Burchard Scholars Spotlight

Page Contents:01.About02.Recent Burchards03.Recent Speakers

Discussions over dinner pair extraordinary scholars and students

The Burchard Scholars Program brings together distinguished members of the faculty and promising MIT sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated excellence in some aspect of the humanities, arts, or social sciences.

Around 35 MIT undergraduates are selected each year for the competitive program. All students chosen for the program have demonstrated excellence and engagement in the humanistic fields, but can be majoring in science, design, and engineering fields as well as in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

A high percentage of the MIT students who receive Rhodes, Marshall, and other major scholarships and fellowships are former Burchards.

 

Recent Burchard Scholars

Congratulations to our 2025 cohort of Burchard Scholars!

  • Mariam Abdelbarr, sophomore, brain and cognitive sciences/business analytics

  • Oyinade Esther Adeyemi, junior, humanities and engineering

  • Hana Gabriela Albuquerque Sousa, sophomore, chemical engineering

  • Serena An, junior, mathematics

  • Juan Manuel (Manolo) Barroso, sophomore, architecture design/urban studies and planning

  • Abhay Bestrapalli, junior, physics/computer science and engineering

  • Will Bland, sophomore, finance

  • Cristine Chen, junior, electrical engineering with computing

  • Oluwadara (Dara) Deru, junior, mechanical engineering

  • Luke Fitzgerald, junior, mathematics

  • Julianne Hannon, junior, mechanical engineering

  • Yongao Hu,, junior, physics/mathematics

  • Elizabeth Jackson, sophomore, aeronautics and astronautics

  • Ander Jurs, junior, mechanical engineering

  • Catherine Kung, junior, biological engineering/computation and cognition

  • Haydn Long, junior, history/art and design

  • Calvin Macatantan, junior, computer science and engineering/urban studies and planning

  • Alexis MacAvoy, sophomore, chemical engineering

  • Zachary (Zach) Marinov, junior, computer science and engineering

  • Layna Oberg, sophomore, physics

  • Jiwoo Park, junior, physics/mathematics

  • Kannammai (Kanna) Pichappan, junior, brain and cognitive sciences

  • Kartik Pingle, junior, computer science and engineering/physics

  • Braedon Rudolph, junior, economics/physics

  • Jayashabari (Shabari) Shankar, sophomore, chemistry and biology

  • Karie Shen, sophomore, biological engineering

  • Anson So, junior, computer science and molecular biology

  • Gilford Ting, junior, electrical engineering and computer science

  • Sophia Maria Torrellas, junior, computer science and engineering

  • Woods Windham, sophomore, mechanical engineering/philosophy

  • Sophia Yao, junior, computer science and molecular biology

  • Akua Yeboah, sophomore, computation and cognition

  • Emily Zhang, sophomore, finance/computer science, economics, and data science

  • Leqi (Alexis) Zhou, junior, mathematics and computer science

We had thought-provoking talks over the course of the year…Attaining a level of knowledge in fields like art, history, and literature is an essential part of our education, as it broadens our perspective and helps us make more sense of things like cultural phenomena and political issues.”
Willow Huang ’25
Biological engineering major

Speakers and faculty fellows

Burchard speakers and faculty fellows lead talks that cross academic disciplines. Drawing on the school’s vast fields of expertise, the seminars offer diverse avenues of exploration for ambitious scholars.

Students don’t simply listen to these speakers, they engage with them. During dinners, faculty and students share ideas and sit beside one another.

Here’s a taste of some recent talks:

  • “Sovereign Knowledge: A Journey From Science to Religion and Back Again,” Eli Nelson.
  • “Inference on Winners,” Isaiah Smith Andrews.
  • “Artificial Intelligence and Governments: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Martin Beraja.

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