Three NYU Shanghai students have been named members of the newest class of Schwarzman Scholars, receiving full fellowships to pursue a Master’s degree in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University’s Schwarzman College. Harry Zixin Wang ’20(王子昕), Frank Jiaqiao Xiang ’20 (向家乔), and Owen Junan Zhang ’20 (张珺安) are among 145 scholars selected from over 4,700 applicants around the world and are the first Chinese citizen students to be selected from NYU Shanghai. Three Schwarzman Scholars awards is the highest number granted to NYU Shanghai students in a single academic year, doubling the total number of recipients to six among the school’s four graduating classes to date.
Three other students from NYU portal campuses – Alioune Fall ’17 of NYU Abu Dhabi, Michael DeLuca ’17 of NYU New York’s College of Arts and Sciences, and Anqi Xu ’20 of NYU Stern School of Business – have also been named members of Schwarzman Scholars’ Class of 2021.
“The Schwarzman Scholars program recruits some of the world’s most promising students to learn about leadership and China’s expanding role in the world. It’s terrific that the Schwarzman Scholars program has invited three NYU Shanghai students to join next year’s class,” said Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Lehman. “They will have an outstanding opportunity to build on their experience at NYU Shanghai, where they were able to develop powerful skills living and studying in a multicultural community.”
Schwarzman Scholars was inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship and is designed to prepare future global leaders to meet the geopolitical challenges of the 21st century, with a focus on China and its relationship with countries around the world. Founded by Blackstone Group Chairman and CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman, Schwarzman Scholars supports nearly 200 scholars annually from the U.S., China and around the world. Scholars chosen for this highly selective program have demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and the potential to bridge cultural and political differences.
In addition to drawing students from 41 countries, Schwarzman Scholars also draws students from a variety of life paths. Although many Scholars are currently completing their undergraduate studies, others have already received advanced degrees or have spent several years working for international organizations or enterprises.
“The peers that I get to study with and live with at Schwarzman College are really the most important part of the learning experience there,” said Frank Xiang. “Learning doesn’t just happen inside the classroom – it can happen just by talking to other Scholars, getting to know each other’s life stories and becoming part of each other’s journeys.”
Xiang, a Business and Finance major from Anhui Province, has also been named a fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogues on Global Issues and one of China Hands Magazine’s 25 Under 25: Leaders in US-China Relations. He served as the founding president of TEDx NYU Shanghai club and has studied abroad in 12 countries through Semester at Sea, a program at Tel Aviv University, and NYU campuses in Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C. Xiang hopes to pursue a career in international organizations where he can use his experience from NYU Shanghai and Schwarzman to share Chinese stories on the global stage.
Harry Wang, an Economics and Data Science double major from Sichuan Province, is a current member of the Forum on American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford University (FACES) and a former delegate to the World Bank Youth Summit. He is also a co-founder of NYU Shanghai’s Summer Service Learning Program, which trains NYU Shanghai to design and deliver summer camp programming to under-resourced rural students in southwestern China. Wang says these experiences have motivated to research the development of economics in Ghana and rural China.
“Studying China from a global perspective is very different from studying this country from a local perspective or a completely foreign perspective, and Schwarzman College will let me continue to study China with this comparative mindset, like I have been able to do at NYU Shanghai,” said Wang.
“Schwarzman also provides a unique platform for Scholars to connect with top policymakers and scholars both inside and outside China. I think this will help me tell a story about China’s development that the international community can better understand.”
Owen Zhang, a Social Sciences major from Shanghai, is an alum of the Forum on American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford University (FACES) and the current president of NYU Shanghai’s Spectrum Research Journal. He is also the founding Secretary-General of NYU Shanghai’s inaugural Model United Nations Conference. Zhang’s research into transnational media and political institutions in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C. led him to aspire to a career in media and communications.
“Those experiences affirmed my belief that the world shaped by media ought not to be a space of sameness, nor that of divisive narratives,” said Zhang. “Schwarzman College’s interdisciplinary curriculum and forum for diverse opinions will allow me to gain deeper insight into the changing contours of global communication amid China’s global emergence.”
In addition to being the first Chinese citizens from NYU Shanghai to be chosen for the Schwarzman Scholarship, all three are also alumni of NYU Washington, D.C.’s Global Leadership Program, where students pursue an internship at an NGO or government agency as part of their study away coursework. Wang worked for entrepreneurship education non-profit group BUILD, Xiang worked at global policy think tank the Wilson Center, and Zhang worked as a press intern in the U.S. Congress.
“NYU Shanghai is the reason that I was admitted to Schwarzman College, because NYU Shanghai gave me so many opportunities that I might not have had at any other school,” said Wang.
“We are immensely proud of these three scholars, who have made the most of their years at NYU Shanghai,” said Chancellor Yu Lizhong. “I am looking forward to see where their continued hard work will take them.”
Three NYU Shanghai alumni have also been selected for past classes of Schwarzman Scholars: Nofar Hamrany ’18 was admitted to the Class of 2019, while Roxanne Roman ’17 and Jacko Walz ’17 were admitted to the Class of 2018.
A full list of Schwarzman Scholars can be found here.