Four Princetonians Win Rhodes Scholarship

 The Rhodes Trust announced this year's class of scholarship awardees yesterday, and it includes three Princeton seniors and one recent graduate.Evan Soltas ’16, Richard Lu ’16, Cameron Platt ’16 and Katherine Clifton ’15 won the scholarship.The announcements were made after the committee conducted interviews with the finalists from each region all day Saturday.Cameron Platt, who studies English and Theater, said she was excited that the committee believed in her goal to connect academia and the arts to make social change. She said her focus on the humanities was unusual in her district of finalists.Princeton had more than ten finalists across the sixteen districts in the country for the award.Platt said that friends and mentors have been messaging her all morning.One friend posted on Facebook: #WhatWereYouDoingWhenCameronWonTheRhodesKatherine Clifton flew back to the U.S. from Serbia for the Rhodes interview. She said meeting the other finalists on the day of the interviews was a highlight of the process for her."They're so passionate about what they're hoping to study," she said.  "I did not think I was going to get it, especially when I met them."Clifton, who lives in Hawaii (she went to the same high school as President Obama), is flying home from California now. She'll be spending Thanksgiving at home this year for the first time in six years.She did Bridge Year in Serbia, and was never able to take the long flight home for Thanksgiving while at Princeton."Obviously we have a lot to be thankful for," she said. "This is really exceptional."Four winners for Princeton is a lot – but not unprecedented. Princeton had three winners last year. Clifton tutored inmates in local prisons while at Princeton, which was also a focus of Joe Barrett '14, one of last year's awardees. Barrett also did Bridge Year.Harvard had the most awardees of any University this year, with five. Yale had three and Duke had two.Here are the Princeton winners' bios, from the Rhodes website:Evan J. Soltas, Rumson, is a senior at Princeton University, where he majors in Economics. While still in high school, his economic blogging led to his becoming a regular contributing writer to both Bloomberg News and the Washington Post, where he prepared the daily wonkbook newsletter. His continued passion for economics led him to study and continue to write extensively on economic issues, including an in-depth study of the impact of food stamp benefits in reducing hunger in impoverished households. Evan is Team President of Princeton’s Federal Reserve Challenge, where he led his team to a 2nd place finish nationally in a presentation to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. At Oxford, he will do an M.Sc. in Applied Statistics, followed by an M.Sc. by research in Statistics.Richard J. Lu, Ballwin, is a senior at Princeton University, where he majors in Chemistry and minors in Global Health and Health Policy. He plans to become a physician and has strong interest in global health policy. He is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic to complete his senior thesis in Chemistry on nerve regeneration potential, and he is writing a second independent thesis on the barriers to efficient vaccine production and distribution in Africa. Richard conducted research on vaccine technology transfer at Biovac Institute in Cape Town, South Africa, and helped provide health care access to rural populations at Tropical Clinics in Kakamega, Kenya. He won the Global Health Scholar fellowship at Princeton, where he also serves in student government and as a Residential College Advisor for incoming students. Since 2011, he has worked as a research intern in radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He intends to do the M.Sc. in International Health and Tropical Medicine and the M.Sc. in Global Health Sciences at Oxford.Katherine K. Clifton, Honolulu, is a 2015 magna cum laude graduate of Princeton, where she earned a B.A. in English and a minor in Theatre. Dedicated to both facilitating dialogue across and within marginalized migrant communities and bringing the arts to a broad audience, she spent a year in Serbia after high school creating an English language program for Roma youth. After graduating, she has returned to Serbia for a year in order to develop and stage an original documentary play exploring hostilities between the Serb and Roma peoples. While a senior, Katherine tutored inmates at New Jersey correctional facilities as part of the Prison Teaching Initiative. She served in Princeton Student Government from her sophomore year on, and was a member of the Bhangra Punjabi dance Team. At Oxford, she will do an M.Sc. in Russian and Eastern European Studies and an M.Sc. in Migration Studies.Cameron M. Platt, Santa Barbara, is a senior at Princeton University, where she will receive a Bachelor of Arts in English with Certificates in Theater and Medieval Studies. Among many awards for her scholarship, she was awarded the Class of 1870 Old English Prize awarded annually to Princeton’s top scholar in the fields of Old English, Medieval, and Early Modern Studies. Cameron currently serves as the President of Princeton University Players and has participated in both production and acting roles in multiple performances and theaters. As Development Director for the Princeton University Players, she oversaw the production of the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit concert. Her senior thesis at Princeton offers new critical ways to understand female selfhood in English literature. At Oxford, she will pursue an M.St. in English and American Studies and the M.St. in Medieval Studies