Two Duke Juniors Named 2002 Truman Scholars

DURHAM, N.C. - Two Duke University juniors have been selected as national winners of the Truman Scholarship, which recognizes academic accomplishments, leadership potential and commitment to a career in public service.

Dave A. Chokshi from Baton Rouge, La., and Troy G. Clair of New York City were notified of their award Wednesday by Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane. About 80 Truman Scholarships are offered each year.

The Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation awards scholarships of $3,000 for senior-year study and up to $27,000 for graduate studies to students who plan to pursue careers in government or public service. In addition, Truman scholars receive leadership development training and internship opportunities in the federal government.

To date, Duke students have received 35 Truman scholarships since the program was initiated in 1977.

Chokshi is an Angier B. Duke Scholar who is completing two majors: chemistry and public policy studies. Interested in health and biomedical science policy, he plans to enter a joint graduate degree program leading to an M.D. and a master's degree in public health. Among the problems he intends to address in his career in public service are biomedical issues that bridge ethics, science and health, as well as health issues that affect disadvantaged populations such as rural and international communities.

"This is an opportunity to get involved in things we really care about," Chokshi said. "One of the Truman interviewers said the scholarship is an investment. What that means is that we're being given the chance to study issues we're really passionate about so we have the tools to affect change in the future."

Chokshi's leadership activities at Duke have included serving as chair of the University Honor Council; editor-in-chief of Vertices, Duke's undergraduate journal of science and technology; and associate editor of the Journal of Young Investigators. His community service activities have included work with the American Red Cross, the North Carolina Student Rural Health Coalition and volunteer tutoring. Last summer, he held an internship at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and was a research fellow in a molecular immunology lab at the New York University School of Medicine.

Clair is a political science major who intends to prepare for a career in public service by completing a joint graduate program that combines a law degree with a master's in public policy. He then plans to work as a legislative aide or policy adviser in the federal government and run for political office.

"All the work I've done to date in public service I view as seeds for change," Clair said. "The Truman gives me the opportunity to water those seeds through graduate study in order to enact change in the future on a larger scale."

Clair, Duke Student Government's newly elected vice president for student affairs, also is president of the Black Student Alliance. He has served as president of his dormitory council and taken on numerous leadership roles, including serving on the President's Council on Black Affairs, the Inter-Community Council, the African-American Mentoring Program Steering Committee and the Spectrum Presidents' Council, a coalition of campus cultural, religious, and political groups.

Clair also has held summer internships in the Office of the President of the United States (as a press intern) and the Office of the Mayor of the City of New York (as a chief of staff intern), and has participated in the Leadership Development Summer Institute.