Physics Major named Mitchell Scholar

Posted in News Story

The US-Ireland Alliance has named Georgetown Physics major, Derick Stace-Naughton, a Mitchell Scholar. The George J. Mitchell Scholarship program was created more than 10 years ago and has quickly become one of the most sought-after international fellowships. Scholars must have exceptionally strong records of academic achievement, service, and leadership to be chosen from the highly-competitive national pool of applicants. The 12 Mitchell Scholars just selected will pursue post-graduate studies for the 2011-2012 academic year at one of the universities in Ireland or Northern Ireland.

Derick, who is completing a major in English in addition to his major in Physics, will be studying next year at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and will be pursuing an M.Sc. in Health Communication. He has been deeply involved in issues of federal healthcare policy and was the driving force in the introduction of a concurrent resolution and a bill in the House concerning bleeding disorders. Those efforts were fostered early in his career at Georgetown through two Physics Department courses on science policy and later as the first student Fellow of Georgetown’s Program on Science in the Public Interest. Derick is excited about this opportunity to broaden his perspectives on these issues by studying the approaches of policymakers in Northern Ireland, Ireland, and Great Britain.