Six from Harvard named Paul and Daisy Soros fellows

In 1997, Paul and Daisy Soros created a charitable trust to support the graduate study of new Americans, immigrants, and children of immigrants. This year, 31 new fellows have been awarded fellowships, and to date, a total of 384 graduate fellowships have been awarded.

Out of 890 applications nationwide, six individuals from Harvard have been awarded 2010 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships.

Aarti Shahani was born in Casablanca, Morocco, to parents of Pakistani heritage. She attended the University of Chicago and was an honors graduate in anthropology in 2002. Shahani is currently a first-year public policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Laurel Yong-Hwa Lee was born in South Korea. She attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating with a double major in brain and cognitive science as well as biology. At MIT, Lee won a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a doctorate degree in clinical medicine at Oxford University. She is currently in her second year of studying medicine at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Hari Prabhakar was born in Dallas, Texas, to parents from south India. While pursuing an undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, he was awarded a British Marshall Scholarship, which he used to earn advanced degrees in tropical medicine and international health management. Prabhakar is a first-year student at Harvard Medical School.

Deep Shah was born in Atlanta, eight years after his parents emigrated to this country from India. He attended the University of Georgia, and there Shah was named a Rhodes Scholar. At Oxford University, he earned a master’s degree in comparative social policy. He is currently a first-year student at Harvard Medical School.

Vanara Taing was born in Thailand in a refugee camp for Cambodians who had escaped during the Vietnamese invasion. Soon thereafter, Taing’s family resettled in the state of Washington. She received her undergraduate degree from Scripps College and her master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Taing recently produced a film, “Beyond the Music,” which was shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Anthology Film Archive. She has applications pending at several master of fine arts programs in film production and editing.

Tony Pan grew up in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, and received his undergraduate degree in physics from Stanford University, winning awards for scholastic achievement and outstanding performance in physics. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in theoretical astrophysics at Harvard.