November 11, 2020 - A diverse cohort of 18 young American leaders have been chosen as 2020-2021 Luce Scholars after a three-month-long selection process and have been posted across Asia. Among the newly selected scholars, Melanie Arroyave (left) and Maya Foster (right) arrived in Korea in September and began their professional placement.

Melanie Arroyave(Rutgers University, 2020) is an active-duty service woman in the US Coast Guard College Pre-Commissioning Initiative and a Labor Studies & Employment Relations major. Maya Foster(Johns Hopkins University, 2019) is an aspiring neuro-engineering researcher and global public health entrepreneur. Maya hopes to develop technological tools to improve understanding of incurable neurological disorders.

During the Luce Scholar year, Melanie works as a Researcher with Woorion, an organization helping North Korean refugees resettle in South Korea. Run by North Korean refugees for North Korean refugees, it offers comprehensive listings of educational, scholarship, and job opportunities tailored to meet the needs of North Koreans in Seoul. As a Researcher, Maya works at Nunaps, a company developing digital therapy software based on neuroscience. Nunaps builds a platform to identify target biomarkers and develop new digital therapeutics to treat or manage various neurological disorders.

The Luce Scholars Program promotes and broadens an awareness of Asia among young future leaders. Launched in 1974, the program targets highly-qualified young Americans – under the age of 29 – across a variety of professional fields. The Asia Foundation has overseen the program in Asia since its inception nearly four decades ago. To meet the 2020-2021 Class of Luce Scholars, please click this link.