University of Chicago fourth-year student Emily Shi and Maxime Kpangbai, AB‘20, have been selected as Schwarzman Scholars and will travel to China to complete a one-year master’s program in global affairs at Schwarzman College, part of Tsinghua University in Beijing, later this year. Schwarzman Scholars is a program designed to create a community of leaders with broad understanding of China’s changing role in the world.
Emily Shi
Emily Shi, a native of Westchester, N.Y., used to travel to China to visit her grandparents during childhood. Through the Schwarzman Scholars program, she will return to a place that she hasn’t visited in almost a decade.
“Gaining an intimate understanding of the culture and-day-to-day life will be something that I value on a personal level,” she said. “I also hope that the program allows me to build a much stronger understanding of Chinese culture, which I think is very important in pursuing my career goals.”
Shi is a biological sciences and public policy double major, focusing on health and medicine from a global perspective, and plans to apply for medical school once the Schwarzman program ends. Her time inside Dr. Marsha Rosner’s laboratory, studying triple negative breast cancer, gave her hands-on research experiences and the opportunity to develop unique viewpoints on the sciences.
“My experience taught me the value of collaborating within and across disciplines,” she said, specifically about her work studying triple negative breast cancer. “Despite STEM research being very technical, studying this disease naturally drives me to think about how my work has and will interface with culture and policy.”
Learning in partnership with other Schwarzman Scholars will allow her to get the most out of the unique opportunity presented to her.
“I hope that interacting with scholars from such diverse backgrounds will drive me to develop more nuanced and innovative ideas of how to contribute to global health equity,” she said. “How people are able to pursue one technical area of expertise while simultaneously applying a broader global perspective is one lesson I hope to learn throughout this process.”
As she heads into this new experience, Shi knows that UChicago has given her the tools to make the most of this opportunity.
“My education at the University has given me the chance to explore multiple fields beyond the surface level which have all affected my understanding of global health. I’m hoping that Schwarzman Scholars can be a way for me to see what kind of multidisciplinary opportunities are possible throughout my future career.”
Maxime Kpangbai
Like Shi, Maxime Kpangbai has a unique tie to China. She grew up in Beijing, and while she left when she was quite young, she still has family in the region.
“Having grown up in China, being with my Schwarzman Cohort and re-experiencing the country through the eyes of those who are there for the first time will be quite unique,” she said when asked about being given the chance to return. “I’m quite excited to just explore different parts of the country as well. I just want to be immersed in the culture and spend time traveling and learning the different dialects.”
Kpangbai graduated from UChicago with a degree in economics and stayed in the city to work for Boston Consulting Group before exploring a one-year secondment with the UN Global Compact. She believes both her educational and career paths have prepared her for the immersive experience.
“I would say that the biggest thing that the College taught me was how to think critically. My liberal arts education really prepared me to put myself into situations to think critically when I entered the consulting industry without any direct experience in it.”
During her time at UChicago, Kpangbai was involved with Women in Business and volunteered at the United African Organization. Being able to see how China is approaching development in Africa drew her to Schwarzman Scholars.
“There are opportunities to visit different organizations that are working on Africa’s development in China. So I’m really excited to start building a network on the ground and dive into how the country is thinking about the continent and their mutual futures.”
Schwarzman Scholars focus on several different areas during the program with one of them centering on personalized mentorships. Since her future career goals center on Africa, Kpangbai sees building relationships with mentors and other Scholars as crucial.
“I’m already in a group chat with all the Scholars and through that I’ve met a few who are already doing work that I am interested in on the African continent. Brainstorming ways we can work together before the experience has even begun has been exciting,” she said. “Ultimately, it’s a leadership program. It will be a really interesting year developing skills that I want to employ as a leader in the field.”
Both Shi and Kpangbai received interview support from the College Center for Research and Fellowships (CCRF) which supports College students and alums applying for nationally competitive fellowships.
—This story originally appeared on the UChicago College website.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
