The Furman Fellows award, among the highest honors bestowed on Furman students, recognizes five seniors based on their accomplishments, contributions and potential.
Students apply to become a Furman Fellow in the spring of their junior year. Applicants are required to propose and execute a project during their senior year and present their work at Furman Engaged. Proposed projects may include but are not limited to independent research (e.g., thesis, continuation of a summer or course project), a creative work (e.g., recording, theater production, art installation), a community project (e.g., on-campus or in the Greenville community), or an entrepreneurial endeavor (e.g., creation of a business or piloting/prototyping an idea).
Furman Fellows are selected based on the content of their application, including the project they propose, as well as faculty and staff recommendations. Successful applicants are those who aim to make a difference at Furman and in the broader community, bring creativity and imagination to their daily lives, demonstrate distinctive problem-solving abilities, and are respected by their peers and faculty.
Each Furman Fellow receives $10,000 thanks to the generous philanthropy of Trustee Emeritus Bob Buckman and his wife, Joyce Mollerup. The award is intended to encourage recipients to pursue their academic, creative and professional pathways.
Applications for the Furman Fellows Class of ‘27 will open October 1, 2025 and are due by midnight on Friday March 13, 2026.
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Class of 2026
A Neuroscience Major, Neha Bhatnagar will work with a local elementary school to create a food pantry that will provide students and their families with fresh produce and cultural foods. The project will require coordination with several community partners to bring the project to fruition. Neha said, “Through this project, I aim to bring awareness to the importance of healthy donations and food security for our community.”
Cian is completing a double-major of History and Earth and Environmental Sciences, in addition to an Ancient Greek and Roman Studies minor. His project, “Tracking the Ten Thousand: An Integrated Reading Tool for Xenophon’s Anabasis” uses GIS and digital humanities technologies combined with interdisciplinary methodologies to reconstruct comprehensive, interactive maps of the Greeks’ itinerary. The project will make a fully integrated reading aid for the Anabasis that blends textual, cartographic and commentary elements. As Cian shared, “anyone interested in military narratives, travelogues, ancient and environmental history, archaeology, and anthropological accounts [will] have much to gain from this learning tool.”
Zia is completing a Physics major alongside a minor in Data Analytics. For her project, she will create a makerspace on campus where members of the community can access different tools to invent and create what they imagine. The space will be designed for digital fabrication, allowing students to take an idea from a 3D model to a final product. Zia hopes this project will “give students at Furman an invaluable opportunity to learn, create, and get hands-on with their education”.
Ethan is pursuing a double-major in Physics and Music. For his Furman Fellows project, Ethan will write and record a modern jazz album. He currently performs professionally in a wide array of styles and settings from Columbia to Asheville and has previously recorded on others’ projects. This will be the first time he leads his own recording project, an opportunity that is exceptionally rare for an undergraduate music student.
Pratik is an Information Technology Major with a Finance cognate, who is also pursuing a Data Analytics Minor. Pratik’s project, “HedgeWise” is an AI-driven risk management system and interactive platform that will provide students with investment guidance based on their financial goals. Pratik’s goal is for his app to ensure that “no student is left behind in investing, because no one should be afraid to invest in their future.”