Each year, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and Millennium Campus Network (MCN) select a cohort of students to receive Millennium Fellowships.  The Fellowship is a semester-long leadership development program on college campuses around the world that helps students take their social impact to the next level.  Millennium Fellows receive access to world class training, connections, and recognition in an effort to make the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNAI principles a reality.  Fellows are selected based on their leadership on sustainable development-related projects that advance the SDGs in their communities.

This year, 22 Georgia Tech students were selected by the United Nations to participate in the Millennium Fellows program—more than double the number selected for last year’s program.  Two of those students, Noah Egan and Rachel Mason, are members of the Georgia Tech Honors Program.  We asked Noah and Rachel to reflect on what drew them to the Millennium Fellowship and their time at Georgia Tech in the Honors Program.

Noah Egan is a fourth-year computer science major who has been involved in undergraduate research on biological systems such as the collective behavior of ants and competition in nature.  Rachel Mason is a third-year biology major on the pre-med track.  Her research has been in the Lobachev Lab (genome stability) and in the area of cancer treatment.  Both Noah and Rachel love the outdoors, which is no surprise given the focus on sustainability that’s at the heart of the Millennium Fellowship.  Noah spends time backpacking with Outdoor Recreation Georgia Tech (ORGT), while Rachel is a cascading instructor with ORGT.

Both Rachel and Noah highlighted their impressive background in biological research in their Millennium Fellowship applications.  Noah is combining his interest in environmental preservation and increasing diversity and inclusion in STEM fields into a project that focuses on educational outreach programs for local Atlanta high schools and community colleges.  The programs will focus on building awareness about STEM careers that focus on sustainability, such as engineering alternatives for clean fuel sources.  Rachel and her partner James Shin are focusing on reducing inequalities in access to cancer care.  They are working with the organization Be the Match to connect cancer patients with bone marrow donors.  Marrow donation can save the lives of those with blood disorders, including cancer, but those in racial and ethnic minority groups may struggle to find matching donors.  Rachel will work to help close the racial gap so that Black patients are equally likely to find a bone marrow donor as their white counterparts.

After graduation, Noah hopes to enroll in a PhD program in computational biology, continuing with a career in academia.  He would like to run a research lab focused on collective behavior and sustainability.  Rachel hopes to enroll in an MD-PhD program and pursue high-impact cancer research through cell therapies.  She is particularly interested in continuing to mentor and volunteer to further the goal of health equity for all.

Noah and Rachel have been members of the Honors Program community since joining in their first year and living in the HP living learning community.  While Noah missed the HP incoming student retreat because of COVID, his experience of living in the HP dorm has led to the development of close friendships that have remained through his time at Georgia Tech.  Both have taken numerous HP classes, and Rachel cites Dr. Paul Verhaeghen as particularly impactful in inspiring vibrant conversations among her HP friends.

The Honors Program is proud of what Noah Egan and Rachel Mason have accomplished so far in their time at Georgia Tech, including being named Millennium Fellows, and looks forward to seeing what the future holds for them.  Congrats!