Newly Named Truman Scholar Is a Subway Face of CUNY

An honors student at the City University of New York has been named a Truman Scholar, a prestigious award for college students interested in careers in public service.

David Bauer, 20, a junior in the Macaulay Honors College at City College, was one of 65 students from around the country to receive the scholarship, worth $30,000. A total of 595 students applied.

If Mr. Bauer's name seems familiar to New Yorkers, it is because he has been part of CUNY's advertising campaign on the city's subways, which features the school's top students.

Mr. Bauer, who won the Intel Science Talent Search in 2005, recalled the time he caught a train just before the doors closed and soon realized that other passengers were staring at him. "Oh no, I'm probably standing under it, aren't I?" he recalled thinking. A graduate of Hunter College High School, Mr. Bauer grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Last year, he received a Goldwater Scholarship, and he currently is studying at Oxford University. He said he aspires to be a research scientist and aims to shape public policy through research.

CUNY said it has submitted five applications for the Truman Scholarship in the past two years, and all became finalists.

"We feel highly successful," the director of honors at City College, Robin Villa, said. "For them to be chosen as finalists is extremely prestigious for them and for the college."