US-Ireland Alliance Announces 2009-2010 George J. Mitchell Scholars

George J. Mitchell Scholars Photo Gallery

Selection Committee Includes National Book Award Nominee and Emmy Winner

The U.S.-Ireland Alliance announced the 2009-2010 George J. Mitchell Scholars on Saturday, November 22, 2008 after a day-long finalist selection process in Washington D.C. with the Irish Ambassador and notable selection committee members.

The 2009 Scholars are:

• Matthew Baum, a Yale senior who is conducting cutting edge research in the field of Fragile X syndrome and bipolar disease;
• Jonathan Brestoff, a first year medical/PhD student at U-Penn and a graduate of Skidmore, who has discovered an anti-obesity compound that is currently being patented;
• Shane Colvin is a three-major, student body president at Montana State, who wants to study music therapy;
• Breanna Detwiler, a fifth generation farmer and environmental activist from Elon University;
• Rebekah Emanuel, who has worked with the Ugandan Parliament focusing attention on gender crimes and is working with the families of the terminally ill in India;
• Christina Faust, a young scientist at the University of Georgia, whose ecological work is being described as “revolutionary;”
• Neil Ferron, who has written and produced a critically acclaimed play and is founder of a Seattle-based theater company;
• Adam Harbison, a University of Alabama graduate and Truman/Albright Fellow who initiated a half million dollar oral health care initiative for the rural poor in West Virginia;
• Lauren Marino, a Northwestern University graduate who is leading fair trade efforts in Uganda;
• Alec Schierenbeck ,a Grinnell College student who helped to more than double the number of young Democrats participating in the Iowa caucuses;
• Sarang Shah, a Georgia Tech senior who has conducted research in theoretical neuroscience and is a leader on social policy issues in Georgia;
• Michael Solis, a human rights activist who has worked in South Korea and is presently in Chile with Human Rights Watch.

The Scholars were selected after a rigorous application process that drew 300 applications from over 150 colleges and universities across the country. The process culminated in a final interview before a selection committee composed of eminent leaders from many fields. This year’s selection committee included:

• David Simon, creator of several celebrated television shows including The Wire and winner of Emmy and Peabody Awards;
• Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the oldest child of Robert F. Kennedy and the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland;
• Eileen Marie Collins, a former NASA astronaut;
• Jane Mayer, a well-known writer for The New Yorker whose work includes path-breaking journalism on American policy on torture;
• Matt Flannery, CEO of Kiva.org, the pioneering social entrepreneurship site;
• Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the former Commissioner of Health for New York City and a Senior Scientist with the Nuclear Threat Initiative;
• Rachel Rebouché, a 2001 Mitchell,is an associate director of adolescent health programs of the National Partnership for Women & Families in Washington, DC. Rachel graduated from Harvard Law School where she served as the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender; Scholar,
• Christopher Schroeder, an award-winning internet pioneer who is CEO of an influential network of health web sites; and
• Ireland’s Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Collins.

The Mitchell Scholarship selection committee has long attracted prominent national figures such as Former National Security Advisor Tony Lake, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power, and President-Elect Obama’s foreign policy advisor Jim Steinberg. Author Alice McDermott and poet Paul Muldoon have also served on the Mitchell selection committee.

The Alliance selects twelve young Americans each year to receive the highly competitive scholarship to study at Irish and Northern Ireland universities for one year. The awards are named after former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell who spearheaded the historic Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which led to peace in Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholarship program recognizes outstanding young Americans who exhibit the highest standards of academic excellence, leadership and community service. The program seeks to link future American leaders with the island of Ireland.

Though only ten years old, Mitchell Scholars are beginning to make their mark in the world. Nick Johnson, a 2004 Mitchell Scholar, remained in Dublin after completing his master’s in theater at Trinity and founded and runs an award-winning theater company called Painted Filly, which produces several plays a year. Two years ago, Nick, despite being American, was awarded the inaugural Samuel Beckett Fellowship. Amanda Wetzel, a Penn State graduate, obtained her JD/Master’s dual degree program at Columbia Law School and the Sorbonne in Paris. As a Mitchell, she received a master’s in human rights law from Queen’s University Belfast. Amanda is qualified to practice law in France and New York. She has worked in Bosnia and Kosovo working on legal reconstruction, as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She now works on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

“This is the tenth anniversary of the George Mitchell Scholarships and the tenth anniversary of the historic Good Friday Agreement. These twelve young men and women represent exactly the kind of courage and optimism that perfectly commemorates and builds on the incredible legacy of Senator Mitchell,” said Mary Lou Hartman, Director of the George Mitchell Scholarship program.

The newly announced 2009-2010 George Mitchell Scholars are listed below along with their hometowns, their US university affiliation, and their Irish and Northern Ireland university assignment, pending final approval from the universities.