Crimson Counts 3 Rhodes Scholars

In a rare turn two years ago, Harvard students were shut out of the Rhodes Scholarship competition. Last year, the College came back with a vengeance, boasting six awardees. This year, three winners gave the Crimson a happy medium.

Clara L. Blattler ’08, Sammy K. Sambu ’08, and Shayak Sarkar ’07 were awarded the prestigious full scholarships to Oxford University, which include in their criteria “literary and scholastic attainments,” “success in sports,” and a commitment to service, morality and leadership.

Blattler, a resident of Brookline, Mass., has a resume that includes a Harvard record and an Ivy League championship in pole vaulting, a place in the pit orchestra playing violin for Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado,” and summer research trips to Namibia for her concentration, earth and planetary sciences.

“I do get sleep,” she said. “I manage to balance everything pretty well.”

Her roommate, Sarah E. Gross ’08, was less modest about Blattler’s time management skills, calling her “basically superhuman” and “the kind of person who can adapt to deal with any kind of challenge.”

Her senior thesis explores a new way of measuring the geological record of the earth’s temperature. Blattler is one of “only a few people in the world” who can use the technique, said her advisor, earth and planetary sciences professor Daniel P. Schrag.

Sambu, who received the scholarship as a representative of his native Kenya, has a similarly impressive collection of activities, including membership in several African leadership clubs and a hobby of amateur acrobatics. His thesis is on biodegradable scaffolding for organ transplants.

“My interest really would be to conduct research,” he said. “My particular interest is that it should have some impact in Kenya, and in most of the developing world.”

Sambu said he hopes to work with a team of researchers at Oxford that is trying to develop a needle-less aerosol vaccine delivery system. Such a mechanism would allow for fewer infections, less pain, and for children to get vaccinated at a younger age.

“I believe science can play a prominent role in helping the economies of Africa in catching up to the rest of the world,” he said. Sambu added that he is compiling scientific terminology in African languages to achieve this.

“He’s an inspiration to all of us,” roommate Kenneth K. Gichinga ’08 said. “He really helps us to be motivated...we’re going to miss him [when he’s at Oxford].”

Sarkar, the third Harvard recipient, hails from Edinburgh, Texas, and graduated last June with an A.B. in applied mathematics and a master’s in statistics.

According to his biography on the American Web site for the Rhodes Trust, Sarkar wrote a prize-winning thesis on homeless children and intends to focus his study at Oxford on social issues. He could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon.

The awardees were announced over the weekend. A number of the countries where Rhodes Scholarships are awarded had not yet listed winners on their Web sites as of last night.

—Staff writer Maxwell L. Child can be reached at mchild@fas.harvard.edu.