ATLANTA, GEORGIA — December 2023 — Stamps Scholars Alexis Bradstreet (United States Military Academy), Maeve Janecka (Georgia Institute of Technology), Haaris Jilani (Georgia Institute of Technology), Ethan Ostrow (University of Chicago), and Martayn Van de Wall (United States Military Academy) have won Marshall Scholarships for 2024, joining 15 Stamps Scholars who have previously received the scholarship.
The Marshall Scholarship is an international, postgraduate award for students across disciplines to study at any British university. The award was created in honor of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall and is considered one of the world’s most prestigious scholarships.
The United States Military Academy’s Alexis Bradstreet studies cyber science with a concentration in cybersecurity. Currently, she is the executive officer of her regiment, where she is second-in-command of 1,100 cadets. She is a senior writing fellow at the Stokes Writing Center, and for the past three years, has been a member of the Army Women’s Handball team. Bradstreet used her Stamps enrichment fund to present mis- and disinformation research at Purdue University and the Naval Postgraduate School, as well as to attend a conference in Amsterdam and meet with industry leaders in The Hague. This spring, she will graduate from the United States Military Academy and commission as a cyber officer in the US Army, where she hopes to shape emerging norms in the cyber and information domain by contributing to Army and Department of Defense doctrine. Before she attends officer training, she plans to use the Marshall Scholarship to earn a master of science degree in social science of the internet and a master of science degree in social data science at Oxford University.
“Opportunities from the Stamps Scholarship allowed me to push myself academically and professionally, and they also introduced me to truly inspiring leaders in my field,” said Bardstreet. “The Marshall Scholarship will push me further to think about the societal implications and unintended consequences of various emerging technologies.”
Georgia Institute of Technology’s Maeve Janecka majors in chemical and biomolecular engineering and conducts research on the drug delivery properties of a novel orthopedic implant material. Janecka is a Goldwater Scholar and a Petit Undergraduate Research Scholar, as well as a recipient of Georgia Tech’s 2023 Undergraduate Teaching Assistant of the Year award. Over the course of her undergraduate career, she earned six first prize presentation awards, including one earned at the National Society of Women Engineers collegiate competition, for her research on antibacterial steel surfaces. She used her enrichment fund to study abroad in Lyon, France, and to present a conversation-based sexual violence curriculum at a national conference in San Antonio, Texas. She is also a yoga instructor, a medical assistant intern at the Good Samaritan Health Center, and chief justice of Georgia Tech’s Undergraduate Judiciary Cabinet. After she graduates, she plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D. and research novel diagnostic tools for the noninvasive early detection of endometriosis. She wants to eventually start a women’s health lab in an academic medical center.
“The Stamps Scholars Program has profoundly enriched my life,” she said. “It is so humbling to be in a community brought together simultaneously by gratitude and ambition.”
Georgia Institute of Technology’s Haaris Jilani studies biomedical engineering and has an interest in stem cells and biomaterials. He intends to pursue a career in research, studying how biomaterials can be used to enhance stem cell healing potential in order to create treatments for currently devastating musculoskeletal injuries. Jilani is also interested in improving research opportunities for younger students and has served as an educational mentor in both Atlanta and his local Dallas community. Over the course of his undergraduate career, he used his enrichment funding primarily to attend research conferences, such as the annual meetings of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and the Biomedical Engineering Society. In addition to being a Marshall Scholar, he is a United Nations Millennium Fellow, an Amgen Scholar, and a Nakatani Fellow. In his free time, he loves to play basketball, weightlift, weld, and read. He is active in the Muslim communities of both Atlanta and Dallas and is passionate about studying Islamic history.
“The Stamps Scholarship has allowed me to build relationships with a number of academic and personal mentors,” he said. “Interacting with Scholars through the program’s events has allowed me to learn many fascinating concepts from fields outside my own, and I can always count on my cohort to push me outside of my comfort zone.”
University of Chicago’s Ethan Ostrow is currently completing a bachelor of arts degree in law, letters, and society and a master of arts degree in political science. Ostrow co-founded the UChicago Student Advocate’s Office, for which he received a University of Chicago Humanitarian Award, and has written publicly about incarceration, including in a widely-circulated op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times. He has interned with local, state, and federal legislators and is a Metcalf Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School’s Federal Criminal Justice Clinic (FCJC), as well as a University of Chicago Student Marshal. He used his Stamps enrichment fund to research and train in restorative justice, meeting with experts in the UK and Netherlands. He also used his fund to intern for the FCJC and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth. At Oxford, he plans to pursue a master of philosophy degree in socio-legal research. After graduating, he wants to attend law school and begin a policy career advancing prison decarceration.
“From contributing to seminal reports on federal pretrial detention to traveling Europe to learn from restorative justice experts, the Stamps Scholarship has allowed me to pursue experiences that have reshaped my hopes, dreams, and ambitions,” he said. “I can say, without reservation, that the scholarship allowed me to find my life’s work.”
The United States Military Academy’s Martayn Van de Wall transferred to West Point after spending a year in ROTC at Vanderbilt University, where he recognized his love for military leadership. Van de Wall studies international relations with a focus on strategic collaboration and coherence within NATO. In 2021 he received the Stamps Scholarship, allowing him to conduct research at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The scholarship has since enabled him to attend two strategic seminars, co-author two published works, and attend the Stamps Scholarship Convention in 2023. At West Point, he regularly competes in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition and serves as a leader of two training programs for combat skills. He is a graduate of the Army’s Sapper Leader and Air Assault courses, a West Point writing fellow, and a Truman Scholar. In the future, Martayn hopes to serve as an infantry officer and work with NATO allies to promote strategic partnerships.
“The Stamps Scholars Program has been a great asset to my academic learning and enrichment. Through Stamps, I have been connected with a community of young adults who are committed to improving the world around us,” he said. “Even as I continue to graduate school, I have no doubt that the Stamps community will remain a cornerstone of my future goals.”
These Scholars join a legacy of excellence. The Marshall Scholarship has previously been awarded to Stamps Scholars from the College of William & Mary, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge, the United States Air Force Academy, the United States Military Academy, the United States Naval Academy, and the University of Georgia. Stamps Scholars alumni also include Rhodes Scholars, Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Churchill Scholars, Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, and Schwarzman Scholars.
About the Stamps Scholars Program
The Stamps Scholars Program was founded by E. Roe Stamps and his late wife Penny in 2006, with the purpose of enabling extraordinary educational experiences for extraordinary students. Through partnerships with institutions across the nation (and into the U.K.), Scholars receive annual awards that range from $6,000 to $88,400 (four-year awards total an average of $24,000-$353,600) with additional funds for enrichment activities such as study abroad, academic conferences, and leadership training. The Stamps Scholars Program and partner schools evenly share the costs of the award. Penny Stamps passed away in December 2018, but her legacy continues through the Stamps Scholars community, which has grown into an international network with more than 3,250 Scholars and alumni. Find out more at stampsscholars.org.
For more information, contact:
Connelly Crowe
Director of Communications and Scholar Experience
connelly@stampsscholars.org