Chiquita Palha De Sousa ’08 has been selected from more than 1,000 students nationwide to receive a 2008 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship.
De Sousa, who graduated May 24 with a B.S. in biology and an A.B. in art, will be using the award to attend graduate school at Dartmouth College beginning in the fall. She plans to become a pediatrician.
Scholarships were awarded to 35 seniors and recent graduates planning to attend graduate school for the first time starting in fall 2008. Lafayette is the only exclusively undergraduate liberal arts and engineering college among the institutions whose students were honored.
Awards cover a portion of educational expenses up to $50,000 per year for up to six years of study.
For information on applying for scholarships and fellowships, contact Julia A. Goldberg, associate dean of the College, (610) 330-5521.
De Sousa has taken advantage of the many opportunities Lafayette offers for undergraduate research with faculty mentors.
She conducted EXCEL research with William Miles, professor and head of chemistry; independent study with Ed Kerns, Eugene H. Clapp II ’36 Professor of Art; and an honors thesis with Robert Kurt, associate professor of biology, as her adviser. Her research has been presented at regional and national conferences and published in international academic journals.
She also participated in a seven-week, Lafayette faculty-led program in London comparing U.S. and U.K. health systems, where she interned in the pediatric oncology ward of the University College of London Hospital.