Seven named Schwarzman Scholars

Seven Harvard affiliates were named recipients of the Schwarzman Scholarship in December. The eighth cohort of the prestigious award will attend Beijing’s Tsinghua University for a yearlong master’s degree program in global affairs. This year’s class of 151 candidates comes from 36 countries and 121 universities around the world.

“I am excited by the eighth cohort’s potential,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, founding trustee of Schwarzman Scholars. “As the geopolitical landscape grows more complex each day, I am inspired by this year’s selected Scholars and their readiness to engage thoughtfully with global issues and drive change. We are confident that this inspiring cohort of young leaders will make the most of this unique opportunity.”

Christian Abney ’23 is a linguistics and government concentrator who is passionate about language, equity, and governance. Abney is deeply passionate about being involved in the community, participating in Harvard Model UN, the Harvard-Taiwan Leadership Conference, the Institute of Politics Education Policy Program, and the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment Program. He has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme South Africa and the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus.

Monica Chang ’23, a social studies and computer science concentrator, is dedicated to helping build a society that supports an ethic of radical love and solidarity. At Harvard, Chang led PBHA – Chinatown Citizenship, a student-run naturalization assistance program helping Mandarin-speaking immigrants in the Greater Boston area. She has dedicated her summers to working on Boston’s unsheltered homelessness problem.

Jonathan Zhang ’23 is a social studies concentrator and incoming business analyst at McKinsey. A lover of languages, Zhang is already fluent in Arabic, English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and hopes to speak the top five languages in the world by the age of 25. He has worked at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School and served as president of Harvard International Relations on Campus. 

Joyce Zhou ’23 is a neuroscience concentrator. She has worked with the Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and Harvard Business School. At Harvard, Zhou has led operations for the Model UN and serves as founder and president of Women in Medicine and as president of the Green Medicine Initiative.

Zayan Faiyad graduated with an A.B. in economics in 2018. While at Harvard, Faiyad served on the board of the Harvard College First Generation Student Union, and the Harvard Entrepreneurship forum. She is now part of the founding team at Zayn Capital, a venture capital firm based in Pakistan.

Edward Tan is a graduate student in the Regional Studies: East Asia program. At Harvard, he served as an editor at the Harvard Kennedy School Singapore Policy Journal. Originally from Singapore, Tan is currently serving as a Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore public service scholar.

Jiaqi Jiang is a Harvard Medical School student pursuing an A.M. in biomedical informatics. Jiang has interned at IDG Capital, conducted research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, co-founded a nonprofit helping Chinese students with professional opportunities, and led more than 50 scholars to provide guidelines on respirator decontamination during the COVID-19 pandemic.