Mines student wins Gilman Scholarship to study in Scotland

An engineering physics student at Colorado School of Mines has been awarded the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad during the Spring 2020 semester.

Sophomore Isaac Davis is one of 1,413 American undergraduate students from 427 universities across the nation to receive the prestigious award to study or intern abroad this semester.

Davis plans to spend his semester overseas studying civil engineering at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland – an experience he hopes will help further his goal of joining the Peace Corps and working as a civil engineer in underserved communities after graduation.

“It can be intimidating to study abroad – especially financially – and I come from a single-parent household with three brothers, so there are no extra resources for something like this. However, it is important to me to have this kind of experience interacting with another culture so that I can have a better understanding of the world I live in and the people I share it with,” Davis said. “The Gilman Scholarship was able to bridge this gap between my desire to roam abroad and my financial need.”

The Congressionally funded Gilman Program broadens the U.S. student population studying and interning abroad by providing scholarships to outstanding undergraduate Pell Grant recipients who, due to financial constraints, might not otherwise study abroad. Since the program’s establishment in 2001, more than 1,300 U.S. institutions have sent more than 28,000 Gilman scholars who represent the diversity of the U.S. to 145 countries around the globe.

“We’re very proud of Isaac’s accomplishment and hope we can encourage more Mines students to apply in the future,” said D'Jeane Peters, education abroad adviser at Mines.