based on their leadership qualities and the potential to understand and bridge cultural and political differences.
In August, the scholars will attend Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University in Beijing for a one-year master’s program in global affairs.
Goldwater scholarship
Murphy, a physics major from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, conducts research in the lab of Michael Niemack, associate professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. Murphy is president of the Cornell Society of Physics Students and a member of the Cornell Astronomical Society. He has participated in Cosmology Day and the Science Olympiad national tournament. In high school, he was captain of the Pennsylvania contingent of the United States Young Physicists Team and competed at the 2019 International Young Physicists Tournament in Poland.
This year, 413 new scholars were selected from a pool of 1,267 college-endorsed sophomores and juniors. The scholarship, which honors Senator Barry M. Goldwater, is supported by the Goldwater Foundation, a federally endowed agency established in 1986. The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year.
Udall scholarship
Hua is an environmental and sustainability sciences major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Since August 2021, he has worked in the lab of Matthew Hare, associate professor of natural resources and the environment (CALS), studying population genetics research focused on oysters. He is currently aquarium coordinator for the Cornell Subunit of the New York Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, project team leader for Resident Sustainability Leaders and liaison of external affairs for the Cornell Compost Club.
Hua hopes to pursue a graduate degree in aquatic resource management and develop methodologies for creating restorative ecosystems while also, through public engagement, promoting a shift toward lower-impact food choices and sustaining the long-term impact of restoration. His goal is a career in urban ecological restoration for policy implementation and proper management.
Hull is majoring in environment and sustainability and development sociology in CALS. Her activities include participating in Climate Justice Cornell, the Sunrise Movement Ithaca and Katie Sims’ mayoral campaign. She has been a volunteer at the Ithaca Community Garden and interned at the SM Sehgal Foundation in India and Cornell Botanic Gardens. She plans to work in environmental policy and organizing that prioritizes racial justice and economic opportunity.
This year 55 scholars were selected from among 384 candidates nominated by colleges and universities across the country. Each scholarship provides up to $7,000 for one year.
The 2023 Udall Scholars will assemble in early August in Tucson, Arizona, to receive their awards and meet policymakers and community leaders in environmental fields, tribal health care and governance.
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