Announcing the Summer 2024 Undergraduate Summer Travel Grant Recipients

The Center for African Studies is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Undergraduate Summer Travel Grants for research, internships, study abroad, or special projects that take place in Africa. This year, twelve students were awarded funding, totaling $53,000. Award amounts ranged from $1,200 - $7,500.   

Students were also awarded funding to participate in two CAS-sponsored internship programs this year:The Maru-A-Pula Internship Program (Botswana) and The Art School Africa Internship Program (South Africa and Zimbabwe).  To learn more about these programs, click the corresponding links above.  

Applications for our 2025 Summer Undergraduate Travel Grants and Summer Internship Programs open on December 1, 2024 and close February 15, 2025. Learn more and apply.  

Undergraduate Summer Travel Grant Recipients 

Marley Dias | Harvard College ‘26  
Concentration: Sociology/African & African American Studies 
Project: Art School Africa Internship Program 
Location: South Africa and Zimbabwe 

Nico Dominguez Carrero | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Environmental Science and Public Policy 
Project: A Mixed-Methods Characterization of Climate-Health Resilience among Malagasy Fishers 
Location: Madagascar 

Max Fan | Harvard College ‘26 
Concentration: English/Mathematics 
Project: Maru-A-Pula Internship Program 
Location: Botswana 

Eden Getahun | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Social Studies 
Project: Art School Africa Internship Program 
Location: South Africa and Zimbabwe 

Joi Gonzales | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Molecular and Cellular Biology 
Project: South African National Bioinformatics Institute Research Internship 
Location: South Africa 

Dariana Gonzalez-Aguilar | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Integrative Biology 
Project: Investigating the Relationship Between Bais and Anuran Biodiversity in the Congo Basin Rainforest 
Location: Congo 

Nika Rudenko | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Integrative Biology/Psychology 
Project: Maru-A-Pula Internship Program 
Location: Botswana 

Daniella Saforo | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Government 
Project: The Political Economy of Education: A Comparative Study of Ghana and Sierra Leone  
Location: Ghana and Sierra Leone 

Humaid Saleem | Harvard College ‘26 
Concentration: Mathematics 
Project: Maru-A-Pula Internship Program 
Location: Botswana 

Victor Seco Roopnaraine | Harvard College ‘26 
Concentration: Mathematics 
Project: Maru-A-Pula Internship Program 
Location: Botswana 

Summer Smentek | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Integrative Biology 
Project: Drivers of Human-Carnivore Conflict in Northern Laikipia County, Kenya 
Location: Kenya 

Nehir Toklu | Harvard College ‘25 
Concentration: Integrative Biology 
Project: Analyzing Animal Influences on Plant Diversity through Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis 
Location: Congo