Los Altos Woman, Stanford Student Selected As Rhodes Scholars

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – PHOTOS from left: Los Altos native Alexis Doyle of University of Notre Dame; Stanford University student Meghan Shea.

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A Los Altos woman who is a student at the Notre Dame University and a Stanford University senior from Pennsylvania were selected as two of 32 students this year to study at Oxford University starting in October as part of the Rhodes Scholar Class of 2017, college officials said Sunday.

Alexis Doyle is a senior at Notre Dame where she is a biological sciences major and international peace studies minor.

"I am deeply grateful for everyone who has supported my learning and personal growth over the past four years at Notre Dame," Doyle said in a statement.

Following her studies at Oxford, Doyle will study at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Last year Doyle spent a semester studying in Puebla, Mexico, where she had an internship at a hospital.
Earlier in 2015, Doyle volunteered at a medical clinic in Guatemala.

Doyle said receiving the scholarship is a "huge honor" and she plans to use the opportunity to better prepare herself to be an "advocate for health."

Meghan Shea, who is from West Chester, Pa., is majoring in environmental systems engineering at Stanford and, according to the Rhodes Trust announcement, is “interested in biological oceanography, with a focus on environmental DNA and microbial source tracking.”

At Oxford, Shea will pursue a master’s degree in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance beginning in October. She hopes to eventually earn a doctorate in biological/chemical oceanography and pursue a career in research.

“It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m a recipient of this incredible scholarship,” said Shea, “but I am so grateful for my extraordinary system of family, friends, teachers and mentors at Stanford and beyond who helped make this opportunity possible.”

At Stanford, Shea is a member of Cardinal Calypso, the university’s steel pan drumming group. She also has been active with Students for a Sustainable Stanford and helped plan the 2016 Stephen H. Schneider Memorial Lecture.

The Rhodes Scholarships, considered one of the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship awards in the world, provide all expenses for two or three years of study at England’s University of Oxford. Rhodes Scholars are chosen for their scholarly achievements, character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their leadership potential.

Rhodes Scholars are chosen in a two-stage process. First, applicants must be endorsed by their college or university. This year approximately 2,500 students sought their institution’s endorsement; 882 were endorsed by 311 different colleges and universities, according to the Rhodes Trust press release.

Applicants are chosen on the basis of academic excellence, great personal energy, ambition for impact, an ability to work with others to achieve one’s goals, a commitment to make a strong difference for good in the world, a concern for the welfare of others, an awareness of inequities and the promise for leadership.

The 32 Rhodes Scholars chosen from the United States will join an international group of Scholars chosen from 18 other jurisdictions around the world.

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--Bay City News, Stanford News contributed to this report/Images via Courtesy of University of Notre Dame, Stanford News courtesy of Meghan Shea