Two Penn juniors named Truman Scholars

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Two Penn juniors, Louis Lin and Ángel Ortiz-Siberón, have received Harry S. Truman Scholarships, a merit-based award of as much as $30,000 for graduate or professional school to prepare for careers in government or public service.

Lin and Ortiz-Siberón are among 62 Truman Scholars selected this year from 840 candidates nominated by 346 colleges and universities. They will receive their awards in a ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, on May 26.

Lin, from Merrick, New York, is a double major in political science and health and societies in the College of Arts and Sciences and is pursuing minors in Asian American studies, education policy, and environmental studies. Lin is also in the BA/Master of Public Health program.

He plans to pursue a law degree, focusing on health law, and a master’s degree in education policy, with the hope of creating a career addressing disparities in children’s health and education in the United States.

Lin, a son of immigrant parents from China, is focused on health and education policy, specifically equity, access, and quality for low-income immigrant communities.

At Penn, he is on the board of the student organization Penn First, which helps first-generation, low-income students build community on campus, and the chair of the Theatre Arts Council.

In 2017 he was elected to a four-year term as a judge of elections on his precinct’s Election Board in Philadelphia, and in 2018 to a four-year term as committeeperson on the 27th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.

Lin also works as a management and program Analyst for the Office of the Chief Counsel at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Ortiz-Siberón, from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, is majoring in sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a Mellon Mays Fellow, and his current research aims to create a socioeconomic profile of Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland, with a focus on poverty, homelessness, and social mobility.

With an interest in increasing access to education and empowering low-income Puerto Rican communities, Ortiz-Siberón intends to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology and social policy with the goal of becoming a professor and public servant. 

Ortiz-Siberón is a member of Puerto Rican Institute of Music in Philadelphia and has tutored and mentored low-income Latinx students. He has been an active participant in local relief efforts for those affected by hurricanes Irma and María in Puerto Rico. He was a loan director for the Bentley University Microfinance Group in Waltham, Massachusetts, working to increase access to financing for small-business owners. 

The students applied to the Harry S. Truman Scholarship program with assistance from Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships. The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation was created by Congress in 1975 to be the nation’s living memorial to President Truman. The foundation has a mission to select and support the next generation of public service leaders.

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