Lower Merion Graduate Named Rhodes Scholar-Elect For 2022

WYNNEWOOD, PA — A Wynnewood man and a Lower Merion High School graduate has earned one of the most prestigious academic honors in the world.

Michael Y. Cheng, Lower Merion High School Class of 2018, has been named Rhodes Scholar-elect for 2022.

Cheng, who won the National Merit Mary E. Beyerle Scholarship in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program while at Lower Merion High School, is now a student at Harvard University.

According to the Rhodes Trust, Cheng is a senior concentrating in history and mathematics, concurrently with a Master’s degree in computer science.

"From an immigrant household, he struggled with English and received special language training until he was 16, yet managed to begin his studies at Drexel University while still in high school," the trust wrote about Cheng. "Michael’s career interests are in energy technology and policy. He has researched perovskite solar panels in Taiwan, urban development policy in Argentina, and the history of energy transitions worldwide."

According to the trust, Cheng taught himself to swim by watching YouTube videos before walking on the Harvard varsity men’s lightweight crew.

Cheng was elected as a junior to Phi Beta Kappa.

He plans to do the MSc in Energy Systems and the MSc in Political Theory Research at Oxford, according to the trust.