Washington University in St. Louis seniors Omar Abdelmoity and Marilee Karinshak were finalists for the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the globe’s highest academic honors.
Abdelmoity, of the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kan., is majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences and was recently awarded the Goldwater Scholarship, a national award that honors young researchers. He also is a finalist for the Marshall Scholarship, a prestigious award that funds graduate education in the United Kingdom.
Karinshak of the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville, Ga. is majoring in environmental analysis in Arts & Sciences and also was a 2025 recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship. Karinshak also is co-captain of the WashU women’s soccer team, which won the 2024 Division III NCAA championship. Karinshak has completed two internships at NASA, where she used geospatial analysis to evaluate how pollution and climate change affect at-risk communities.
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin praised Abdelmoity and Karinshak for their shared commitment to creating new knowledge in service of vulnerable populations.