51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ

Two 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ students and a recent alumnus have been awarded Graduate Scholarships for Study from Germany’s Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), translated in English as the German Academic Exchange Service.

DAAD is Germany’s national agency for the support of international academic cooperation. The agency provides a variety of educational and research opportunities, including support of study abroad experiences within German laboratories and research institutions.

Biographical information on 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ’s 2017 DAAD Scholarship recipients follows:

• Sofia Beatriz Vera Rojas, a PhD student in the Department of Political Science, will continue her doctoral research at the German Institute of Global and International Affairs. Her work examines the social conditions by which government officials are held accountable for corruption by voters and political parties.
• Thomas A. Elvins, a Bachelor of Philosophy degree candidate majoring in Russian, German and Slavic Studies with a minor in Serbo-Croatian linguistics, will place his focus on West Slavonic studies at the University of Leipzig. Elvins aspires to work in diplomacy within the European Union or other European partner nations.
• Alex R. Lederer will study the unique intricacies of the human genome at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. His scholarship project furthers research pursuits he began while studying as a 51¾«Æ·ÊÓƵ undergraduate. Lederer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology and computer science in April.