This week, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans announced its 2015 class of fellows. Every year, this fellowship program honors and supports the graduate education of 30 new Americans – permanent residents, naturalized citizens and children of naturalized parents.

Paul and Daisy Soros, Hungarian immigrants themselves and American philanthropists, launched this program in 1997 as a way to give back to the country that had provided them and their children with opportunities. The fellowship program became the vehicle to provide opportunities to other new Americans, particularly those at critical points in their education, and to call attention to the diverse contributions new Americans make to the quality of life in the United States.

Many of this year’s fellows are naturalized citizens pursuing graduate degrees in a variety of fields:

Mark Xue Mark Minghao Xue 

Award to support a MS in computer science at Stanford Universit

Oswaldo Avalos Oswaldo (Oz) Hasbún Avalos 

Award to support work toward an MD at Columbia University

Ledina Gocaj Ledina Gocaj 

Award to support work toward a JD at Harvard Law School

Evgenia Kim

Evgeniya Kim

Award to support work toward an MBA at Yale School of Management

150127 Nguyen, Minh-Duyen 016.v2.SMALL Minh-Duyen Thi Nguyen 

Award to support work toward an MD

 150128 Benitez, Cecil Mayra 022.v2.SMALL Cecil Benitez 

Award to support work toward an MD at Stanford Medical School

 150202 Portocarrero, Sandra 011.v2.SMALL

Sandra Portocarrero

Award to support work toward a PhD in sociology at Columbia University 

 150204 Rusyn, Eugene 022.v2.SMALL

Eugene Rusyn

Award to support work toward a JD at Yale Law School

 150203 Reshef, Yakir 020.v2.SMALL

Yakir Reshef

Award to support work toward an MD and a PhD in computer science at Harvard University and MIT

Learn more about this talented group of new Americans and read the bios for the full class of fellows here.

Applications are currently being accepted for the 2016 class of fellows. Learn more about the fellowship or apply online. Applications for the Class of 2016 are due November 1, 2015.