Karp ’10 awarded Hertz Foundation fellowship

The “no-strings-attached” fellowship, awarded to undergraduate and first-year graduate students studying engineering or the applied sciences, can be used to fund graduate study at one of roughly 50 schools deemed “tenable” by the Hertz Foundation. Karp, who learned that he won the fellowship on Monday night, said he plans to use the funding to attend Stanford after spending a year studying in Britain.

In February, Karp was awarded a Churchill Scholarship, which funds a full year of graduate study in engineering, mathematics or science at Cambridge.

Karp, who is also a sports writer for The Daily Princetonian, is pursuing certificates in applied mathematics and applications of computing at the University.

Karp said he is “really happy to get the best of both worlds” and is looking forward to “[exploring] Cambridge, which I imagine to be fully different from Princeton and Stanford.”

“I get to bounce all over the world in the process of finishing up my education,” he explained.

Karp’s future research will focus on development and application of computational fluid dynamics and design optimization to scramjet-powered vehicles. He also has an interest in Formula One racecar aerodynamics.

“What the Hertz Foundation seeks to do is to identify what they believe are the brightest and most talented science and engineering students,” said Bennet Ratcliff ’87, a spokesman for the foundation.

The foundation aims to encourage fellowship recipients “to be innovative and take risks,” he said, citing the “no-strings-attached” aspect of the fellowship.

Karp said it was this flexibility that prompted him to apply for the fellowship.

“It gives me a lot of freedom in terms of going to graduate school the way I want to in the U.S. and being able to research whatever I’m interested in,” he said.

To apply for a Hertz Fellowship, students must file an online application, obtain four references and attend two interviews with experts in their fields of study.

Karp attributed his success in two separate fellowship applications to several mentors, including Frank Ordiway, associate dean of the college; Peter Bogucki, associate dean for undergraduate affairs at the School of Engineering and Applied Science; and mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Richard Miles, a former Hertz Fellowship winner.