Seven University of Pennsylvania affiliates—five fourth-years and two recent graduates—have each received a 2025 Thouron Award to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Each Thouron Scholar receives tuition for as long as two years, as well as travel and living stipends.
Penn’s 2025 Thouron Scholars are fourth-years Benjamin Cohen, Joy Gong, Sarah Hinkel, Sophie Kadan, and Joey Wu and recent graduates Alexander Gerlach and Benjamin May.
Established in 1960 and supported with gifts by the late John Thouron and his wife, Esther du Pont Thouron, the Thouron Award is a graduate exchange program between Penn and UK universities that aims to improve understanding and relations between the two nations.
Benjamin Cohen, from Cleveland, is double-majoring in economics and political science with a concentration in comparative politics in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is interested in analyzing fiscal policy to identify beneficial reforms that improve social welfare. His honors thesis investigates the effects of negative oil price shocks on fiscal policy reform in authoritarian petrostates. At Penn, he works as a Peer Writing Fellow at the Marks Family Writing Center and as an Undergraduate Fellow for FactCheck.org. Cohen also has conducted research with Penn’s Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. During his third year at Penn, he was a visiting student studying at the University of Oxford in England. In 2022-23, he worked as an economic consulting intern for Pacific Economics Group. Cohen plays various intramural sports, is a member of a student e-sports team, and has volunteered as a coach for a local high school debate team. As a Thouron Scholar, Cohen plans to pursue a master’s degree in political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Alexander Gerlach, from Washington, D.C., completed his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience in December 2024, with minors in philosophy and chemistry from the College and health care management from the Wharton School. Interested in neurodegenerative disease, he conducted bench research at the National Institutes of Health and later clinical and pharmaceutical research in multiple sclerosis at NYU Langone Health and Merck UK. He completed his honors thesis at Penn on mitochondrial function in a traumatic brain injury model of optic neuropathies. Gerlach has worked as a teaching assistant in molecular and cellular neurobiology, served on the Dean’s Advisory Board, and written for the Penn Healthcare Review. He currently investigates copper’s role in oligodendrocyte function at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and builds neural networks as a predictive tool in neurology under Mount Sinai’s clinical neuroinformatics unit. He volunteers across Philadelphia with the Shelter Health Outreach Program and is a certified emergency medical technician. As a Thouron Scholar, Gerlach plans to pursue a master’s degree in clinical and therapeutic neuroscience at the University of Oxford.
Joy Gong, from Lexington, Massachusetts, is majoring in physics with a concentration in astrophysics and a minor in mathematics. She is also submatriculating to earn a master’s degree in physics in the School of Arts & Sciences. Since 2022, she has been an undergraduate researcher with Masao Sako in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She has conducted research on galaxy simulations for the Roman Space Telescope and is currently conducting supernovae analyses from the Dark Energy Survey, investigating how intergalactic dust affects supernovae colors and distances. At Penn, Gong is chair of the Dance Arts Council and a dancer with Sparks Dance Company. She is mentorship lead of Women in Physics, a research peer advisor, and a teaching assistant for physics courses. Previously, she served as president of the Astronomical Student Association, leading trips to Cherry Springs, a dark sky site four hours west of Philadelphia. As a Thouron Scholar, Gong plans to attend the University of Cambridge to pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy, contributing to discovery of gravitationally lensed supernovae as probes of the accelerated expansion of the universe.
Sarah Hinkel, from Maytown, Pennsylvania, is majoring in Middle Eastern languages and cultures and ancient history with a minor in archaeological science in the College. Fascinated by ancient history and archaeology, she has explored many periods and cultures during her time at Penn and is particularly interested in Bronze Age ceramics. As a Penn Museum student curator and fellow, she co-created an exhibition on objects from Song Dynasty China and conducted research on objects from Ur. She has also excavated at several archaeological sites in Armenia, Israel, and Philadelphia. As a Thouron Scholar, Hinkel plans to pursue a master’s degree in archaeological science at the University of Cambridge before going on to complete a Ph.D. in archaeology.
Sophie Kadan, from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is a physics and math major in the School of Arts & Sciences, pursuing a bachelor’s and master’s joint degree, combining theoretical coursework with research in high-energy physics. As a student with multiple sclerosis, she is committed to making physics more accessible, writing and illustrating guides to help students engage with mathematical and physical concepts. She has worked to make academic spaces more welcoming by painting two 5-by-6-foot murals for the undergraduate physics lounge in Penn’s David Rittenhouse Laboratory building. Kadan has conducted research at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and with Penn ATLAS under Evelyn Thomson, focusing on machine learning applications in particle physics. She also was a National Science Foundation intern at the University of Texas at Dallas. As a Thouron Scholar, Kadan plans to attend the University of Cambridge and pursue a master’s degree in theoretical physics., building on her research.
Benjamin May, from Philadelphia, graduated in 2021 from the College with a bachelor’s degree in international relations, concentrating in environmental policy, with a minor in history. He is currently a sustainability program manager at Microsoft, working to decarbonize their service and hardware suppliers. Previously, he was as an associate at Boston Consulting Group, consulting emerging clean technologies, and sustainability manager at Costco Wholesale, spearheading the effort to decarbonize their supply chain. In 2020, May took a leave of absence from Penn to work full-time on the Biden for President campaign, leading efforts across 15 states and ultimately serving as Philadelphia regional organizing director. At Penn, May was the committee director for sustainability and community impact on the Undergraduate Assembly, student liaison to the Board of Trustees, co-chair for the Student Sustainability Association at Penn, and campus tour guide captain at Kite & Key. A Perry World House Student Fellow, May co-authored four papers analyzing policy avenues to address the global climate crisis. He also founded the nonprofit ThinkOcean, a global youth-led ocean advocacy group. With a goal of leading efforts to address our global water crisis, May plans to pursue a master’s degree in water science, policy, and management at the University of Oxford.
Joey Wu, from Woodbury, Minnesota, is studying bioengineering and environmental science in the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research, a dual-degree program in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and School of Arts & Sciences. He is a plastic researcher in Penn Engineering’s McBride Lab. Wu founded Waterroots, a global education nonprofit that works to combat water insecurity through developing grassroots water literacy projects in more than 25 countries. Wu is an active climate activist, serving as a Penn Climate Fellow, EarthEcho Marine Plastic Ambassador, a member of the Student Advisory Group for the Environment, and a PBS Climate Storytelling Fellow. A 2025 Dean Scholar, Wu is a Clinton Global Initiative Scholar, a Duke Interfaith Climate Fellow, an Ashoka Changemaker Fellow, an IEEE Bio-X Scholar, a 2023 Millennium Fellow, a 2023 Udall Scholar, a UN Youth Delegate, a World Bank/IMF Youth Delegate, and a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.
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