![\"Logos](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/fea-daad-rise-davis-630x378.jpg\")
Each spring come announcements of the winners of prestigious scholarships and fellowships offering once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for study, research, and other projects around the globe. Applications to the selective programs often take months of preparation.<\/p>\n
But this spring is a bittersweet one for the University of Rochester<\/a> students who were selected for two summer programs\u2014the Davis Projects for Peace and the DAAD RISE summer research program in Germany.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Davis Projects for Peace<\/a> awards individuals and teams of college students $10,000 to design and implement projects that promote peace and intercultural understanding. DAAD RISE<\/a> (DAAD stands for German Academic Exchange Service, and RISE stands for Research Internships in Science and Engineering) offers students from North America, Great Britain, and Ireland the opportunity to be paired with a mentor at one of Germany\u2019s major research universities. Both programs were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cReceiving that congratulations email was the best feeling\u2014a dream come true,\u201d says Dokata Banchale \u201922 who, along with Chernor Diallo \u201922, won a Davis Projects for Peace grant for their project, Breaking Tribal Barriers through Sports. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, resulting in the cancellation of this year\u2019s program, Banchale was able to keep a positive outlook. \u201cWe remain extremely passionate about promoting peace and leading positive change in our various communities,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what Meliora means to us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The University\u2019s website<\/a> is a way to find guidance and critical information during a rapidly changing situation.<\/p>\n Find out what to do <\/a>if you or a close contact have symptoms or think you may have been exposed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Banchale is an economics and statistics dual major from Kenya, while Diallo is an international relations and public health double major from Liberia. They are both alumni of the African Leadership Academy<\/a> in South Africa, a secondary school that draws promising young leaders from all over the continent, and which has had a long partnership with the University.<\/p>\n The students\u2019 project was scheduled for this summer in Marsabit County, Kenya, along the border with Ethiopia, where an intertribal conflict over pasture land and water persists. The project was aimed at raising youth awareness of conflict resolution through a peace-building curriculum and volleyball tournament.<\/p>\n Juliet Sullivan, an academic counselor in the Fellowships Office<\/a> who oversaw the Davis nominating process, says Banchale and Diallo had \u201ca terrific plan\u201d to bring together people who have a history of conflict. \u201cSport offers a special way to bring people together in a shared experience, and this proposed volleyball tournament could have done a great deal to foster peace in Marsabit County, Kenya.\u201d<\/p>\n Banchale says he and Diallo hope that funding will be rolled over to 2021. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-time opportunity that we really worked for,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a project Chernor and I hold dear to our hearts, given our personal history of coming from communities of conflict.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Diallo adds, \u201cOne important thing this pandemic reveals to humanity is our level of interdependence as Covid-19 also emphasizes the importance of communities working together to address their common problems. Conflict as a common problem also requires a collective effort to be resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n Fourteen Rochester students were selected to participate in the DAAD RISE program, which offers both a research stipend and travel allowance. More than 60 Rochester undergraduates have been selected for, and participated in, the program since 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cancellation of this summer’s RISE program in Germany represents a significant loss for our students in multiple ways,\u201d says Belinda Redden, director of the Fellowships Office. \u201cThey were counting on the summer experience to further develop their research skills, sharpen their focus for graduate study, or help them determine if they preferred academic research to industry work.\u201d<\/p>\n Redden says the students selected are trying to salvage their summers in various ways. \u201cSome are seeking to conduct research remotely with the German labs where they were placed, even on a voluntary basis, in order to continue their research engagement,\u201d she says. \u201cOthers are hoping to do some research remotely in their Rochester labs or in an internship if they can secure one at this late juncture. Some may take online courses this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Sylvia Zhong \u201921, a biomedical engineering major from Brooklyn, New York, planned to conduct research at the University of W\u00fcrzburg<\/a>. \u201cHearing that the program won\u2019t happen this summer was deeply disappointing,\u201d she says. \u201cI was already in contact with my program advisor, and everything was planned out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With many opportunities cancelled or filled, she adds, \u201cthe only thing I know for sure is that I will continue writing my papers with my lab members for publication this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n Selected to this year\u2019s DAAD RISE program were:<\/p>\n Mauricio Araiza Canizales \u201922<\/b>, a chemical engineering\u00a0major from Ciudad General Escobedo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico<\/p>\n Karim Abdelmaqsoud \u201922<\/b>, a chemical engineering major from Ashmoon, El Manofia, Egypt<\/p>\n Andrew Balogh \u201921<\/b>, an electrical and computer engineering\u00a0major from Averill Park, New York<\/p>\n Ognjen Bosic \u201922,<\/strong> a mechanical engineering major from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/p>\n Anis Idrizovic \u201922<\/b>, an optical engineering major from Bijelo Polje, Montenegro<\/p>\n Hana Kalco \u201922,<\/b> a biomedical engineering major from Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/p>\n Eli Kosson \u201922<\/b>, a chemical engineering major from Fairport, New York<\/p>\n Sufian Mushtaq<\/b> \u2019<\/b>22, a computer science and business dual major from Lahore, Pakistan<\/p>\n Thien Hung Nguyen \u201921, <\/b>a <\/b>chemical engineering major from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam<\/p>\n Edmund Sepeku \u201922<\/b>, a physics major from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania<\/p>\n Joshua Sobel \u201921<\/b>, a computer science and mathematics dual major from\u00a0Bethesda, Maryland<\/p>\n Navya Uberoi \u201922<\/b>, a physics and astronomy major from New Delhi, India<\/p>\n Jiayin Zhang \u201921<\/b>, a mechanical engineering major from Shanghai, China<\/p>\n Sylvia Zhong \u201921<\/b>, a biomedical engineering major from Brooklyn, New York<\/p>\nPromoting peace is \u2018what Meliora means to us\u2019<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nCoronavirus update<\/h2>\n
COVID-19 symptoms or exposure?<\/h2>\n
For DAAD RISE winners, salvaging a summer<\/b><\/h4>\n
Read more<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n![\"headshot](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/fea-gates-cambridge-630x378.jpg\")
Fatima Zaidouni \u201920 awarded Gates Cambridge Scholarship<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe award will allow the physics and astronomy major to pursue a postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge in the UK beginning this fall. <\/span><\/div>\n
![\"headshot](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/EthanHorizontal-e1588180041967-630x378.jpeg\")
Ethan Fahnestock \u201921 receives Goldwater Scholarship<\/strong><\/a>![\"3](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/fea-davis-peace-prize-2019-630x378.jpg\")
Rochester students to receive Davis Projects for Peace grants<\/strong><\/a>