Nationally Competitive Hertog Summer 2026 Fellowships Awarded
May 7, 2026 – The Hertog Foundation awarded 88 Summer Fellowships to outstanding undergraduates and young professionals to study political ideas and public policy in Washington, DC.
All fellowships include a full scholarship, housing, course materials, and a stipend to support our fellows’ study. This summer, the Foundation is sponsoring four fellowships: Political Studies, Security Studies, Constitutional Studies, and War Studies.
- In 2026, 1,037 individuals, representing 388 undergraduate colleges and universities, applied for a Hertog Summer Fellowship.
- The average applicant GPA was 3.77, and the average accepted fellow GPA was 3.87.
- The Foundation selected 32 Political Studies Fellows, 20 Constitutional Studies Fellows, 16 Security Studies Fellows, and 20 War Studies Fellows.
- Fellows represent 53 colleges and Top performing institutions include the University of Florida (6), Yale University (5), Stanford University (5), Harvard University (4), and Columbia University (4).
Congratulations to those institutions and to all whose students were selected as fellows this year! A full list of Summer Fellows can be found below.
Since 2010, over 2,000 students have participated in a Hertog Fellowship. An educational not-for-profit, the Hertog Foundation sponsors several highly competitive and selective educational programs for outstanding individuals who seek to influence the intellectual, civic, and political life of the United States.
Learn more about our offerings at HertogFoundation.org.
2026 Political Studies Fellows:
32 Political Studies Fellows will spend six weeks this summer studying the theory and practice of politics alongside outstanding peers and master teachers.
| Kensea Aaron, St. Thomas University, 2027 | Nathaniel Maximiano, University of Florida, 2028 |
| Daniel Auffant, U.S. Naval Academy, 2027 | Lucy Meurer, Union University, 2026 |
| Leiden Brueschke, Stanford University, 2028 | William Andrew Penrod, Patrick Henry College, 2026 |
| Ronnier Canizares, University of Florida, 2029 | Anya Popa, Purdue University-West Lafayette, 2028 |
| Zixin (Jason) Cao, Yale University, 2029 | Olin Rose-Bardawil, Tufts University, 2029 |
| Ayushi Chaudhary, Temple University, 2027 | Caroline Rubin, Harvard University, 2027 |
| Seamus Collins, Boston College, 2027 | Christopher Serrao, Washington University in St. Louis, 2029 |
| Madeline Fisher, Dartmouth College, 2027 | Darek Silva, Skidmore College, 2027 |
| Jude Frank, University of Dallas, 2027 | Nadège Sirot, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2028 |
| Samuel Gardner, St. John’s College-Annapolis, 2028 | Bradley Spencer Smart, University of Cambridge, 2026 |
| Jacob Hornstein, University of Austin, 2028 | Pinhas Soloveichik, Yeshiva University, 2028 |
| Sasha Johnson, Princeton University, 2028 | Noah Stifelman, Emory University, 2027 |
| Morgan Kelley, University of Florida, 2027 | Anna Stirton, Hillsdale College, 2027 |
| Paul Kurgan, Cornell University, 2027 | Catherine (Christabelle) Sutter, Columbia University, 2027 |
| Yongjun (Mark) Lee, Yale University, 2028 | Isabella Vennare, Baylor University, 2026 |
| Simonne Lenseigne, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2026 | Stephen Walker, Davidson College, 2026 |
2026 Constitutional Studies Fellows:
20 Constitutional Studies fellows will study key constitutional questions and controversies, led by legal expert Adam J. White.
| Gavin Bannister, U.S. Naval Academy, 2027 | Jorge Plaza, University of St. Thomas – Houston, 2027 |
| Daniel Davidson, Baylor University, 2026 | Mary Ponnuru, Princeton University, 2027 |
| Owen Duffy-Massey, University of Florida, 2028 | Catalina Reichard, University of Florida, 2029 |
| Kathleen Farnan, University of Notre Dame, 2026 | Owen Reid, Georgetown University, 2026 |
| Blake Fox, Wesleyan University, 2026 | Jaden Stewart, Princeton University, 2026 |
| Alexander Kagan, Washington & Lee University, 2027 | Logan Tantibanchachai, First Liberty Institute |
| Michael Lau, Brown University, 2027 | Claire Thornhill, Columbia University, 2027 |
| Henry Liu, Yale University, 2028 | Valentina Veynberg, Arizona State University-Tempe, 2028 |
| Don Trey Murnane III, Catholic University of America, 2027 | Abigail Wagner, Advancing American Freedom |
| Britt Nordquist, Stanford University, 2028 | Veronica Witkowski, CUNY-Hunter College, 2026 |
2026 Security Studies Fellows:
16 Security Studies Fellows will spend five weeks this summer studying the most pressing threats to American national security with practitioner-scholars.
| Amelia Barnum, Harvard University, 2028 | Sharon Esther Knafelman, University of California- Berkeley, 2026 |
| Marshall Cooperman, Georgetown University, 2027 | Jack Magidson, Stanford University, 2029 |
| Lucas De Gamboa, Patomak Global Partners | Isabella Meyer, Stanford University, 2028 |
| Rachel Friedman, Emory University, 2025 | Jacob Neplokh, University of Chicago, 2027 |
| Madeline Fyock, University of South Carolina-Columbia, 2026 | Ella Oursler, University of Florida, 2027 |
| David Glick, Carnegie Mellon University, 2027 | Danielle Schmitz, University of Denver, 2025 |
| Chad Mike Greenway, Jr., Harvard University, 2026 | Hunter Swanzy, Yale University, 2027 |
| Jordan Kiss, U.K. Parliament | Maile Zeng, Yale University, 2029 |
2026 War Studies Fellows:
20 War Studies fellows will spend two weeks studying the theory, practice, organization, and control of war and military forces with national security leaders and senior military officers.
| Elizabeth Adams, Furman University, 2027 | Avery Mack, Duke University, 2028 |
| Alexander Aznavoorian, American University, 2027 | Ansley Marsh, Duke University, 2027 |
| Spencer Bennett, Brigham Young University – Provo, 2028 | Aniket Martins, Cornell University, 2027 |
| Ashley Dowdney, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, 2026 | Lisa Nagel, University College Maastricht, 2026 |
| Sabrina Farley-Allen, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2027 | Martine Panner, Columbia University – Tel Aviv University, 2028 |
| Leighton Farrel, Georgetown University, 2026 | Tom Scheer, University of Amsterdam, 2028 |
| Eleanor Greyson, Stanford University, 2026 | Sophia Segura, Macalester College, 2027 |
| Mariia Hnatiuk, Harvard University, 2027 | Kateryna Shymkiv, Tufts University, 2026 |
| Jordan Lac, Brown University, 2027 | Neil Thorley, Georgetown University, 2027 |
| Shinwoo (David) Lee, Rice University, 2026 | Kaelan Yim, University of California – Berkeley, 2028 |