Two Take Home Prestigious Scholarships

Durham, N.C. (November 2006) – Two seniors have received prestigious postgraduate scholarships to study in the British Isles.

Felicia Walton and Jimmy Soni have been awarded the Marshall Scholarship and the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, respectively.

"I was thrilled and humbled, and it was pretty unbelievable," Soni said. "In a field with such competitive applicants, I just didn't expect it."

The Marshall Scholarship provides two years of study at universities in the United Kingdom, and the Mitchell Scholarship supports one year of postgraduate study at an Irish institution.

A chemistry and biology double major from Asheville, N.C., Walton has worked in the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis at Duke University Medical Center since the winter of her freshman year.

Working on a team led by Dr. Joseph Heitman, Walton discovered six genes of the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans that caused the fungus to elongate, and another six genes that caused the fungus to develop a protective layer of melanin.

"In the melanin case, there previously were three genes found, and she found six more, so she tripled the knowledge," said Alexander Idnurm, a postdoctoral researcher on Heitman's team.

Walton also co-authored two articles that were published in refereed journals, one of which made the cover of the September issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell.

"It's extraordinary for an undergraduate," Idnurm said. "To publish anything alone is amazing. To publish two papers in a prestigious journal is an outstanding accomplishment."

In addition to her published research, Walton is a Goldwater Scholar and two-time president of the Biology Majors Union. She spent last summer teaching a pharmacology course to students from local public high schools.

Walton also was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship but declined the invitation to interview for the Oxford University-based program after receiving the Marshall.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to study at Cambridge, and the Rhodes just didn't offer me that opportunity," Walton said. "That's the rationale for taking the Marshall, which offers students the opportunity to study at any university in the U.K."

While Walton has distinguished herself in the laboratory, Soni has earned recognition for his campus leadership.

A University Scholar, Soni is the vice president of academic affairs of Duke Student Government, co-chair of the Undergraduate Judicial Board, co-founder of the Duke Political Union and chair emeritus of the Honor Council.

While pursuing a Program II major in ethics, Soni has also conducted research on former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with Bruce Jentleson, professor of public policy and political science, worked with legal aid programs in Tanzania and served as a court-appointed guardian for abused children.

Soni, a former Chronicle and Towerview columnist, will purse a master's degree in politics at University College Cork. His program will mix academic coursework with research on Irish juvenile justice policy.

"Ireland itself captures so many of the things I care about, in terms of good literature, good travel, close families and interesting history," Soni added.

Judith Ruderman, vice provost for academic and administrative services, said Soni has been a passionate intellectual leader on campus. "All I can say about Jimmy is that he is extremely passionate about ideas and about challenges in society at large," Ruderman said. "That's what I find so appealing about Jimmy-he loves analyzing big problems, and he loves immersing himself in them."

Soni is only the second Duke student to win a Mitchell Scholarship in the program's eight-year history.

"We have had relatively few competitive applicants for the Mitchell Scholarship since its inception-and they offer far fewer awards than either the Marshall or the Rhodes (which do not offer all that many)," Melissa Malouf, director of the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows, wrote in an e-mail Monday.

Senior and Chronicle columnist James Zou has been placed on the waitlist for the Marshall Scholarship.

Contact: Jared Mueller

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Walton Awarded Prestigious Marshall Scholarship

Durham, N.C. (November 2006) - Felicia Walton, a Duke University senior who has already made her mark as a biology researcher, has won a prestigious Marshall Scholarship for two years of graduate study in the United Kingdom.

Walton, of Asheville, N.C., plans to use her Marshall Scholarship to obtain a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge, and may possibly continue on there to work on a Ph.D., she said in an interview.

“I’m going to be studying cell division in mammalian cells, which is somewhat related to what I’ve been doing at Duke,” she said. “Cambridge has an outstanding history of scientific contribution that I’m excited about. And the other big draw for me is the opportunity to live and work abroad for several years and meet new people and experience new cultures.”

Established in 1953 to commemorate the Marshall Plan, the scholarships are awarded each year to 40 or more “talented, independent and wide-ranging” young Americans to finance their study in the United Kingdom.

Arriving at Duke in 2003 with no laboratory experience, Walton began approaching faculty about gaining research experience beyond the classroom and quickly joined the laboratory of Joseph Heitman, director of the Duke Center for Microbial Pathogenesis.

While working there, she discovered a number of new genes as she studied forms of a fungus that causes dangerous infections in humans whose immune systems have been compromised. She has co-published two papers in respected scientific journals.

“Felicia has matured into a full-fledged contributing member of our research group,” Heitman said. “This is no small task for an undergraduate working in a group of a dozen postdocs and four or five graduate students. Even amongst this talented group, Felicia stands out with her ability, her questions and her productivity.”

While at Duke, Walton has been supported by a number of awards, including a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, a Howard Hughes Research Fellowship, an American Society of Microbiology Research Fellowship and a Trinity College Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship.

She is also president of the Biology Majors Union at Duke, and taught and mentored Durham public school students in biology and mathematics both during the academic year and summer.

“I think it’s important to mention the tremendous amount of support I've also received from the Duke faculty,” she said. “I think the professors here are amazing in their willingness to work with undergraduates.”

Walton expects to graduate in the spring at age 20 with a double major in biology and chemistry.

Contact: Duke University News & Communications