Six engineering undergraduates selected for 2025 Millennium Fellowship

LAWRENCE — Out of 60,396 applicants from more than 7,500 institutions worldwide, 26 University of Kansas students have been selected for the 2025 Millennium Fellowship, a leadership development program overseen by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) in partnership with United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI). 

UNAI’s 10 principles, along with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, inform the student-led community projects that the fellowship’s global network and resources support. Among the program’s more than 4,000 students, who together represent more than 290 campuses in 47 nations, are the following KU fellows: 

• Keri Barnes, a junior in environmental studies and global & international studies from Highland Ranch, Colorado.
• Aadhya Bhatia, a sophomore in chemistry from Overland Park. 
• Helinna Bontrager, a sophomore in behavioral neuroscience and chemistry from Manhattan. 
• Kaitlyn Carson, a junior in global & international studies and political science from Altamont. 
• Kendall Dickerson, a junior in behavioral neuroscience from Overland Park. 
• Evanna Dominic, a senior in chemical engineering and Spanish from Overland Park. 
• Taylor Doyle, a senior in global & international studies, political science and multimedia journalism from Shawnee. 
• Norah Egge, a senior in mathematics from Des Moines, Iowa. 
• Kennedy Farrier, a junior in political science and secondary education from De Soto. 
• Antonique Flemons, a senior in digital marketing communications, advertising & public relations from Kansas City, Missouri. 
• Bhavya Gupta, a senior in global & international studies and microbiology from Overland Park. 
• Monique Haynie, a senior in chemical engineering from Houston. 
• Jaden Huehl, a junior in secondary English education and multimedia journalism from Sylvan Grove. 
• Lexie Huske, a senior in global & international studies and religious studies from Ottawa. 
• Nora Jennings, a junior in chemical engineering from St. Louis. 
• Ava Levin, a junior in political science from Leawood. 
• Hannah Loub, a senior in global & international studies and multimedia journalism from Manhattan. 
• Esperança Monteiro Henson, senior in history and political science from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 
• Joel Munyaneza, a junior in mechanical engineering from Gisenyi, Rwanda. 
• Oluwafemi Odusanya, a junior in electrical engineering from Lagos, Nigeria. 
• Abhilasa Raut, a senior in behavioral neuroscience and biology from Shawnee. 
• Youngha Rissler, a sophomore in global & international studies and political science from Springfield, Missouri. 
• Alana Schmalzried-Lugo, a junior in electrical engineering from Olathe. 
• Beatriz Viejo Garcia, a junior in microbiology from Madrid, Spain. 
• Lily Webb, a sophomore in global & international studies and political science from Overland Park. 
• Sydney Wynia, a sophomore in digital marketing communications, advertising & public relations and Spanish from Lindstrom, Minnesota.  

The University Honors Program, alongside KU's Center for Global and International Studies, serves as an organizing hub for KU's institutional membership in UNAI. After an initial Millennium Fellows cohort of 12 in 2022, the hub created additional structure to the fellowship application process, committing to this effort two campus mentors: Liz MacGonagle, an Honors Faculty Fellow and director of the Global Scholars Program, and Mauricio Gómez Montoya, the honors program’s student experience designer. 

“KU doubling its number of Millennium Fellows this year is a powerful reflection of mentoring and vision,” said Nicole Hodges Persley, vice provost for community impact. “Dedicated faculty and staff members like Liz and Mauricio provide unwavering support and inspiration to our students to reach for new heights in their scholarship.” 

With assistance from Gómez Montoya and MacGonagle, student Nora Jennings, who was selected as the director of KU’s Millennium Fellows campus hub, will help hub members build leadership skills through the MCN Action Toolkit. The curriculum will prepare fellows to pursue their proposed local projects that make progress on one of the UN’s 17 SGDs, which address global challenges like poverty, health and sustainability. 

“The impact these students will have in Lawrence, Douglas County and the state — while also contributing to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals — is truly inspiring,” Hodges Persley said. “I look forward to following their projects and celebrating their successes as they unfold.” 

The fellowship concludes in November with the presentation of a certificate for fellows who complete their project. Many of KU’s fellows will then incorporate their experience into sessions for the 2026 Common Cause symposium in January, which will focus on SDG 12, Responsible Consumption and Production.  

Those interested in the Millennium Fellowship or UNAI affiliation can contact Gómez Montoya at  MauricioGomez@ku.edu. MCN also offers an interest form for students planning to apply for the Class of 2026 at the fellows website.