CMU Senior Named a Gaither Junior Fellow
By Heidi Opdyke
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Carnegie Mellon University senior Jacob Feldgoise's work on local, state and national policy issues earned him a place as one of 13 James C. Gaither Junior Fellows at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. 2021-2022.
Feldgoise will graduate in May with majors in policy and management within the Department of Social and Decision Sciences; and science, technology and public policy from the Department of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP). He will also receive a minor in Chinese studies.
Richelle Bernazzoli, associate director of the Undergraduate Research Office (URO), said Feldgoise is the first CMU student to be awarded the fellowship.
"Jacob is exceptionally driven, and a strikingly independent thinker," said Bernazzoli. "He has a seemingly endless drive to excel and to contribute to society in meaningful ways."
Notable Gaither Junior Fellow alumni include George Stephanopoulos of ABC News and Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"Programs like the Gaither Junior Fellows seek out individuals who are true leaders in their scholarly and professional areas, with great potential to shift their fields in the course of their careers," Bernazzoli said. "It's no surprise that Jacob has received multiple nationally and internationally competitive awards."
Feldgoise was previously awarded the Lena Foo Study Abroad Scholarship from CMU's Department of Modern Languages and a David L. Boren Scholarship in 2019 to spend a summer at Shanghai International Studies University through CMU's summer study abroad program. He was selected for the Yenching Scholars program, which fully funds a master's degree in China studies at Peking University, but declined in order to be a Gaither Junior Fellow.
He said that working with CMU's Fellowships and Scholarships Office (FSO) within the URO has been key to his CMU experience.
"The URO, and in particular the FSO, has an incredible group of people on staff," Feldgoise said. "Richelle Bernazzoli is a great thinker and an incredibly smart person to have learned from in putting together these applications. The office has been a constant source of support — helping me seek out opportunities that wouldn't have otherwise been possible."