Washington, DC (KROC AM News) -  A college student from Rochester who came to the U.S. from a refugee camp has been selected for a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.

The Rhodes Trust says 32 American college students were selected to further their studies at the University of Oxford in England. Among them will be Ahmed M. Ahmed of Rochester, who is a senior at Cornell, where he is majoring in biology.

Here is the information from the Rhodes Trust:

“His research in biochemistry has focused on the development of new synthetic strategies for producing polymers. He has also performed laboratory work on the oncogenesis of the Epstein-Barr virus and a study of brain plasticity at the University of Pennsylvania. Ahmed serves as a student advisor in biology and a teaching assistant in biochemistry. In addition to tutoring fellow students in organic and general chemistry, he mentors disadvantaged African American students at Cornell, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, and served with Cornell’s Emergency Management Services. Ahmed is a first-generation Somali immigrant.
He will pursue a master’s degree in research in Organic and Medical Chemistry at Oxford.”

Ahmed will begin classes at Oxford next fall.

Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the Will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer, and are provided in partnership with the Second Century Founder, John McCall MacBain and other generous benefactors. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.

The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England. The total value of the Scholarship averages approximately $68,000 per year, and up to as much as approximately $250,000 for Scholars who remain at Oxford for four years in certain departments.

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