COSAM News Articles 2015 November COSAM student selected as finalist for Rhodes Scholarship

COSAM student selected as finalist for Rhodes Scholarship

Published: 11/09/2015

Auburn University senior Chloe Chaudhury has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. If awarded, she will be among 32 U.S. students to receive the honor for an opportunity to study at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Chaudhury, a senior in the Honors College and College of Sciences and Mathematics, will interview Nov. 20-21 in Birmingham, Ala., as part of Rhodes District 7. Approximately 1,000 students are endorsed annually for the scholarship by their respective universities, with 200 being named finalists.

She is a native of Auburn, Ala., and is majoring in biochemistry and minoring in dance.

She serves as an undergraduate learning assistant for freshman physics students and conducts research under Assistant Professor Satya Pondugula in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research examines the development of novel and safer therapeutic approaches to reverse chemoresistance in human cancer patients.

Chaudhury was elected to Phi Beta Kappa honor society during her junior year and she is a Summer Science Institute counselor for the College of Sciences and Mathematics. She serves as captain of AU Rhythm dance team and is a member of the Auburn Indian Music Ensemble.

"Chloe exemplifies excellence in the classroom, on the dance floor and in volunteering her time to offer dance therapy classes for differently-abled children in the Auburn community," said Melissa Baumann, Auburn University assistant provost and Honors College director. "She is the consummate Honors College student, always learning, always putting her knowledge to use through hard work, and we offer our congratulations to her as she is named as a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship."

Chaudhury is Auburn's 10th Rhodes Scholar finalist since 2009, including Jordan Anderson who was named a Rhodes Scholar that year. The Rhodes Scholarships, founded in 1904, are the oldest international fellowships and are administered by the Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honor the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes. The criteria include high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor.

"She embodies the criteria set forth in the bequest of Cecil Rhodes of scholastic attainment, energy to use one's talents to the full, sympathy for and protection of the weak, instincts to lead and to take an interest in one's fellow beings," said Paul Harris, professor of political science and associate director of the Honors College. "The entire Auburn Family can take great pride in her ability to accomplish something great in her life's work."