A University of Kansas senior from Lawrence has been nominated for a prestigious scholarship that would pay for her to study abroad at the University of Oxford in England.
Sivani Badrivenkata, KU pharmacy student, is a finalist for the 2024 Rhodes Scholarship, according to a KU news release. If Badrivenkata is ultimately chosen, the scholarship would fund one to three years of attending the University of Oxford.
Badrivenkata is the daughter of Dayakar Badri and Haarisa Valasa. She graduated in 2020 from Free State High School, where she was involved in speech and debate, Model United Nations and more.
While attending KU, Badrivenkata currently works at Sigler Pharmacy in Lawrence. She previously served as an assistant coach of speech and debate at her alma mater. During the summer of 2021, she gained experience as a research intern for a prostate cancer clinical research project through KU Medical Center.
She serves as the president of ResearchRx, a KU School of Pharmacy student organization that “promotes scientific literacy, research involvement and careers in pharmaceutical research,” according to the release. Additionally, she’s a KU Global Scholar and a University Honors Program member, for which she’s a program ambassador and previously served as an honors seminar assistant.
Badrivenkata is currently conducting research in the lab of Michael Hageman, Valentino J. Stella distinguished professor in KU’s Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. There she works to gauge the viability and efficacy of lactoferrin to treat vaginal E. coli infections in pregnant patients to ultimately prevent neonatal sepsis, according to the release.
After graduating this spring with her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy, Badrivenkata plans to pursue a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry. Her goal is to “teach and conduct translational research in academia with a focus on integrating biologics in formulations to address global health needs,” according to the release.
If selected to earn the Rhodes Scholarship, Badrivenkata will have a slew of awards and recognitions to add to. She is a recipient of a spring 2023 Undergraduate Research Award, presented at the 2022 Kansas Pharmacists Association’s annual meeting and trade show, and she participated in the 2022 summer Undergraduate Research Program within the KU pharmaceutical chemistry department.
This year, she was chosen as a KU nominee for both the Goldwater and Truman scholarships.
Badrivenkata hasn’t only shown her creativity through her research. Her original poems have been published in Kiosk Magazine. She also hosted an art exhibition at the Kansas Union Gallery in fall 2021 and had five paintings displayed in KU campus libraries throughout the 2022-23 academic year, according to the release.
Badrivenkata and other 2024 Rhodes Scholarship finalists are set to participate in interviews later this month, followed by the determination of the scholarship recipients. KU students have previously won 27 Rhodes Scholarships.
Learn more about the scholarship on the Rhodes Trust’s website, via rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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