Two New Yorkers Among 32 Latest Rhodes Scholars
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Two New Yorkers are among the latest batch of Rhodes Scholars.
A senior at New York University, Kevin Shenderov, and a senior at Stanford University, Jacob Lemieux, are two of the 32 Americans who will get to study at Oxford University in England thanks to the prestigious prize, the scholarship trust announced yesterday.
Mr. Shenderov, 19, is a biochemistry major whose older brother Eugene also was a Rhodes Scholar. Like his brother, Mr. Shenderov plans to study for a doctorate in immunology at Oxford.
The Shenderov family immigrated from Ukraine in 1990. The two boys suffered from health problems when they were younger due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The experience helped shape their interest in medical research.
Kevin Shenderov has already been involved in conducting cancer research. He helped launch the NYU Global Health Review and also was a key organizer of a recent world health conference that dealt with problems affecting health services in the developing world.
“I want to be able to help create a more effective cancer vaccine,” he said. “I feel that particularly after getting the Rhodes Scholarship, it gives me more of an opportunity to make a difference.”
Eugene Shenderov, an alumnus of Brooklyn College, now 23, praised his brother. “Kevin is an outstanding individual,” Eugene Shenderov said. “Anything I’ve ever done he’s done loads better.”
The president of NYU, John Sexton, said Kevin Shenderov had a “personality that shines.”
“It’s just a delight to have a young talent who is as good a person as Kevin win the Rhodes,” Mr. Sexton said.
Mr. Lemieux, too, is a biochemistry major, the field in which he intends to earn a doctorate at Oxford, according to information from the Rhodes Trust.
He already has published in professional journals.
Mr. Lemieux also has been active in various efforts to improve living conditions of poor communities. He organized a program to give smokeless stoves to villages in India where residents must deal with respiratory illnesses. He also led an effort to create a girls’ school in a Tanzanian village, according to the Rhodes Trust.
