Two students from US universities will attend University of Galway in the next academic year under the Mitchell Scholarship programme.
Alexander Firestine at the University of Pittsburgh, and Alexa Mohsenzadeh at Emory University in Atlanta received the competitive prizes which are awarded to twelve students each year by the US-Ireland Alliance.
The scholarships are aimed at supporting distinguished graduate students from the US who wish to pursue one year of study in Ireland.
The two University of Galway Mitchell Scholars have distinguished academic and civic careers to date.
Alexander Firestine studies Finance, Accounting, and Business Information Systems, and is the recipient of a Chancellor’s Scholarship – the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh.
His interest is in food insecurity and how data analytics, may be used to alleviate the problem.
Involved with Food21, a non-profit committed to building resilient food systems, Alex co-led a project that developed a digital tool using data to measure regional food insecurity and identify areas where food apartheids may exist in Pittsburgh.
At University of Galway, Alexander will study MSc in Climate Change, Agriculture.
Alexa Mohsenzadeh is studying Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Ethics and She received Emory’s most prestigious merit scholarship, the Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship.
As the Co-Founder and CEO of the non-profit Her Drive, Alexa has led the distribution of 1.1 million period and hygiene products globally, including 45 states across the US, as well as the UK, Canada, and Mexico since 2020.
Through this work, she has mentored more than  1,200 volunteers and supported a diverse range of populations, including immigrant detainees and refugees, low-income students, rural and Indigenous communities, LGBT+ youth, and survivors of domestic violence.
Recognised as 1 of ’50 Period Heroes’ nationwide, Her Drive is partnering with Always and Walmart this year to distribute 50,000 period products to people in need in Georgia, Illinois, and Louisiana.
At Emory, Alexa has conducted research in neuroethics, compassion-based ethics, and feminist neuroscience with aims to integrate feminist, cross-cultural perspectives into our scientific and legal awareness.
This past year, she also worked for the non-profit, New American Pathways, where she supported newly arriving refugees in Georgia by improving their access to community resources as they underwent the resettlement process.
She is the principal percussionist of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and is proficient in Persian and French.
Long-term, Alexa is driven to improve women’s health outcomes through rights advocacy and reform and will study MA in Gender, Globalisation, and Rights at the University of Galway.
