The Foreign Language Center announced today that Nathaniel Henry, a double major in geographic information systems and urban studies with minors in Chinese and economics, was selected for the 2013-2014 NSEP Boren Undergraduate Study Abroad Award. Henry will study Mandarin Chinese at Peking University in Beijing, China.

Henry, a third-year student from Shaker Heights, Ohio, is currently working on his senior thesis, a study on the relationship between the Chinese and American foreign aid organizations.

"Through my classes and a bit of personal research, I've learned about how Chinese and U.S. global interests affect the ways they deliver foreign aid, especially in African countries. I have a vague sense about what kind of international aid is effective through Northwestern's GESI program in India, which I participated in last summer," said Henry. "I would like to study both USAID and MOFCOM (the Chinese aid organization) to see how they operate on a daily basis. I hope that watching these everyday tasks will reveal a story that's about more than just the countries' power relations and worldwide interests."

Henry traveled to Sichuan province during May semester with Professor Bender from the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature. Thanks to his course at the Southwest University for Nationalities in Chengdu, he has already been able to experience Chinese cultures and cities in a unique way.

"My class of Ohio State students got to partner up with students of the Yi nationality from SWUN," Henry explained. "We toured Sichuan province with them and taught at a middle school in Miyi (a slightly smaller city with only 2 million people instead of 10)."

When Henry heads to Peking University for the year, he will be taking intensive language courses and preparing to learn all about Chinese foreign aid. He also will explore the histories of minority ethnic groups within Beijing.

Boren Scholarships are funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), which focuses on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security. NSEP draws on a broad definition of national security, recognizing that the scope of national security has expanded to include not only the traditional concerns of protecting and promoting American well-being, but also the challenges of global society, including sustainable development, environmental degradation, global disease and hunger, population growth and migration, and economic competitiveness.

For more information about the NSEP Boren Undergraduate Study Abroad Award contact Dr. Rebecca Bias, assistant director, Foreign Language Center and Boren Scholarship Advisor.