Michael Chilton, a senior microbiology major, and Colin Kamphuis, a sophomore political science and economics double-major, have been awarded prestigious Boren Scholarships. The David L. Boren Scholarship is a nationally competitive award that provides up to $20,000 for students to study a critical foreign language in a nontraditional country important to U.S. national security.

Michael Chilton, originally from Wellesley, Mass., has immersed himself in Japanese studies while at UVM: he’s a Japanese minor, vice president of the Japanase Club on campus and is a Japanese tutor. Thanks to the Boren, Chilton will experience true immersion studying in Japan beginning in June.

In addition to language study at Nanzan University, Chilton plans to combine his interest in Japanese with his passion for immunology by pursuing a part-time internship related to public health. While at UVM, he has participated in biotechnology research both on campus and during a summer internship at a medical center in Boston. Chilton hopes to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after his graduation next January.

Colin Kamphuis will be studying Russian in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from February through August of 2016. An avid skier who grew up in Thetford Center and Stowe, Vt., Kamphuis will be at home in mountainous Kyrgyzstan. Kamphuis, who also minors in Russian, is looking forward to improving his language skills while learning about a country that is an unusual choice for U.S. college students. According to IIE’s Open Doors data, less than 20 U.S. college students studied in Kyrgyzstan in the academic year of 2012-2013, which is the most recent data available.

Kamphuis, an Honors College student, is currently interning at the State Attorney’s Office in Burlington and expects to have an internship with a nongovernmental organization while in Bishkek. He hopes to parlay his language skills, study abroad experience, and academic background into a career as an economics officer in the Foreign Service after obtaining a master’s degree in economics.

After receiving a scholarship, Boren Scholars commit to working in the federal government for at least one year using their language skills and abroad experience in a position important to U.S national security. Past Boren Scholars have worked in a variety of offices including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense or they have worked as legislative aides in Congress.

Chilton and Kamphuis are the fifth and sixth UVM students to be awarded a Boren Scholarship in the past six years. Last year, Sammie Ibrahim ’16 was awarded the Boren Scholarship to study in Kyrgyzstan. Erin Kerr '14 received the Boren Scholarship in 2012 to study in Serbia, Bosnia, and Kosovo. In 2010, Whitney Roth ’12 was funded to study in Morocco and, in 2009, Madeline Murphy Hall '10 was awarded to study in Jordan.

PUBLISHED

04-29-2015
Aimee Michelle Hutton