University of Alabama seniors Anika Cho and Owen Emerson are two of 12 college students from around the nation to receive the U.S.-Ireland Alliance’s George J. Mitchell Scholarship.
The Mitchell Scholarship was named to honor former U.S. Senator George Mitchell’s contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process and aims to introduce and connect future American leaders to Ireland, while recognizing and fostering intellectual achievement, leadership, and a commitment to community and public service.
Anika is a UA Honors College student studying electrical engineering. She received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship in June 2022 and has conducted research at NOAA Ocean Exploration, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and an underwater acoustics lab at UA. Owen is a UA Honors College student studying economics. He is a guitarist and singer-songwriter who fuses Appalachian folk music techniques with modern pop and alt-rock styles. Noting the Ulster Scots influence on Appalachian music, he wants to become a documentarian and educator of Appalachian-Irish musical heritage. Owen will study music and media technologies at Trinity College Dublin.