Three Duke Seniors Named Marshall Scholars for Graduate Study in United Kingdom

Marie-Hélène Tomé, Sarah Konrad and Daniel Ehrlich will do graduate study in the United Kingdom under Marshall Scholarships
Marie-Hélène Tomé, Sarah Konrad and Daniel Ehrlich will do graduate study in the United Kingdom under Marshall Scholarships.

Three Duke seniors who have already compiled outstanding records of scholarship and service, Marie-Hélène Tomé, Sarah Konrad and Daniel Ehrlich, are among the 36 recipients of the prestigious Marshall Scholarship, the program announced Monday. 

Marshall Scholarships are awarded each year to high-achieving American students to pursue post-graduate studies in all academic disciplines at any university in the United Kingdom. The award covers all university fees, cost-of-living expenses, and many other expenditures.

“Throughout their studies at Duke, Daniel, Sarah and Marie-Hélène have worked closely with faculty mentors to pursue impactful research that connects disciplines to address complex challenges,” said Duke President Vincent E. Price. “I’m delighted that they have been selected as Marshall Scholars, and I look forward to all that they will achieve during their studies in the United Kingdom, and in their future careers.”

Marie-Hélène Tomé is majoring in mathematics with minors in computer science and linguistics. Tomé is completing a senior thesis related to the Poisson summation conjecture formulated by Braverman-Kazhdan-Ngô-Sakellaridis. For her contributions to mathematics, she has earned the Alice T. Schafer Mathematics Prize, Goldwater Scholarship, and Duke Faculty Scholarship.

As a volunteer with Math Circles, she brings mathematics into local elementary and middle schools and through her involvement in Operation Climate, she communicates climate science to the public. As a Marshall scholar, she will earn a master of advanced study degree in pure mathematics and an master of philosophy in mathematics at Cambridge University.

“Throughout their studies at Duke, Daniel, Sarah and Marie-Hélène have worked closely with faculty mentors to pursue impactful research that connects disciplines to address complex challenges.”

Duke president Vincent E. Price

Sarah Konrad, a 2024 Faculty Scholar and Nakayama Public Service Scholar, plans to pursue a career in constitutional and human rights law, with a focus on women’s rights internationally. As a history major, Konrad has contributed to Duke’s Centennial institutional history project and conducted an independent study in gender apartheid and the law.

In addition, she has conducted archival research in comparative US and Cherokee law on women’s property rights, marriage law and strategy, and more. With the Marshall Scholarship, Konrad will earn the master of letters degree in legal and constitutional studies at St. Andrews  University, and the master of law in International Human Rights Law at Queen’s University Belfast.

Daniel Ehrlich is majoring in computer science and chemistry with minors in financial economics and global health. He currently works with Nicholas School Professor Heather Stapleton, applying analytical chemistry to evaluate environmental health exposures, namely characterizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposures among firefighters.

He has also been involved with Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, employing computational toxicological methods to advance in vitro and in silico alternatives to animal testing, primarily focused on cardiovascular health. Ehrlich is interested in applying his skillset to the emerging field of mRNA therapeutics and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Cambridge.

The Marshall Scholarship was created in 1953 with the goal of strengthening the special relationship between the UK and the US. To receive support for applying for opportunities like the Marshall Scholarship, prospective applicants should contact the Nationally Competitive Scholarships advisors in the Office of University Scholars and Fellows.