The board of directors of the merit-based graduate program for immigrants and children of immigrants recently announced its scholarship recipients for this year.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, which since 1998 has benefited 775 students from 103 countries in their pursuit of education in the United States, selected its last 30 fellows from a list of nearly 2,000 applicants.

Daisy Soros, co-founder of the program, noted:

My and Paul’s experiences as immigrants informed our desire to give back by investing in the accomplishments of New Americans.

About the Fellowships 

Chosen for their achievements and their potential to make significant contributions to the United States in all fields of study, each of the recipients will receive up to $90,000 in funding to support their graduate studies at institutions such as Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, and Yale University.

Reaching with this the 26th edition of the initiative, more than $80 million in funds have been allocated to the beneficiaries, who have studied a variety of fields, from medicine and the arts, to law and business.

“It has been a joy to see how our Fellows leverage their education over the years to make a deep impact across communities. I’m delighted to welcome this year’s Fellowship class. As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of Paul’s passing, it is beautiful to see how his legacy lives on through every Fellow,” added Soros. 

IT’S ANNOUNCEMENT DAY

We're proud to announce the 2023 #PDSoros Fellows!

From nearly 2,000 applicants, these 30 graduate school students are immigrants or children of immigrants who will each receive up to $90,000 in funding. Meet the Fellows here https://t.co/9EONlt8bl1 pic.twitter.com/lPBUSTJwt1

— PD Soros Fellowships (@PDSoros) April 25, 2023

The new class of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows features participants from Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Vietnam.

Areas of interest to them include law, medicine, neuroscience, screenwriting, physics, Chicano and Central American studies, painting, gender and women's sexuality studies, mechanical engineering, genetics, and more.

The alumni network includes notable personalities:

• Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General
• Julissa Reynoso, United States Ambassador to Spain and Andorra
• Damian Williams, the first black U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York
• Paola Prestini, who was named by NPR as one of the ‘100 Greatest Songwriters in the World’

Application 2024 Now Open

The application for the 2024-25 academic year is now open to applicants aged 30 and under and is due in October 2023.

The selection criteria focus on achievements that display creativity, originality, and initiative and are open to college seniors, students applying to graduate school, and those in the early stages of graduate school.

In addition, all applicants must be planning to enroll full-time in an accredited graduate program in the U.S. in the 2024-25 academic year.

“Immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have and continue to make our nation stronger. The diverse perspectives and approaches that each Fellow this year, and the many who have come before them, brings to their fields and our society is remarkable and inspiring,” said Craig Harwood, fellowship director. 

Newly eligible Americans include green card holders, naturalized citizens, recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), foreign-born individuals who graduated from high school and college in the United States, and the children of two immigrants born in the United States.

Applicants can find all eligibility requirements here.