Penn's 2026 Thouron Scholars Head to Top UK Universities

Nine Penn Students Awarded 2026 Thouron Scholarships for UK Graduate Studies

Nine University of Pennsylvania affiliates-six fourth-years and three recent graduates-have each received a 2026 Thouron Award to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Each Thouron Scholar receives tuition for as long as two years, as well as travel and living stipends.

Penn's 2026 Thouron Scholars are Tristen Brisky, Charissa Howard, Jean Kim, Griffin Pitt, Andrew Schmidt, and Sriya Teerdhala and recent graduates Jordan Liu, Caroline Magdolen, and Megha Thomas.

Established in 1960 and supported with gifts by the late John Thouron and his wife, Esther du Pont Thouron, the Thouron Award is a graduate exchange program between Penn and UK universities that aims to improve understanding and relations between the two nations.

This year's Thouron Award recipients are:

Tristen Brisky, of Columbus, Wisconsin, is majoring in mathematics and minoring in economics in the College of Arts & Sciences, and is submatriculating for a master's degree in mathematics. His research interests are at the intersection of algebra and number theory, particularly in questions motivated by the Langlands program. He has completed several independent reading projects under the supervision of Penn mathematics faculty and wrote a thesis under the direction of Daniel Krashen. At Penn, he has served as a research peer advisor with the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and has worked as a teaching assistant for introductory calculus. He was named a 2025 Barry Goldwater Scholar and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Brisky plans to pursue a master's degree in pure mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

Charissa Howard, of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, is majoring in English with minors in political science and French in the College. Her research interests focus on how media shapes perceptions of national identity, the subject of her honors thesis. At Penn, she is a Civic Scholar, a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, and a member of the European Studies Institute. She works as a Peer Restorative Practitioner, a research peer advisor with the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, and as engagement and access chair with the Kite and Key Society. Howard has interned at NBC News and The Philadelphia Citizen, and at Penn has worked with Lorene Cary on the #VoteThatJawn initiative as a Bassini Fellow and PIK Professor Dorothy Roberts through the Penn Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program. As a Thouron Scholar, Howard plans to pursue a master's degree in media and communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Jean Kim, from Boston, Massachusetts, is pursuing dual degrees in biochemistry and biophysics and minoring in gender, sexuality, and women's studies in the College through the Vagelos Molecular Life Sciences Program. She conducts research in the laboratory of Marisa Bartolomei, investigating how DNA modifications shape early mammalian development. Her work, recognized by the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Challenge Award and supported by Sigma Xi's Grants-in-Aid of Research, has been presented at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and multiple reproductive science symposia. She is a Future Leaders Scholar through the National Association of Asian American Professionals. On campus, she serves as a residential advisor, learning assistant, reproductive justice advocate, and research peer advisor. As a Thouron Scholar, she plans to pursue an M.Phil. in physiology, development and neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, where she will study the maternal-fetal interface and its implications for pregnancy outcomes and long-term women's health.

Jordan Liu, of Paoli, Pennsylvania, completed his bachelor's degree in biochemistry and health policy with a minor in bioethics from the College in 2022. He is a third-year medical student at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, caring for patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, leading medical ethics education as an elected ethics representative, and collaborating on research with Penn's Health Equity and Policy Lab designing health systems interventions targeting inequities for vulnerable populations, including hepatitis care delivery in rural Senegal. He previously worked for Médecins Sans Frontières in New York City and explored the intersection of foreign policy and global health as an International Fellow at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. At Penn, Liu co-founded the Shelter Health Outreach Program, which received Penn's inaugural Projects for Progress prize and grew from an ethics-driven volunteer model into a sustained nonprofit clinic providing free primary care across Philadelphia, and served as co-editor-in-chief of the Penn Bioethics Journal. As a Thouron Scholar, Liu plans to pursue a master's degree in health policy, planning, and financing at the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Caroline Magdolen, of Queens, New York, completed her bachelor's degrees in earth science and systems engineering through the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research, a dual degree program in the College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, in 2024. At Penn, she researched net-zero emissions policies and carbon capture with Penn's Clean Energy Conversions Lab and wrote for the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. She currently works for Unison Energy, a microgrid developer, and previously worked for Hatch, an engineering consulting firm, and interned with Hanwha Renewables, a solar and battery storage developer. She was also an opinion editor for The Daily Pennsylvanian; served as a college admissions mentor with Matriculate, a nonprofit serving low-income high school student; and is currently a mentor leader with her high school's alumni association. As a Thouron Scholar, Magdolen plans to pursue a master's degree in energy systems at the University of Oxford.

