Two chosen as Rhodes scholars

Princeton NJ -- Two Princeton seniors have been awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships, which provide funding for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. They are Katharine Buzicky and Lillian Pierce.

Buzicky, who is from St. Paul, Minn., is an A.B. candidate in the East Asian studies department. A graduate of Highland Park Senior High School, she has learned Japanese and Portuguese in order to conduct original research on the cross-cultural adaptations and expectations of Japanese immigrants to Brazil who were later invited back to Japan. Buzicky is a member of the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned the ROTC Distinguished Leadership Award in 2000. Buzicky plans to study modern history at Oxford.

Pierce, an A.B. candidate in mathematics from Fallbrook, Calif., has won the Freshman First Honor Prize and the Class of 1939 Princeton Scholar Award, and she twice received the President's Award for Academic Achievement. This past year, she also was awarded a Barry Goldwater Scholarship. An accomplished violinist who was home-schooled, Pierce serves as co-concertmaster and co-president of the Princeton University Orchestra. At Oxford, Pierce plans to study mathematics.

Pierce also won a Marshall Scholarship, but turned it down to accept the Rhodes. She chose the Rhodes because the Marshall program has alternates, so her scholarship will go to another student.

Thirty-two American men and women were chosen as Rhodes Scholars from 925 applicants in a nationwide competition. Recipients were chosen on the basis of high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor. The awards were created in 1902 by British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes.