Maccolades for May 2025: Scholarships and fellowships, national science leadership and more

Maccolades is a monthly round-up of the most recent accolades and accomplishments earned by members of the Macalester community. Below are highlights from May 2025.

Fueling financial empowerment

Macalester student Fabian Flores Solano ’28 received a 2025–2026 Phillips Scholarship, one of 10 students selected from Minnesota’s private colleges and universities to develop and run a community-focused summer project in 2026. Scholars receive more than $9,000 in scholarships and stipends. Flores Solano’s project, “Cultura, Comercio y Capital,” will focus on empowering the Latino community in the Twin Cities through bilingual financial literacy and entrepreneurship workshops. 

“This work matters because, too often, Latin@ communities are locked out of financial knowledge and opportunities that should be open to everyone,” Flores Solano said. “What excites me most about this award is that it gives me the platform to act: to turn all the ideas I’ve carried with me from Mexico to Minnesota into something real.”

Joining science’s highest ranks

Macalester graduate Richmond Sarpong ’95 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s most prestigious science organization. 

“Election to the academy is a very high honor, since they do not elect many members each year,” said Thomas D. Varberg, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Chemistry. 

Sarpong is a native of Ghana, though his family moved to Zambia and then Botswana when he was young. After graduating from Macalester, he earned his PhD from Princeton in 2001 and is now a chemistry professor at the University of California–Berkeley. He researches synthesis of organic molecules. 

The art of argument

Macalester students Sam Price ’25 and Will Kochel ’27 advanced to the quarterfinals of the 79th National Debate Tournament hosted by Gonzaga University in April. After winning seven out of eight preliminary rounds, Price and Kochel advanced into the elimination bracket (top 32) as the 5th seed. In addition to their quarterfinalist award, the tournament named Price as the 10th best speaker and Kochel as the 15th best speaker in the nation. 

Certified to make a difference

Torri Lattimore, operations manager at Macalester’s Laurie Hamre Center for Health and Wellness, traveled to Chicago to serve on a task force for the Certifying Board of the American Association of Medical Assistants. Selected for her expertise as a leading professional in the field, she helped review standards for the knowledge and skills required in the medical assistant profession. 

The panel’s work will inform future Certified Medical Assistant certification exams. At Macalester, Lattimore often hosts and supervises medical assistant interns from Hennepin Technical College and Anoka Technical College as part of the college’s commitment to educating the next generation of college health professionals.

Exposing climate injustice in 3D

Ronan Wallace ʼ22 was awarded the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship — the first Macalester graduate to receive this honor. Wallace will join a cohort of eighty-four students from twenty-five countries. The group will receive three years of full tuition and a living stipend to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. Wallace, a computer science major, plans to earn his master’s degree in computer science.

As a computer engineer, he explores 3D imaging and sensor systems for environmental monitoring, cultural preservation, and social impact. He aspires to democratize 3D and 4D computer vision for communities worldwide impacted by climate change. As a Fulbright research scholar in Nepal, his research leverages 3D computer vision and empathy to document climate disasters, vulnerable heritage, and lived experiences. Targeting land and climate injustice, Wallace collaborates with displaced communities to inform local policy and requests for relief aid.

Next stop: Cambridge

Macalester graduate Imane Chatri ’23 received the Mastercard Foundation Scholarship to pursue the MPhil in technology policy at the University of Cambridge. This fully-funded scholarship is awarded to applicants with outstanding intellectual ability, leadership potential, and a desire and commitment to contribute to climate resilient and sustainable futures for Africa and the world at large.

Asking the big questions with NSF fellowship

Macalester graduate Sariya Stowers ’23 was awarded a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship by the National Science Foundation. Her proposal focused on the end of Chevron deference and its effects on rule making by the Environmental Protection Agency. The grant will support her research in the PhD program in economics at the University of California–San Diego. The five-year fellowship provides three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000. Since graduating from Macalester, Stowers has been a predoctoral fellow in the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. 

How to be considered for future Maccolades

If you or someone you know recently earned an award, fellowship, or honor and would like it to be considered for inclusion in next month’s Maccolades, please let Communications & Marketing know by filling out this Maccolades form. For recent book publications, please use this book publication form.