Two Auburn students were announced as finalists for the Rhode Scholarship. Seniors Kasey Cooper and Matthew Rogers will interview for the competitive position in the coming weeks.
The overall global acceptance for this scholarship is 0.7 percent, making it one of the most prestigious graduate scholarships in the world. The scholarship has been awarded since 1902 and has only been available to women since 1977.
Winners of the scholarship receive full tuition to Oxford in the graduate program of their choosing. The Rhodes Trust also covers the student's living expenses while in school.
Cooper, senior in mechanical engineering with a minor in sports coaching, and Rogers, senior in software engineering, joined the prestigious ranks of men and women designated as a finalist. Cooper and Rogers will travel to interview in Birmingham along with other finalists in mid-November.
Cooper said if selected for the scholarship she will pursue a master's degree in radiation biology and become a physician.
Cooper's resume includes a research project in gynecologic oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, participation in engineering research projects in ACL prevention and a Demarini bat study in the Auburn engineering labs.
Professor Anahita Ayasoufi in the department of mechanical engineering said Cooper’s research contributions have been outstanding.
“In her actions and her words, Kasey has demonstrated breadth and depth,” Ayasoufi said. “She showed great metacognition ability, as well as an intrinsic motivation for going above and beyond the concepts discussed in class. She was always searching for diverse applications of what we learned, a quality quite beneficial for leading successful research.”
In addition to her academic efforts, Cooper currently holds the most offensive softball records.
Cooper holds records for home runs, RBIs, batting average and on-base percentage. She was National Freshman of the Year in 2014 as well as SEC Player of the Year in 2016 and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2017.
Cooper was the only Auburn student to ever be selected to play for the United States national women's softball team. In 2016 she won a silver medal at the world cup of softball along with a team win of gold at the Women's Softball World Championship the same year.
Cooper said she feels the University has enabled her to be this successful.
"I am humbled and truly honored at having been selected as a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, such opportunities are only possible because of the continued support and guidance I've received as an Auburn University student-athlete,” she said.
Rogers, a student in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and the Honors College, is currently enrolled in three graduate level classes while maintaining his 4.0 grade point average.
Rogers worked three summers as an undergraduate research intern at the Huntsville-based Dynetics Inc. There, Rogers helped develop malware analysis tools in an effort to automate vulnerability scanning and exploitation. Rogers gave presentations on malware analysis at a number of professional conferences throughout the country and is a co-author of several internal reports.
Due to his work in cybersecurity, Rogers appeared on the CBS Sunday Morning News and National Public Radio’s “All Tech Considered.”
In Auburn, Rogers serves as an honors college ambassador, an undergraduate research ambassador, a co-founder of the Auburn Ethical Hacking Club, past treasurer for the Auburn chapter of the Association
“Matthew Rogers is one of those students who
If awarded the Rhodes Scholarship, Rogers plans to earn a doctor of philosophy in cyber security in preparation for a career in cybersecurity.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to interview for such an award and look forward to meeting with the scholarship selection committee,” said Rogers.
The Rhodes Scholarship judges applicants on the specific criteria of scholarship, leadership, character and energy.
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