From a food pantry to a financial education app, 2026 Furman Fellows flex their ingenuity

A food pantry, a digital map of an ancient Greek text, a campus makerspace, a jazz album, an AI-driven investment guide – the 2025 Furman University Fellows have big plans.

Each spring the Furman Fellowships, one of the university’s highest honors, recognize the accomplishments, contributions and potential of five juniors. The $10,000 awards allow them to pursue their academic, creative and professional pathways during their senior years. The awards are announced each year at Furman Engaged,

The Furman Fellowship is an endowed scholarship fund founded in 2004 with a gift from Trustee Emeritus Robert H. Buckman H’15 and his wife, Joyce Mollerup. The fund was established to recognize seniors who use their creativity and imagination to make a difference in the school and the lives of others, Buckman said.

The fellows will present their work in April 2026, during the university’s bicentennial year, at Furman Engaged, the university’s annual campus-wide celebration of graduate research and engaged learning. A new class of Furman Fellows will be chosen at Furman Engaged.

Neha Bhatnagar ’26, Greer, South Carolina

A neuroscience major, 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. “Through this project, I aim to bring awareness to the importance of healthy donations and food security for our community,” Neha said.

Cian Colgan ’26, East Amherst, New York

Colgan is a double major in history and Earth and environmental sciences and 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 ancient Greeks’ itinerary. The project will make a fully integrated reading aid for the Anabasis that blends textual, cartographic and commentary elements. “Anyone interested in military narratives, travelogues, ancient and environmental history, archaeology and anthropological accounts [will] have much to gain from this learning tool,” Cian said.

Zia Harrison ’26, McLean, Virginia

A physics major and data analytics minor, Harrison 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 Ropp ’26, Greenville, South Carolina

Ropp is a double major in physics and music. For his Furman Fellows project he will write and record a modern jazz album. He currently performs professionally in a wide array of styles and settings from Columbia, South Carolina to Asheville, North Carolina, and has previously recorded on others’ projects. This will be the first time he has led his own recording project, an opportunity that is exceptionally rare for an undergraduate music student. “This project will also help hone skills applicable outside of music, especially since I will be playing a highly improvisational style where the chemistry, intention and interaction are paramount,” Ropp said.

Pratik Shrestha ’26, Nepal

Shrestha is an information technology major with a finance cognate and a data analytics minor. His 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.”

Another news story in the spring will share the fellows’ progress.