Phi Beta Kappa elects 174 seniors, 63 juniors

This spring, 174 seniors and 63 juniors were elected into the University’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, according to Stephen Merriam Foley ’74, associate professor emeritus of English and comparative literature and chapter president. 

Click to jump to the list of elected juniors or seniors.

“Brown’s chapter of this national society honors students who have made the best of their education at Brown,” Foley said in an interview with The Herald. 

Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary to encourage liberal education grounded in the “freedom of inquiry,” according to their website. 

Today, the society has chapters at over 290 schools in the United States. Brown’s chapter, known as the Rhode Island Alpha and established in 1830, is the sixth oldest in the country.

“Phi Beta Kappa is dedicated to honoring intellectual achievement in the arts and sciences, and I think Brown should be pleased to have been one of the oldest members of this national society,” Foley said. 

In each graduating class, the top 12% of students that meet the chapter’s requirements will be elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Brown. The top 3% of these students are elected in their junior year, while the remaining 9% are elected in their senior year. 

To qualify for election, students must have taken 40% of their courses in the arts, the humanities, the social sciences, the cognitive sciences, linguistics, psychology or public health, Foley said. 

Until 2022, Brown’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa only elected the top 10% of each graduating class. But the chapter expanded the society to elect the top 12% in hopes of making elections more inclusive and “reflective of the student body at Brown,” Richard Rambuss, then-chapter president and current English Department chair, told The Herald at the time.

Foley noted that it is still “too early” after the society’s expansion to determine whether the composition of elected classes has changed.

Last year, the membership fee — a one-time $85 payment to join the society — was waived as a result of a partnership between Brown’s chapter and the University, Foley said. The fee was also waived for this year’s elected students.

Carlson Ogata ’25 said he did not know about Phi Beta Kappa before he was notified of his election. In his time at Brown, Ogata took classes in six or seven departments before deciding to concentrate in both education studies and health and human biology. 

“It’s rewarding to have something to show for” his academic efforts, Ogata said. 

Patrick Rourke ’25 concentrates in education studies and social analysis and research but, like Carlson, took classes in seven departments before settling on his academic focus. 

Rourke emphasized the importance of recognizing academic excellence in non-STEM fields, noting that these fields “often get sort of swept under the rug in favor of STEM-heavy studies,” he said. 

Before his election, Rourke didn’t know that Phi Beta Kappa existed. But he believed this lack of awareness was beneficial to his academic experience at Brown. 

Education should be “in the moment, learning what you want to learn, and not necessarily gunning for some award that comes at the end of it,” Rourke said.

For Madeline Day ’25, her public health concentration has helped her complete pre-med requirements and see the “balance” between evaluating physical symptoms and lived experiences of patients. 

Day previously knew about the society from a friend, but she told The Herald it was an “honor” and a “nice surprise” to be elected this spring.

Malcolm Certain ’26, who also knew about Phi Beta Kappa previously, said they were “pleased” to be elected. 

“Being at Brown has helped me get a taste of disciplines outside of” their concentrations in applied math-economics and urban studies, Certain said. “I’ve certainly gotten a more well-rounded education.” 

They added that the award feels particularly important in the current political climate, as academic institutions like Brown are “under attack politically.” 

“It’s nice to join this community of scholarship that’s been around for hundreds of years,” Certain said of their election. 

For Certain, Phi Beta Kappa feels “bigger than oneself.” 

Those elected with the senior class are as follows:

Yeabfikir Ayele Alemayehu

Amaya Allen

Jay Amin

Patrick Anders

Manoli Angelakis

Sydney Asnis

Luc Azar-Tanguay

Leanna Bai (former post- magazine contributor)

Crystal Banh

John Bellaire

Mateo Benitez

Robert Beveridge

Bahar Birsel

Rebecca Blumenthal

Kian Braulik

Anna Brent-Levenstein

Billie Breskin

Giuseppe Canta

James Carlson

Kaitlyn Chan

Angela Chen

Qiao Ying Chen

Zhiyi Chen

Deborah Cherman

Rohan Cherukuru

Alexander Choi

Ava Cloonan (former Herald copy editor)

Samuel Colton

Helene Comer

Nicolas Concepcion

Lucy Cooper-Silvis

Lily Cork

Alexander Cortez

Julian Cronin

Derek Czapek

Kayleigh Danowski

Madeline Day

Arman Deendar

Anna Dubey (former Herald copy chief)

Sarah Dugal

Vishwas Duggirala

Alexia Embiricos

Ayoola Fadahunsi (former post- magazine contributor)

Itamar Fiorino

Mackenzie Ford

Ashley Ganesh

Evan Gardner (former post- magazine contributor)