Griffin Pitt, of Charlotte, North Carolina, is majoring in environmental studies and urban studies with a concentration in water management in the College. Her research interests examine how water infrastructure, policy, and finance can be designed to promote climate resilience and social equity. At Penn, she is an Environmental Economics Research Fellow at The Water Center, developing economic frameworks for regional water management. She is a Hayden Scholar, Penn IUR Urban Leadership Fellow, Perry World House Student Fellow, SNF Paideia Fellow, Collegium Fellow, Benjamin Franklin Scholar, 2026 Dean's Scholar, and recipient of the 2025 Lawrence C. Nussdorf Urban Leadership Award. She has been a teaching assistant for Environmental Management: Law & Policy and interned at the World Bank Group, the U.S. Senate, and Deloitte GPS. She also rowed on Penn Women's Rowing team and coaches high school students at Philadelphia City Rowing. As a Thouron Scholar, Pitt plans to pursue a master's degree in water science, policy, and management at the University of Oxford.

Andrew Schmidt, of Manhattan, New York, is majoring in molecular and cell biology in the College and in economics with a concentration in healthcare management and policy in the Wharton School as a student in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Life Sciences & Management Program. His research has focused on the molecular mechanisms of bacteria-phage interactions, working with Nicole Marino and presenting his research at the Conference on Bacteriophages in 2025. He previously conducted research on targeted treatments for pancreatic cancer in Gregory Beatty's laboratory at Penn Medicine and interned in asset development and financing at RTW Investments. At Penn, he is an analyst for the biotech consulting club Locust Bioventures, an editor for the Penn Healthcare Review, and a member of the professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi. As a Thouron Scholar, Schmidt plans to pursue a Ph.D. at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, exploring the molecular basis of gene transcription.

Sriya Teerdhala, of Plano, Texas, is majoring in biology in the College and economics with a concentration in healthcare management and policy in the Wharton School as a student in the Roy and Diana Vagelos Life Sciences & Management Program. Her research interests include fetal gene therapies at the Peranteau Lab at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and gene therapies for Alzheimer's disease at Weill Cornell Medicine's Crystal Lab. She has interned at Boston Consulting Group, working on accelerating genetic therapies to market. At Penn, she advises life sciences startups through the Snider Consulting Program at the Venture Lab; leads the student-run LSM Educational Pipeline Project teaching West Philadelphia high school students about science and business through the Netter Center; volunteers for Penn Medicine's Center for Surgical Health; and co-founded the Philadelphia Women's Hypertension Initiative, a mobile screening program that partners with local nail salons in West Philadelphia, which received the Life Sciences and Management Humanitarian Venture Fund Award. As a Thouron Scholar, she plans to pursue a master's degree in reproductive genetics at the University of Oxford.

Megha Thomas, of Somerset, New Jersey, completed her bachelor's degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in the College in 2024. She has been working at the U.S. Department of the Treasury on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on mitigating national security risks from foreign investment. She previously interned with the Office of the Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and National Security Action. At Penn, she was a Perry World House Student Fellow, wrote her senior thesis on the intersection of science and security in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and worked at a sustainability nonprofit in Argentina through Penn Abroad's Global Research Internship Program. She also served as co-president of Penn for Refugee Empowerment and a study group leader through the Weingarten Center. As a Thouron Scholar, Thomas plans to pursue a master's degree in international political economy.

The Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships serves as Penn's primary information hub and support office for students and alumni applying for major grants and fellowships, including the Thouron Award.