April 2021
Cooke Scholar Alumni Buzz
Hello Cooke Scholars and Alums!
We hope that this message finds you and your family well - especially as we are in the midst of a beautiful spring with summer quickly approaching! Here’s an update on what’s going on at the Foundation and some of the great things your fellow Cooke Scholars have done recently. Alums, please reach out and send us your updates so we can feature you and your work! Just send us an email at alumni@jkcf.org.
Foundation Buzz
“Cooke Lifer”: A Cooke Scholar’s Journey from 7th Grade Through Grad School
This month, Sharmen Hettipola, one of our Alumni Engagement Council members, writes about her personal journey for the CookeAlumni.org Blog. In this alumni spotlight, Sharmen writes about her background as a child of immigrant parents from Sri Lanka and how the Foundation has been a part of her life since the 7th grade. Click here to learn more about Sharmen’s story.
Alumni: Volunteer at Scholars Weekend 2021
Recently, alums received an invitation on how they can engage in this year’s Scholars Weekend, a virtual experience which will be held August 5-7, 2021. As per tradition, alumni-led programming is some of the most meaningful and impactful content of this annual event. There are many ways to contribute, even if you are not available during the live dates and times. Learn more about ways you can get involved and more information here.
April Alumni Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Consulting 101
On Thursday, April 29th, Cooke Scholar Alums Adhitya Jayasinghe, Amy Dam, and Fatoumata Diarra joined fellow alum and moderator Stephani Calderon for an informative panel discussion about the exciting and challenging field of consulting. They talked about the interesting and varied types of work they do, how they knew it was the right career fit for them, and how you can best position yourself to get a job as a consultant. You can watch the video of the event below.
May Alumni Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Mental Health & Wellness
Join us in late May as the Alumni Engagement Council hosts a discussion with a panel of alums on Mental Health & Wellness. As part of our series to explore different career pathways, we will discuss different ways to get into this important work, and how Cooke Scholar Alums are expanding access to and supporting mental health & well-being services in their communities. A formal invitation will be sent in the coming weeks, but you can register for the event right now here, we look forward to seeing you there!
Alumni Buzz
Micon Garvilles
2013 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Rochester Institute of Technology; 2019 Cooke International Oxford Scholar, University of Oxford
Micon recently started her PhD program (DPhil) in Molecular and Cellular Medicine after completing a master’s in Pharmacology at the University of Oxford this past year. Her research focuses on elucidating the mechanism of an ion channel in immune and stromal cells. In collaboration with several groups and a biotech company, this project aims to screen for a first-class inhibitor that can target bone and joint damage underlying the pathology of osteoarthritis, where currently no cure exists. Micon’s advice to students is to not be afraid to try something new and fail many times – it’s only through failing that you will be able to ask the right questions to eventually succeed.
Amie Croteau
2018 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Penn State University
Amie started working remotely at Lockheed Martin and has since been promoted from a Software Engineer Associate to an Autonomous/Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Engineer. In this role, she gets to work with multiple teams on building tools to manage data for the company and work on software development to construct tools managing AI/ML processes and visualizations for analysis. Amie is an innovative developer with the desire to develop software with the user in mind and looks to bring back that user-centric focus in software development.
Dr. Omar Sultan Haque
2004 Graduate Scholar, Harvard University
The Harvard Divinity School (HDS) Alumni/Alumnae Council recognized Dr. Haque with a Peter J. Gomes Distinguished Alumni Honor. This recognition celebrates HDS’ graduates whose excellence in life, work, and service pays homage to the mission and values of the school, and the legacy of the Rev. Peter Gomes. This honor also is traditionally given to those who have shown profound courage and compassion in their personal and professional lives, and dedication to constancy of service in a volatile world. Dr. Haque is a physician, social scientist, and philosopher who studies questions ranging across global health, anthropology, religion, social psychology, bioethics, and law. At Harvard Medical School, Dr. Haque is a faculty member in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and the Program in Psychiatry and the Law. You can learn more about Dr. Haque here.
Katie Robinson
2005 Young Scholar; 2010 College Scholar, Piedmont College; 2014 Graduate Scholar, New York University
Katie is wrapping up the third year of her PhD in psychology at the University of Georgia with a focus on using creative interventions to support children who have experienced trauma. She is also interested and passionate about mental health, wellness, and self-care. Katie will be heading off to her residency year this summer to work at the Children's Hospital of Richmond in Virginia. Her journey to becoming a psychologist is a testimony that career paths can take different turns along the way - Katie started as a theatre major, became a creative arts therapist, and now almost a psychologist!
Carlos Biaou
2012 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, University of Maryland; 2014 Graduate Scholar, University of California at Berkeley
Carlos currently works as an R&D Metrology Engineer at GAF Energy in clean energy to build a more sustainable and equitable future. This past year, Carlos finished his PhD in Applied Science and Technology studying Perovskite solar cells, a next generation solar technology. While in graduate school, he established and ran, with other students, the JUAMI Open Computing Facility, a server with a repository of software, both licensed and open-sourced, to enable African researchers to access state-of-the-art design and analysis tools on a virtual machine with high processing power. If any scholars know budding researchers on the continent who would be interested in using the facility, they should visit this link for more details.