Sofia Gilroy

Halleluiah Girum

Giselle Goldfischer

Eli Gordon

Cole Griscom

Tyler Gurth

Nathan Haronian

Fiona Harrington

Nanami Hasegawa

Rachel Hecht

Lawrence Heller

Justin Hickey

Alexandra Hogue

Xiaoyue Hou

Lauren Howe

Jane Hwang

Ianthe Ince

Raima Islam (former post- magazine contributor)

John Jacobsen

Paul Jeong

Amelia Jessop

Milo Jezzeny

Ian Joe

Deven Kamlani

Dongyoon Kang

Denika Kao

Doh Hyun Kim

Nicholas Klatsky

Kiran Klubock-Shukla

Aliza Kopans

Chris Kourkoulakos

Irene Kwon

San Kwon

Alec Lacerte

Thomas Lasersohn

Cameron Le

Justin Lee (former Herald staff writer)

Elsa Lehrer

Stefan Leonard

Samuel Levine (former Herald university news editor)

Amanda Li

Joyce Li

Greta List

Anna Lister

Fiona Liu

Oscar Low

Elie Lubin

Tabitha Lynn (current post- magazine managing editor)

Eric Ma

Michael Ma

Akshay Malhotra

Catherine Manning (former Herald copy editor)

Kainoa S. Maruoka

Nicholas Masi

Evan McHenry

Christina Miles

Marcos Montoya Andrade

Alexandra Mork

Sofia Morris

Stewart Morris

Ian Nachman

Helena Nashold

Isaiah Nawaz

Meleah Neely

Tharit Ngamprasertsith

Carlson Ogata

Ayaka Ono

Catharine Paik

Sebastian Park

Torben Parker

Khushi Patel

Sydney Pearson (current post- magazine contributor)

Elise Petit

Jay Philbrick

Styliani Pipa

Enrique Puig

Tian Qiu

Aileen Rajaei

Diane Rakotomalala

Timothy Reiad

Olivia Richey

Gabriel Ritter

Audrey Roche

Bianca Rosen

Emma Rosenthal

Isabel Roth-Dishy

Patrick Rourke

Andrew Rovinsky

Anna Ryu

Samir Saeed

Daniel Safian

Daniel Salaru

Kareena Sandhu

Emily Saxl (former post- magazine illustrator)

Jonathan Schor

Alicia Shen

Joshua Silverman

Alissa Simon (former Herald opinions chief)

Shravya Sompalli (former Herald staffer)

Jake Srebnick (former Herald photographer)

Megna Srinivasan

Linda Starrs (former Herald contributing writer)

Gabrielle Steinbrenner

Jacob Stifelman

Camryn Suntha (former post- magazine contributor)

Maella Tagne

Laura Tamayo (former post- magazine contributor)

Sabina Topol

Taisiya Tworek

Rya Vallabhaneni (former Herald arts & culture editor)

Yuliya Velhan

Vatsal Vemuri

Natalie Villacres (former Herald senior staff writer)

Bryce Vist

Neshima Vitale-Penniman

Natalie Wadhwa

Jean Wanlass

Ava Ward

Jonathan Weiss

Justin Weiss

Trevor Wiedmann

Nathanael Winoto

Sarah Wong

Wyatt Woodbery

Kenan Zaidat

Sophie Zhang

Yifan Zhang

Those elected with the junior class are as follows:

Benjamin Aizenberg (current Herald columnist)

Eliana Alweis

Bokai Bi

Camille Blanco

Noa Brown

Pascale Carvalho

Malcolm Certain

Justin Chan

Wei Yang Chan

Julianna Chang (current Herald managing editor)

Meredith Chang

Athina Chen

Grace Chen

Barron Clancy

Julian Cohen

Avanee Dalmia (former Herald illustrator)

Ryan Doherty (current Herald managing editor and vice president)

Charlotte Doughty

Ziqi Fang

Isabella Fish

Garv Gaur

Thomas Gotsch

Ashton Higgins (former Herald contributing writer)

Doren Hsiao-Wecksler

Jenny Hu

Markus Joerg

Pierre Jolin

Augustus Konigsmark

Samuel Lederman

Andrew Junwon Lee

Tom Li (current Herald editor-in-chief and president)

Wenjing Li

Christopher Liu

Margaret Lorraine

Grace Ma

Guo Ma

Jason Markopoulos

Manav Musunuru (current Herald arts & culture editor)

Wesley Peng

Weston Poe

Sophie Poellnitz

Advaith Rege

Etta Robb

Stanislas Robert

Nikolas Rohrmann

Navya Sahay

Austin Sarker-Young

Zoe Schwartz

Elliot Smith

Riley Stevenson

Sneha Tallam

Autumn Tilley

Emily Wang

Michael Wang

Lena Linxi Wu

Jasmine Xi

Hans Xu (current Herald general manager)

Simon Yang

William Yu

Anita Zahiri

Eitan Zemel

Andrew Zhong (former Herald photographer)

PengCheng Zhu