Two Penn Staters named finalists for Rhodes Scholarship

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Two Penn Staters were named finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most sought-after international scholarships in the world. Scholars will be named in the coming weeks. 

Brandon Bixler, of East Earl, is a Penn State senior majoring in agricultural and extension education, with a minor in international agriculture in the College of Agricultural Sciences. He is also a Schreyer Scholar and current enrollee of the Penn State Presidential Leadership Academy. 

Luisina Kemanian-Leites, of State College, is a Penn State alumna who graduated in May 2023 with bachelor's degrees in international politics and Latin American studies, College of the Liberal Arts; and completed minors in Arabic, Middle East studies and Spanish. She is also a Schreyer Scholar and Paterno Fellow. She is currently a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Montería, Colombia. 

The Rhodes Scholarship funds two years of graduate studies for its scholars at the University of Oxford, U.K. Scholars also participate in retreats, workshops and conferences and discussions, as well as social events at Rhodes House in central Oxford. 

Bixler and Kemanian-Leites will complete one final interview during the weekend of Nov. 11 in New York, where they will learn if they are selected as a Rhodes Scholar. The application and preparation process was facilitated by Penn State Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring with significant support from faculty and staff, as well as alumni that comprised this year’s U.K. committee. 

Brandon Bixler 

Bixler, a first-generation college student, said he was “truly humbled and sincerely grateful” to have been named a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. 

“Through my application, I aimed to communicate the importance of agriculture and my sincere belief that agricultural development can transform livelihoods and take strides to combat the challenges of poverty and hunger around the world,” he said. “My hope is that being named as a finalist may help to elevate this cause and encourage others to consider the necessity of agriculture to addressing the global challenges we face.” 

Through an internship with the Global Teach Ag Network, Bixler traveled to Nepal in 2022 for an undergraduate research project focused on the delivery of science education. He said he was grateful of the support and mentorship of College of Agricultural Sciences faculty Daniel Foster, associate professor and extension educator; and Melanie Miller Foster, associate teaching professor of international agriculture; as well as Laura Rice, teaching assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and formerly of Penn State.  

The three, he said, have been “instrumental in supporting my growth as a researcher and guiding me through the process of writing a thesis, presenting at conferences and publishing a journal article.”  

Bixler presented his research at the Association of International Agricultural and Extension Education in Guelph, Canad, and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

If selected as a Rhodes Scholar, Bixler said he plans to pursue a master of philosophy in developmental studies at the University of Oxford. 

“Using my background and undergraduate training in agricultural education, I hope to use my career to integrate education and sound development practices to design and lead education and training programs,” Bixler said. “Alongside economic supports, I believe these programs can empower youth and smallholder farmers in agricultural communities to greater levels of food security and self-sustainability.” 

He added that he also has an affinity for teaching and was first inspired to pursue a career in agriculture because of his high school agriculture teacher, Katie Ranck, Garden Spot High School, Lancaster County. 

In addition to undergraduate research, Bixler has served as the College of Agricultural Sciences’ representative and deputy chief of staff with the University Park Undergraduate Association, the co-chair of the University Faculty Senate Student Caucus, president of the Coaly Society and is a member of the Ag Advocate Team, the Collegiate Farm Bureau, the Penn State FFA Alumni and Supporters chapter and is a Savings Group intern with HOPE International.  

“The fellowships application process has forced me to dream big while also thinking critically about what my future could look like and how graduate education could be a part of this picture,” he said. “I have long had a tendency to avoid putting my goals down on paper and struggle to be specific with my goals for the future. This process has challenged me to identify a potential plan for my future while outlining how I could reasonably achieve these goals.” 

Luisina Kemanian-Leites 

Kemanian-Leites said she was excited to learn that she was selected as a finalist.  

“When I applied to the Rhodes Scholarship, I did not imagine myself being named a finalist as it is such a competitive program,” Kemanian-Leites said. “Earning the Rhodes would mean a lot as I would have an incredible opportunity to conduct research with top experts in the field of conflict and refugee studies. My studies would focus on genocides, specifically how victims are impacted, how they can be protected and, most critically, how genocides can be halted.”  

She explained that the use of genocidal tactics during conflict is becoming more common, with civilian populations being targeted and harm rarely coming to economic and military interests of foreign powers, making intervention unlikely. A Rhodes Scholarship would allow her to be part of a team working to challenge indifference in the face of genocide.  

“This research is deeply personal for me, as my paternal family survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915,” she said. She also noted more recent ethnically motivated attacks in multiple countries have received little to no media coverage, aid nor attention, indicating international indifference, including the ongoing crisis among ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Her thesis work, under Roseanne McManus, associate professor of political science and international affairs in the College of the Liberal Arts, titled “A Solution to the ‘Problem from Hell’?: Quantifying the Effects of International Military Interventions During Mass Killings and Genocides,” earned her three awards from the University Libraries, Paterno Fellows Program and the Penn State Undergraduate Research Exhibition. 

From January 2020 through December 2021, Kemanian-Leites was the head research assistant and Rock Ethics Institute research fellow in the Children, Media, and Conflict Zones Lab under Yael Warshel, assistant professor and research associate in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. She was a research assistant during summer 2021 for Matt Golder, professor of political science in the College of the Liberal Arts, which included collecting and coding data on elections globally to update the Democratic Electoral System Dataset. Also in 2021, she completed an internship with the Baltimore City Council after being named a Nevins Fellow at the Penn State McCourtney Institute for Democracy. In May 2021, she spent time teaching a curriculum on social justice in healthcare at public schools in Washington. D.C. as a DC Social Justice Fellow.   

Kemanian-Leites has also served on the executive boards of the Minorities in the College of the Liberal Arts, which she co-founded; Latino Caucus; and the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Council. In spring 2022, she studied abroad in Amman, Jordan, and in Santiago, Chile, in fall 2022. During her study abroad programs, she interned with American Friends Service Committee and Escuela Amor de Dios, respectively.    

“Applying to programs like the Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright is a challenging but rewarding experience,” she said. “It is not often you are forced to think about what you are truly interested in and what you wish for your impact on the world to be. These applications encourage you to reflect on everything you have done and what path you want to take moving forward, which is invaluable.” 

Applying for the Rhodes Scholarship 

Undergraduate students first apply to Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring (URFM) in the spring of their senior year or if they are a recent alumnus to compete for University nomination. Selected nominees then work with URFM and a Penn State committee to prepare their applications for the national competition. 

Bixler and Kemanian-Leites worked closely with URFM staff, including Tineka Lebrun, URFM director; and Natalie Bennie, graduate assistant and former Rhodes Scholarship finalist; and members of the U.K. Committee: Jacob Bourjaily, associate professor of physics, Eberly College of Science; Song Tan, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Molecular Biology, Eberly College of Science; Nick Hartman, startup solutions architecture leader at Amazon Web Services; and Benjamin Randolph, Penn State alumnus and former URFM graduate assistant. 

“We are incredibly proud of our finalists and all of the hard work they put in with our staff and supporters at Penn State and beyond,” Lebrun said. “This is a challenging but rewarding process for applicants, and it takes a village to help them prepare.” 

Previous Penn State Rhodes Scholars include Tess Thompson, class of 1997, English; and Zachary Battles, class of 2001, mathematics and computer science. There have been two other finalists in recent years: Rebecca Funk, class of 2007, and Laura Guay in 2021. 

URFM will offer events throughout the spring semester for those interested in applying to the Rhodes Scholarship and other competitive fellowship opportunities that allow students to study around the world.   

URFM is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.