Worldwide affairs undergraduate amongst 54 college students chosen for scholarship nationwide
College of Georgia senior Mercedes “Sadie” Bengs is certainly one of 54 undergraduates from 49 faculties and universities throughout the nation to be chosen as a 2025 Truman Scholar, a prestigious award given every year to college students who show tutorial excellence, management potential and dedication to a profession in authorities or the nonprofit sector.
Bengs is from Aberdeen, South Dakota, and is finding out worldwide affairs within the Faculty of Public and Worldwide Affairs and Russian within the Franklin School of Arts and Sciences. She is a cadet in UGA’s Air Pressure ROTC, is within the Russian Flagship Program and is a Russell Safety Management Program Fellow.
When she commissions into the Air Pressure, Bengs will proceed a household legacy as a fourth-generation army servicemember; her father retired from the Air Pressure as a lieutenant colonel. Bengs is at the moment a mission help group commander within the Air Pressure ROTC.
The Truman Scholarship offers funding for graduate research and alternatives for coaching, internships and fellowships. This 12 months’s Truman Students had been chosen from 743 candidates who had been nominated by 288 faculties and universities.
Mercedes “Sadie” Bengs
“The College of Georgia congratulates Sadie on this excellent achievement,” stated President Jere W. Morehead. “Her choice as UGA’s twenty third Truman Scholar speaks to the expertise and dedication of our college students and the dedication of our college to offer world-class studying experiences.”
Bengs will graduate from UGA in 2026 after finding out overseas in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the place she is going to full her capstone 12 months for the Russian Flagship Program. She is going to then pursue a grasp’s diploma centered on Russian, East European and Eurasian research. She desires to proceed analysis on using synthetic intelligence throughout fight from the views of each worldwide coverage and expertise improvement. Her objective is to know AI and its makes use of in an try to assist higher regulate it.
A graduate diploma in Russian research additionally permits Bengs to turn into a overseas space officer when she achieves the rank of captain within the Air Pressure. After finishing additional coaching, she hopes to signify the Air Pressure in an embassy, supporting U.S. diplomatic efforts and growing cross-cultural relationships.
“Sadie’s dedication to her nation may be seen in the best way she has ready to be a public service chief,” stated Meg Amstutz, dean of the Morehead Honors School. “The Truman Scholarship is a superb acknowledgment of all her laborious work, from her language expertise to her funding within the Russian Flagship and Safety Management packages.”
Bengs researches nationwide safety points as a Safety Management Program Fellow, writes articles about Belarussian information for the Russian Flagship’s ARCS — Areas The place Russian is Generally Spoken — initiative and helps different college students develop their Russian language acquisition by way of the UGA Russian Membership.
Her pursuits in deadly autonomous weapons techniques and Russia’s use of synthetic intelligence in opposition to civilians have received her analysis grants by way of the Lawrence Livermore Nationwide Laboratory and the UGA Middle for Undergraduate Analysis Alternatives. She can also be an energetic member of Phi Beta Kappa, served as commander of the UGA Valor Honor Guard and labored to spice up retention and neighborhood influence as vice chairman of Silver Wings, a joint civilian and Air Pressure ROTC neighborhood service group.
In summer season 2024, Bengs was the enterprise supervisor at Waldsee, Concordia’s German Language Village devoted to cultural and linguistic immersion. Whereas finding out overseas on the Baltic Middle for Academic and Tutorial Improvement in Latvia in summer season 2023, she carried out analysis on distant warfare in Ukraine as an intern for the Latvian Institute of Worldwide Affairs. In 2022, she was chosen as certainly one of three UGA college students to attend the Flagship Hackathon and function a Flagship Tech Ambassador within the following 12 months.
In April, Bengs was chosen for the 2025 Iris Burton Bulls Fellowship, a program designed to mentor and help future army officers of their profession improvement.
Established by Congress in 1975 because the dwelling memorial to President Harry S. Truman and a nationwide monument to public service, the Truman Scholarship helps and conjures up the following technology of public service leaders. For extra info, go to https://www.truman.gov/.
UGA’s Main Scholarships Workplace, housed within the Morehead Honors School, offers college students throughout campus with help as they apply for nationwide, high-level scholarships. For extra info, contact Jessica Hunt at [email protected] or go to https://honors.uga.edu/scholarships/external-scholarships/.
