Prestigious Scholarships Recipients

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OFFICE CLOSURE: Financial Aid and Scholarships will be closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 20, 2025.

Prestigious scholarships are awarded to some of the highest-achieving students in the nation, including many of our UC Davis scholars. The Undergraduate and Prestigious Scholarship Office was founded in the 2013-14 academic year. Since that time, we have had the distinct pleasure of working with the following candidates who prestigious scholarship foundations have recognized.

You can visit the Recipient Archives for a complete listing of past awardees.

2023-24 Recipients

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

Avantika Gokulnatha
Genetics and Genomics

Shih-Na Liu
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Madeleine Rose
Cognitive Science

Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship

Medelin Vasquez

Critical Language Scholarship

Oscar Boissy
Linguistics
Arabic

Finnegan Jarrell
International Relations
Japanese

Whitne Moussan
Anthropology
Arabic

Zain Patel
International Relations
Hindi

Angel Trazo
Cultural Studies
Indonesian

Heidi Trinh
Linguistics; Computer Science and Engineering
Korean

Samantha Herzig (Finalist)
Art History
Chinese

Zoe Smith (Finalist)
English
Chinese

+ 4 finalists who prefer
not to be listed

Ximena Landeros Bravo
International Relations
Italy

Annabel Marshall
Cognitive Science, English
Switzerland

Paola Vidal-Espinoza
Public Health
Brazil

Sofia Biren (finalist)
Political Science, Spanish
Brazil

Amelie Datz (finalist)
Linguistics
South Korea

Julianna Deneve (finalist)
Sociology
Uruguay

Isabella Edwards (finalist)
Human Development
Uruguay

Megan Sanchez (finalist)
Cognitive Science
South Korea

Madeleine Silva (finalist)
Human Development
Malta

+ 1 finalist who prefers not to be named

Graduate Degree Award

Margaret Harp
Art History
Israel

Eseosa Omorogieva
Computer Science
France

Kate Linenbach (finalist)
Psychology
United Kingdom

Research Program Award

Lucille Knowles
Biological Systems Engineering
Denmark

Vivienne Muller
Native American Studies
St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Iris Bright (finalist)
Entomology
Namibia

Matthew Davis (finalist)
Plant Biology
Germany

Emma Ware (finalist)
Atmospheric Science
Poland

+ 1 recipient and 2 finalists who prefer not to be named

Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship

Maddison Cunningham
International Relations / Psychology

Latest News

Panelists, including President Barack Obama, speaking on the Voyager Scholarship

UC Davis’ first Voyager sets sail

by Isabella Beristain
August 29, 2024

Scholarships

Rising third-year UC Davis student Maddison Cunningham received The Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, known as The Voyager Scholarship, Tuesday. Cunningham is the first UC Davis student to earn The Voyager Scholarship since its inception in 2022. Read the full article.

A dancer in blue and gold Indian attire twirls next to an egghead sculpture

Power of dance

by Isabella Beristain
July 29, 2024

Scholarships

UC Davis third-year biochemistry and molecular biology major Vyoma Bhanap wants to change the world through dance. In April, the Donald A. Strauss Scholarship Foundation Committee awarded Bhanap $15,000 to implement her proposal, Dance Bhoomi. Read the full article.

Financial Aid and Scholarships