Rising to Your Highest Potential
National fellowships seek out the game-changers, the boundary-pushers, the students who see the world differently. Whether you’re revolutionizing science, reimagining technology, championing the humanities, or transforming public service, these elite programs fuel your journey from ambitious student to influential leader.
National fellowships open doors you didn’t know existed. They connect you with mentors who challenge your thinking, resources that fuel your ambitions, and a community of changemakers who share your drive to make waves in your field. This is where potential meets purpose—and careers take flight.
Dive Into Cutting-Edge Research
Ready to dive into groundbreaking research? NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) put you at the forefront of discovery across science, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and social sciences. For 8-10 transformative weeks each summer, you’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with leading researchers, tackle real-world problems, and gain the hands-on experience that sets you apart.
This isn’t just observing—it’s doing. You’ll contribute to cutting-edge projects, attend exclusive seminars, and build connections with mentors and peers who share your passion for innovation. Highly competitive and incredibly rewarding, REUs are where curious students become confident researchers, opening doors to top graduate programs and launching careers that change the world.
Meet Blue Hose Changing the World
From Fulbright scholars to Stanford researchers to Princeton professors, these remarkable PC students and alumni embody our commitment to service, innovation, and transformational leadership.
Samantha Hauff ’25
Samantha Hauff ’25 earned a highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Grant to teach English in Bulgaria, becoming the first Presbyterian College student in more than a decade to receive the distinguished honor.
Hauff credits PC professors Dr. Julie Meadows, Dr. Philip Perdue, Dr. Jacklyn Sumner, and Dr. Stephan Wiecki for mentoring her through the Fulbright process and supporting her studies in Slavic history and culture. Inspired by stories of her Ukrainian heritage, she deepened her interests through undergraduate research on “Chervona Kalyna,” a folk song tied to resistance and cultural identity.
A member of PC’s inaugural NCAA Division I Women’s Wrestling Team, Hauff also earned a spot on Team USA in beach wrestling after winning a national championship in 2023. Training with a Bulgarian coach further sparked her interest in Slavic cultures and global education.
Following her Fulbright year, Hauff plans to pursue graduate studies in rhetoric or international relations, with aspirations to teach at the university level or work in foreign diplomacy.
Ricardo Hernandez ’20
Looking back on his four years as a student at Presbyterian College, Ricardo Hernandez ‘20 says that PC helped him grow to limits that he never could have imagined.
Hernandez was the first computational biology student at Presbyterian College to pursue—and ultimately achieve—his Ph.D. As an undergrad, he completed SCINBRE research that studied the fractal properties of the genome as a novel way to identify how similar, at the DNA level, different organisms are.
“DNA has fractal properties, which means that there is a constant presence of repeating patterns and self-similarity,” says Hernandez “Therefore, by elucidating these patterns, we could ask the question: how similar are the patterns from these different organisms?”
Hernandez says that his undergraduate research benefited him greatly as his career unfolded. He went on to achieve his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina and is currently a PRISM Baker Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University researching Alzheimer’s disease, co-mentored by Professor Chaitan Khosla and Michael Greicius, M.D.
“Thanks to [my undergraduate] research, I learned how to code and ‘speak’ multiple coding languages. This research was on a very complex topic in an area outside my expertise, such as physics. This was very useful during my Ph.D. where I was able to find ways to apply my knowledge and skills to a wide range of different topics.”
Lacy Feigh ’12
After she graduated from PC, Dr. Lacy Feigh ’12 served in Yirgalem, Ethiopia, as an English education volunteer for the Peace Corps before earning a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in Amman, Jordan. She says these experiences were inspired by her PC history professors, who encouraged her to study abroad in China and then Egypt.
Now, Feigh teaches at Princeton University, where she is a lecturer and a postdoctoral fellow. She specializes in the history of modern Ethiopia. Feigh earned her Ph.D. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialized in themes of race, labor, and migration in modern Africa and the Middle East. At the University of Pennsylvania, Feigh’s work was supported by Fulbright and the Social Science Research Council’s International Dissertation Research Fellowship. She also received a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Penn’s Middle East Studies Center.
Kennedy Wright ’23
Kennedy Wright ’23 was named a finalist for the 2022 Truman Scholarship, one of the country’s most prestigious national fellowships. Wright, a political science major while at PC, was one of only 189 finalists nationwide and one of only two in South Carolina to be named a finalist.
Wright served on PC’s Moving Forward Together committee in 2020 to address systemic racism. She said serving on the committee was one of her proudest accomplishments at PC. The Greenville, S.C., native also served as student body president, as secretary-treasurer and president of PC’s Multicultural Student Union, and as an orientation leader.
Dr. Erin McAdams, Provost and professor of political science, said Wright demonstrates all of the traits – academic success, leadership, and dedication to public service – the Truman Foundation looks for in a scholarship candidate.
Katherine Bryant ’07
Presbyterian College alumna Katherine Bryant, class of 2007, has been awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Research, enabling her to study in Rabat, Morocco, this fall. As part of a 20-member U.S. cohort, Bryant will research how Moroccan civil institutions support youth civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, and employability. Her ethnographic fieldwork will involve interviews and community observations to understand youth engagement within Moroccan society. Bryant, a history and biology double-major with additional graduate degrees, credits PC for instilling the interdisciplinary approach and research skills that prepared her for this opportunity. She hopes her research will inform her teaching and foster cross-cultural partnerships, exemplifying the liberal arts commitment to lifelong learning and purposeful living.
