Sachin Desai, M.Eng. '07, has been named a Luce scholar by the Henry Luce Foundation. Desai is the first engineering student from Cornell to win this award.

The Luce Scholars Program provides stipends and internships for 18 young Americans to live and work in Asia for a year. Dating from 1974, the program's purpose is to increase awareness of Asia among future leaders in American society. Luce scholars have a record of high achievement, outstanding leadership ability and a clearly defined career interest with evidence of potential for professional accomplishment, according to the foundation.

Recipients are chosen from 67 colleges and universities, including Cornell. The Luce Foundation, along with the Asia Foundation, will craft an internship opportunity unique to Sachin's background and interests. He plans to work in China. Currently he is a team leader on Cornell's Satellite Team, a 100-member team designing and constructing a satellite mission in a two-year-long competition sponsored by NASA and the Air Force. He has conducted research for the Cornell Formula SAE Team and at Sandia National Laboratories.

Other Cornellians who have won Luce scholarships since 1996 are John Cochran, A&S '00, who went to China as a graduate student from the University of Southern California; Evan Frasier, Hotel '92, who won as a young professional; and Maureen Quigley, MPA '96, who went to Vietnam with the program.