An undergraduate student at New York University Abu Dhabi has won the prestigious Harry S Truman Scholarship worth $30,000.
Tatyana Brown, 21, who studies social research and public policy, is the second candidate at NYUAD to secure this scholarship in the past eight years.
The African-American is one of the 62 students from 51 institutions who have been selected as 2021 Truman Scholars.
The Truman Scholarship is a highly competitive and prestigious grant for college juniors who have outstanding leadership potential and wish to pursue careers in public service.
Ms Brown worked on her application for a year and was one of the 845 candidates nominated by 328 higher education institutions across the world.
The scholarship will help Ms Brown to pursue her master’s in African studies, gender studies, or social work in the US or the UK.
“I feel really supported and that’s a great feeling," Ms Brown said.
“In my life, black women and gender-marginalised people have looked out for me, and I want to pay that forward.
“I want to attend graduate school and study black feminism, read poetry and history about black women and marginalised people.
“Through the scholarship, I will have access to a network of scholars.
"It is a chance for me to meet people who have been doing different kinds of work."
Ms Brown will get the chance to be a part of the Truman Scholars Leadership Week where she can listen to talks and engage in challenges with fellow scholars.
She aims to intern with the Washington Summer Institute that is organised by the Truman Foundation. She also plans to join a black feminist non-profit to work on improving the lives of black mothers and caregivers.
Ms Brown moved to the UAE from the US when she was 18, and has since been involved and led numerous initiatives in the UAE.
She cofounded Aziza, a community network for black women in Abu Dhabi, that aims to empower, inform and connect them.
The group organised iftars and cookouts where people could meet, play games, and get to know each other.
“When I was growing up, I would always ask myself, why is it that some people are deserving of housing and security, and others are not?" she said.
"These women were the most vulnerable to systemic injustice and harm."
The student wishes to work on subjects such as race, gender, and mutual aid projects.
In mutual aid systems, people work together to help each other. They are different from charities, which form a one-way relationship between an organisation or philanthropist and the recipients.
"I feel like coming to Abu Dhabi has taught me a lot of what global solidarity can look like," Ms Brown said.
Former US president Harry S Truman wanted to support public service champions and promote youth leaders.
After his death, his friends and family set up the The Truman Foundation which awards the Truman Scholarship to students.
Each Truman Scholar receives funding for graduate studies, leadership training, career counselling, special internship and fellowship opportunities within the US federal government or in community serving organisations.
Ms Brown's ambition is to use her travels to connect various mutual aid organisations in the world and build a global network to uplift black women and gender marginalised people.
She wishes to use art, healing, and people-powered projects to inspire global political consciousness.
Top universities in the world - in pictures
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California Institute of Technology, known as Caltech, is renowned for its engineering and natural science schools. It counts tycoon and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes and the legendary filmmaker Frank Capra among its alumni. It is home to just 2,000 students, making it one of the smallest major universities. Alamy Stock Photo -
Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford was founded in 1885 by Jane and Leland Stanford. Its alumni boasts 19 Nobel laureates and 17 astronauts. Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the US, was part of the first class. Alamy Stock Photo -
Based in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT is among the world's best technology universities, offering digital learning, sustainable energy, big data, human health and more. It is home to about 1,000 faculty members and more than 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students. MIT says its alumni-founded companies have created 4.6 million jobs, generating nearly $2 trillion in annual revenues. Taken together, this ‘MIT Nation’ is equivalent, it is claimed, to the 10th-largest economy in the world. Alamy Stock Photo -
Dating back to 1636, Harvard is the oldest university in the US and has connections to more than 30 heads of state. Situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, its 5,000-acre campus houses 12 degree-granting schools and about three-quarters of its roughly 22,000 students are postgrads. Its renowned medical school is connected to 10 hospitals at which students get hands-on experience. Harvard boasts the largest academic library in the world, with 20.4 million volumes and 10 million photographs. Alamy Stock Photo -
The ultimate Ivy League university, Princeton's park-like New Jersey campus is home to about 10,000 students. Unusually, it offers residential accommodation to all of its undergraduates across all four years of study, with 98 per cent of its 10,000 students living on site. Its prestigious alumni include Michelle Obama, actor Jimmy Stewart and the economist Paul Krugman. Alamy Stock Photo -
Based in New Haven Connecticut, Yale dates back to 1701 and has educated five US presidents: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. Unusually for the US, students are housed in residential colleges on the model of Oxford and Cambridge. Many of its Yale's buildings date back to the 18th century Alamy Stock Photo -
Home to the Obama presidential library and offices of the Obama Foundation, University of Chicago is located on a 200-acre campus in the city's Hyde Park neighbourhood, near Lake Michigan. Known as UChicago, it boasts about 16,000 undergrads and postgrads. Its business school is ranked as No1 in the world by The Economist, while the New York Times found its graduates were among the most sought after in the corporate world. Alamy -
In the top spot for the fourth year is Oxford university, recognisable worldwide for its medieval skyline. It boasts 39 separate colleges and six private hall - some of the most famous are Christ Church, Balliol College and Magdalen - offering virtually every subject in academic study to its 24,000 students. Over the centuries successful graduates have bequeathed fortunes to individual colleges, meaning some boast endowments of hundreds of millions of pounds each. Alamy -
Established by King Henry III in 1231, like Oxford, Cambridge is one of two ancient seats of learning. It is home to about 20,000 students and is recognisable for the 'punts' or boats that sail up and down its river. Many of its brightest technology graduates go on to work in start-ups in a high-tech business district known as 'Silicon Fen'. AFP -
Imperial College excels in science, engineering, medicine and business and many of its 15,000 students per year go on to top jobs in industry. Famous alumni include science fiction author HG Wells, Queen guitarist Brian May, and former prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Imperial’s most notable landmark is the Queen's Tower, a remainder of the Imperial Institute, built to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Alamy Stock Photo
