Gibbs

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Barbados native Damany Gibbs, a Cornell University 2003 engineering graduate, has won a 2005 Rhodes Scholarship, considered the world's leading academic scholarship, for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford.

Gibbs, who majored in operations research and industrial engineering, now works as an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City. He is the first Cornellian to win a Commonwealth Caribbean Rhodes Scholarship, awarded to just two people this year. He plans to use his Rhodes Scholarship to earn an MBA at Oxford with a concentration in finance. His long-term goal is to use his skills in the continued development of an efficient capital market system in the Caribbean.

At Cornell, Gibbs served as treasurer and program coordinator of the Cornell chapter of National Society of Black Engineers. He also worked with the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit organization that provides mentoring services, career programs and financial education to black students and communities. He continues to work with SEO.

"I am extremely excited about the opportunity to pursue further studies at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar," says Gibbs. "It is an honor to have been selected, and I plan on living up to the responsibility that comes along with it by returning to the Caribbean and serving my community there as a leader in the regional financial services sector."

The Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and colonial pioneer. Selection criteria for scholars include "high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor."

This year's 32 Rhodes Scholars from the United States will join an international group of scholars chosen from 18 other jurisdictions around the world. Approximately 95 scholars are selected worldwide each year.