Kuong Ly, A&S '08, and Ryan Heney, A&S '08, have been honored with two of the most prestigious fellowships in the nation.
Ly, a philosophy and studio art major and resident of Woburn, Mass., was named one of only 65 Truman Scholarship winners nationally on April 4. The award is given to "agents of change" who plan to pursue careers in public service, and it provides $30,000 toward graduate studies.
Heney, a chemistry major from Essex, Vt., received a Goldwater Scholarship, established by Congress to "foster and encourage excellence in science and mathematics." The $7,500 grant helps fund senior year tuition for recipients.
"Kuong's record really speaks for itself and requires no embellishment," said political science professor Kenji Hayao, BC's coordinator for Truman Scholarships. Indeed, among many other pursuits, Ly has been a project coordinator for Never Again in Kigali, Rwanda (a youth group for human rights), volunteered at a Navajo Nation reservation, and has assisted in research at Harvard's Program in Refugee Trauma and the Center for Human Rights and International Justice.
Locally, he has worked extensively within Boston's Chinatown community. As Hayao explained, Ly successfully helped the Asian Community Development Corporation petition for the return of land that had been taken from the district during the Central Artery construction project decades ago. The parcel is now low-cost housing for Chinatown residents. In addition, he worked City Councilman Sam Yoon's campaign, helping to broaden its message beyond the Chinese community.
For these efforts, Ly has also been honored with the Amnesty International Patrick Stewart Human Rights Scholarship, and a fellowship from the International Institute of Public Policy.
Ly traces the roots of his many accomplishments off-campus to programs and people right here in Chestnut Hill. PULSE and the faith, peace, and justice program, in particular, have been essential to his personal and intellectual development at BC.
"I took PULSE my freshman year and the service work I did through the program really pushed me to understand the world around me. I am constantly thinking and rethinking my positions on several issues facing the United States and the world, and PULSE provides me a community in which I can do this," said Ly in an e-mail from Tibet, where he was on a trip away from his study abroad program at Beijing University.
A faith, peace, and justice minor, he also credits professor Matt Mullane and his course, The Challenge of Justice, with further opening his eyes to issues facing different communities around the world.
The Truman Award will help Ly pay for his planned pursuit of a master's degree in human rights and a law degree after graduation. His career ambition is to raise awareness of the need for mental health standards in refugee camps around the world.
"What is supposed to be a 'temporary' living condition can stretch for months, if not years, and affects individuals negatively, causing dependency and furthering psychological trauma. I would like to address the social and ethical challenges raised in the efforts to help victims of trauma and bring the ethical responsibilities of wealthier countries of the world into the limelight," he said.
Ultimately, Ly is humbled by this honor. "I am very fortunate to have received the TrumanScholarship. I couldn't have won it without the love and support of my family. Whether or not they know it, they are the driving force behind my will to succeed."
Heney was awarded the Goldwater largely because of his extensive scientific research and academic excellence. A Dean's Scholar, he has worked under the tutelage of chemistry professors T. Ross Kelly and Evan Kantrowitz.
In Kelly's lab, he helped in the synthesis of a novel antibiotic, and this past semester with Kantrowitz, he worked toward the organic synthesis of a potentially new type of anti-diabetic medication.
"I've been lucky enough to have a lot of personal interaction with both," said Heney. "At so many large universities, professors aren't available to students because they're so engaged in their research."
He finds that same social aspect of education among BC students, as well. "Part of the reason I came here is because there's a great combination in people who are academically brilliant, but normal. Just very interesting, normal people," he said.
Heney has been very active in the broader BC community, spending spring break of freshman year on Appalachia in rural Kentucky, and served as an upperclassman advisor in the Emerging Leader Program.
Last summer, Heney took part in cancer research in the bioengineering department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with other students from around the country. "It was really cool to work with amazingly smart kids with completely different areas of interest," he said.
The research at MIT could be a precursor to the kind of work Heney hopes to do in the future. "I have a family history of cancer, so that type of research has personal significance for me," he said. In general, he enjoys novel research with potentially useful, even life-saving, results. "That's where I feel most fulfilled."
While the Goldwater award money will free up time and money for further research, it is more significant in that "it opens up a lot of other doors." It will strengthen any applications for other fellowships, and may lead to more research opportunities, he said.
For that reason, Heney is leaving his plans for the immediate future open. If he is able to get another fellowship, such as the Fulbright, he may use it to do research abroad, "possibly in England or South America." He spent this past fall semester in Ireland. "It was the first time I've been off the East Coast, and it was an amazing experience," he said. He may also go directly into graduate school or industry if the right opportunity presents itself.
Heney is proud of his honor. "The Goldwater is specific to the sciences, and to get this kind of recognition in an area that I'm passionate about is really satisfying," he said.
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