Two Duke seniors were selected over the weekend for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study in Oxford, England.
Seniors Dave Chokshi and Jacob Foster, both of whom were recipients of the University's A.B. Duke scholarship and the Faculty Scholar award as well, were chosen as two of 32 Rhodes Scholars in the United States, out of an initial pool of 981 applicants.
"This is a complete shock. I actually was convinced up until the day before the deadline that I wasn't going to apply for it," Chokshi said. "I ended up staying up all night the day before the scholarship was due.... The whole process is just such a crap shoot. You can't really differentiate the candidates when you get to the state and national level."
Chokshi hopes to study in a philosophy, politics and economics program at Oxford, while Foster hopes to pursue a D. Phil. in mathematics.
A Baton Rouge, La., native, Chokshi is a double major in chemistry and public policy. At Duke, he has served as president of the Honor Council and editor of Vertices, Duke's undergraduate journal of science and technology, and been involved in the American Red Cross.
Also a Howard Hughes fellow in the Department of Immunology, Chokshi received a Barry M. Goldwater scholarship and last year won the Harry S Truman scholarship.
Foster, a native of Winchester, Va., is a physics major. He serves as president of Hoof 'n' Horn, Duke's oldest theater group, and has been active in drama throughout his Duke career. He studied last fall in Italy in the Duke-in-Florence program and at Oxford's mathematical institute for a month last summer, working with a couple of experts in string theory.
At Oxford, he will work with Sir Roger Penrose on a twistor theory project to accommodate massive particles. "I'm interested in theoretical physics, specifically quantum gravity, an effort to reconcile quantum mechanics and gravitation," said Foster, who hopes to eventually earn a doctorate in physics.
Chokshi said that his interests lie in bioethics and he hopes his Oxford study will add to his eventual goal of becoming a policy expert in the field.
"I hope to get sort of a broad-based background in philosophy, particularly ethics, and I want to apply that to contemporary bioethical problems," he said. "Public policy led me to examine some of the social problems surrounding medical research.... I still enjoy doing science, but I think my passion is for solving problems that scientists do not address on a day-to-day basis."
The program, created in 1902 by British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provides students with two to three years of graduate study in England.
Harvard University led the way in Rhodes Scholarships this year with four, while Duke tied Columbia University, Cornell University and Yale University with two.
"Dave and Jacob are both exceptional scholars and generous people who deserve this recognition," history professor Peter Wood, who chairs Duke's Rhodes Advisory Committee, said in a statement. "These two gifted and modest undergraduates have contributed a great deal to life here at Duke. We shall hear a great deal more from both of them in the years ahead."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.