Noah Haibach, a Forest Hills resident, was granted a David L. Boren award for a year’s study in Turkey, beginning June 2012. Boren awards, funded by the National Security Education Program, provide funding to U.S. citizens to receive training in critical languages for “strengthening national security through critical language and culture expertise.” As a democratic Muslim country spanning the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey will play a pivotal role in U.S. political and economic relations in Europe and the Middle East.
Haibach, an honors student and a mathematics and economics major in his senior year at the University of Pittsburgh, has also studied Turkish for two years at Pitt and in Ankara, Turkey, last summer, through a Critical Languages Study scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.
In addition to speaking Turkish, Haibach speaks Spanish and has spent time in Guatemala. He will be required to commit to approximately one year of U.S. federal government service upon completion of his studies in Turkey.