May 17, 2023

Rock stars of 2023

From the College’s second Truman Scholar to a researcher focused on making AI more ethical, Lafayette’s Class of 2023 seriously rocks

Celebrate Lafayette College’s Class of 2023 with a look back at just some of our newsroom coverage of this incredible class from over the last four years.

Stellar scholars

Fatimata Cham smiles

Fatimata Cham '23

The 2023 Pepper Prize winner became the second Lafayette student to ever receive a Truman Scholarship, the nation’s most prestigious award for public service.
Fatimata was also featured on the Apple TV+ show Dear…, telling Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai how she has inspired her to make change in her own community.

Samantha Ganser ’23

Biochemistry major Samantha received the Goldwater Scholarship.

Camille Carthy ’23

Neuroscience major Camille received the Goldwater Scholarship.

Mackenzi Berner ’23 and Maria Bossert ’23

Mackenzi and Maria have each earned Fulbright grants.

Rachel Hurley ’23

Rachel has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Jed Alterman ’23, Meg Dodge ’23, and Danielle Lemisch ’23

This Lafayette engineering trio won Tau Beta Pi scholarships.

Changing the world

Harshil Bhavsar ’23

Harshil dreams of not only treating patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but also working to find cures through impactful scientific research.

Olivia Najjar ’23

Research from Olivia aims to demonstrate the pervasiveness of plastics and draw attention to just how much plastic surrounds us daily, even in the most natural of settings.

Monique Brown ’23

Alongside Jada Peters ’24, Monique championed sisterhood through her work as co-president of NIA.

Nadia Manasfi '23

Through her research, Nadia seeks to understand everyday health experiences of trans individuals and generate resolutions for change.

Passionate researchers

Manaka Gomi ’23

Pianist-mechanical engineer Manaka is designing a keyboard that’s accessible to musicians with smaller hands.

Swati Pandey ’23

Swati worked alongside Prof. Daniel Strömbom to mathematically model the life cycle of the spotted lanternfly and analyze the effectiveness of proposed mitigation methods.

Ali Sultan Sikandar ’23

Research from Ali is focused on how to make artificial intelligence (AI) more ethical.

Alexa Gould ’23

Alongside Prof. Christian López, Alexa worked on an innovative way to promote physical activity by developing a virtual reality exergame.

Changing the game

Malik Hamm '23

Malik, Lafayette's career sacks leader and a five-time All-Patriot League selection, signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens.