CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate students Sameer Abbasi and Lyndon Shi have received Boren Awards.
David L. Boren Scholarships and Fellowships are funded by the National Security Education Program, a federal initiative designed to increase U.S. expertise in languages and cultures in world regions critical to U.S. interests. The awards provide U.S. graduate and undergraduate students with an opportunity for intensive language study and cultural immersion.
“Lyndon and Sameer demonstrate the breadth of subjects regarded as important to U.S. national security and will make informed ambassadors of not just their disciplines, but also of the U. of I. and the country at large,” said David Schug, the director of the National and International Scholarships Program on campus. “This is the 11th consecutive year that at least one Illinois student has earned a Boren Scholarship.”
A senior in molecular and cellular biology, Abbasi graduated from Urbana High School. He will study Swahili at the State University of Zanzibar in Tanzania this summer.
Last summer he worked as a program director for a health education program funded by the U.S. Department of State, preparing Tanzanian students for roles as doctors, nurses and community health workers. In that program, he served on-site for three weeks, delivering instructional models on infectious disease, injury and mental health. As a freshman, he traveled to Tigoni, Kenya, with the Global Leaders Program to work with the community-based Friends of Creation.
Closer to home, he conducted collaborative research on health systems in East Africa and South Asia for the Global Health Systems Empowerment Network. Additionally, while serving as membership director for the U. of I. chapter of Partners in Health Engage, a global health advocacy organization, he lobbied for foreign aid funding reform with congressional offices and founded an annual global health impact challenge for undergraduates. He plans to attend medical school and would like to work in a role that bolsters U.S. diplomacy by coordinating health programs and strengthening local health systems.
Shi, a sophomore majoring in history and East Asian languages and cultures, is from Vernon Hills, Illinois, and attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School. He will study Mandarin at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan this summer, followed by a year at National Taiwan University for additional language study.
Shi’s research on the Qing dynasty has been published in the Undergraduate History Journal at Illinois. He also has worked as a historian for the Illinois Corn Growers Association, with a special interest in developing markets in East Asia. At S.C. Johnson & Son, he was a technology management support intern, organizing collections of prototypes for the research, development and engineering department. At the U. of I., he worked at the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, digitizing physical files and creating web pages.
His goal is to work as a foreign service officer at the Taiwan Coordination Desk for the U.S. Department of State in order to help the U.S. agricultural industry and develop Taiwanese markets.
NSEP is a federal initiative designed to build a broader and more qualified pool of U.S. citizens with foreign language and international skills. The Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with resources and encouragement to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to the future security and stability of the nation. In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for at least one year.
Editor’s note:
For more information about Boren Scholarships for undergraduate students, contact David Schug, the director of the National and International Scholarships Program, at topscholars@illinois.edu.
