The Asian/Pacific American Association for Advancement at AT&T developed the 4A-AT&T National Scholarship Program as a way to reach back into the community-at-large. This program provides a linkage between local chapters, regional councils, the national organization, and colleges/universities across the country to focus on continuous development and attainment of higher education goals. Publicizing the scholarship provides the 4A chapters an opportunity to be actively involved within their local communities. Candidates are nominated from each chapter, with final selection performed by the 4A National Scholarship Committee.
 

2/28/07 Update: 4A-AT&T and Asians for Corporate and Community Action have merged to form a new organization, Asian Pacific Islanders for Professional and Community Advancement (APCA). The 4A-AT&T National Scholarship Program is no longer being offered.

In September 2006, 4A-AT&T awarded scholarships to distinguished college students who demonstrated significant leadership and community involvement while achieving high academic standing.

Kevin Koo
Nashua, New Hampshire
Harvard University

Kevin is a senior at Harvard University. A Biochemical Sciences major, he is interested in the regulation of cell-signaling pathways and is writing his thesis on the molecular mechanisms underlying degeneration of the retina in fetal alcohol syndrome. Concerned about the public understanding of science, he leads the Harvard Science Review, the University's oldest journal of research and technology, in expanding scientific literacy. In addition to his laboratory investigations, Kevin conducts research on the empowerment of at-risk youth; last summer, he addressed a global meeting of childhood-education scholars on a peer-to-peer learning model that he developed and implemented. Kevin is also deeply invested in the Asian/Pacific American community. Recognized by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations for his contributions to promoting cross-cultural understanding, he strives to advance interdisciplinary awareness of APA issues as Editor-in-Chief of the internationally recognized Harvard Asia Pacific Review. On weekends, Kevin teaches civics classes to Chinatown residents preparing for U.S. naturalization and volunteers as a trilingual translator at a health clinic serving underprivileged communities in Greater Boston. He enjoys swimming, wilderness backpacking, and performing his original works of ethnic Chinese dance.

Ramanujan Nadadur
Los Angeles, California
Princeton University

Ramanujan 'Anuj' Nadadur is a senior at Princeton University pursuing an A.B. in Public and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School and a Certificate in Spanish Language.

At Princeton, Anuj is Co-President of the South Asian Students Association (SASA) and has actively sponsored numerous events promoting South Asian issues on campus. In addition, he has involved SASA in community service efforts including a campus wide fundraising drive to collect donations for the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. He is also an Editor-in-Chief of the Princeton Journal of Bioethics and a member of Naacho, Princeton's first Indian dance troupe. In terms of his academic work, Anuj has focused on politics and development in South Asia, and he intends to write his senior thesis on conflict resolution in Kashmir, the territory that has been at the heart of strained relations between India and Pakistan. With this in mind, he spent the summer before his senior year conducting fieldwork in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

In addition to his activities on campus, Anuj has interned at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). He has also spent time volunteering at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic working with refugees applying for asylum relief and abused spouses seeking immigration status under the Violence Against Women Act. He intends to pursue a career in international law focusing on issues related to refugees and asylum-seekers applying for legal status in the United States.

Shayak Sarkar
San Diego, California
Harvard University

Shayak Sarkar is a senior at Harvard University pursuing both a bachelors in applied mathematics and economics and a masters in statistics. He won the Detur prize for his freshman year record and was elected as a junior to Phi Beta Kappa. He has spent most of his time involved with the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), the center for service and activism at Harvard. He served as the organization's treasurer, managing a budget of over $1 million.

Under PBHA's auspices, he has served as a director of the only student-run homeless shelter in the country. He specifically manages the work-contract program in which employed guests receive longer term accommodations to help the transition into permanent housing. He spent his summers in a number of social work endeavors, ranging from designing a service learning curriculum and teaching ESL to researching the effects of No Child Left Behind with an economics research team. Shayak also served as a leader and steering committee member for the First Year Urban Program, a freshman orientation program focused on service, activism, and social justice. On campus, he works as a head course assistant for an undergraduate calculus course. In the future, Shayak hopes to use statistics and mathematics to work towards a more collaborative society in which social justice and economic progress go hand in hand. In his spare time, Shayak enjoys running along the Charles river while listening to really bad early 90s pop music and baking deliciously unhealthy desserts for friends.

Santosh Sateesh
Sarasota, Florida
New York University

Santosh Sateesh is a senior at the Stern School of Business at New York University, pursuing a double major in Finance and Economic Policy.  An Honors student, he is currently writing a thesis on the relationship political reform in China and Russia has to capital market development, and the potential for meaningful local development through these markets.  This past summer, Santosh worked on the Structured Credit Trading desk at Lehman Brothers, learning about flow credit products and how they relate to macro and microeconomic developments.  Previously, Santosh was a volunteer at eGovernments Foundation, an NGO in Bangalore, India, focused specifically on improving political processes through technological innovations and open-source development.  There, Santosh researched property tax data, creating a template that could be used to better analyze spatial data, improving revenue distribution and reducing distortion in municipal revenues.  At Stern, Santosh is the President of Stern Scholars, a selective organization providing opportunities for academic development and community service projects.  He also chairs the Executive Committee on the Stern Summit on Global Business, where he developed the theme of The Disappearing Third World: a Paradox of Growth, covering the divergent nature of the global economy in a development perspective.  Additionally, he is the founder and editor of the Journal of Politics and International Affairs, the first student-run political journal at NYU.  In his free time, Santosh enjoys playing the violin, arguing about politics, and traveling.

Michael Xu
Forest Hills, New York
New York University

Michael is a senior at NYU's Stern School of Business pursuing a double major in Marketing and Management.

Michael came to the United States in 1999 from mainland China. Having experienced discrimination in his junior high school, Michael has committed to empowering his fellow Asian Americans ever since. At the age of eighteen, he became the youngest member of New York City's Community Board 2 in Manhattan. In that role, he has constantly voiced support for the City's Chinatown community. In 2004, he became the youngest staff consultant at the New York State Democratic Party. Working with Asian American community leaders and elected officials during the 2004 general election, Michael delivered one of the biggest Asian American voter turnouts in New York history. Later, he helped to found the Asian Pacific American Voters Alliance in New York. Most recently, he served as the youngest and sole Asian American member on Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's transition team and Community Board Reform Committee. In these roles, he ensured the fair representation of Asian Americans on the Borough President's staff and Manhattan's Community Boards. His works have been recognized by various local newspapers. For example, this February, The Villager, regarded Michael as "an example of New York City's next generation of leadership."

Michael has also been active in his school. He is the co-founder and president of NYU Stern's Business & Politics Group, a student organization that examines the relationship between U.S. government/political entities and Corporate America. His outstanding service and leadership earned him NYU Stern's Arch and Square Award.

In his spare time, Michael, a past Chinese national junior golf champion, continues to play his favorite sport as a hobby. He also hosts his own radio show every Sunday for the Chinese American Voice Radio Station's 200,000 listeners.

 
Recipients of Previous Years' Scholarship Program