Six outstanding Harvard seniors from the Class of 2025 with concentrations in Neuroscience, CPB, or MCB have been selected for membership in Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), the oldest academic honor society in the United States. These students have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and a commitment to intellectual breadth and rigor across disciplines.
The 2024 PBK inductees are:
Ariel Wang (Neuroscience and Economics dual major). “I will be joining Morgan Stanley as an investment banking analyst right after graduation and am hoping to go to law school after that.”
Peggy Yin (Neuroscience, with a focus on Computational Neuroscience and Art and Architecture). Her plans include graduate studies in psychology and human-AI interaction! “My work will center around building, studying, and designing interactive psychological systems that help people feel safe, seen, and supported on their paths toward flourishing,” she says. “I’m particularly interested in augmenting our autonoetic consciousness to improve our sense of wisdom, wonder, and wellbeing.”
Fahim Ahmed (Neuroscience and Chemistry dual major). “I’m planning a Masters in Education to pursue teaching chemistry at the high school level,” he says. “I also hope to continue being involved in musical theatre, potentially at a more professional level, pursuing music directing professionally.”
Dicle Ezgi Ekinci (Molecular and Cellular Biology, MCB). “After graduation, I plan to pursue a PhD in Cancer Biology and Therapeutics. To that end, I have applied to programs in cancer biology and chemical biology, with the hope of working on therapeutic design,” she says. “This field excites me because of its potential to improve lives.”
Elizabeth (Ellie) Griffin (Molecular and Cellular Biology, MCB). Her plan after graduation is to attend medical school.
Ibrahim Alkuraya (Chemical and Physical Biology, CPB), who will be attending graduate school for chemistry in the fall.
These six students are among 48 Harvard seniors from the Class of 2025 selected for Phi Beta Kappa membership.
Ryan Draft, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies for Neuroscience, praised the interdisciplinary achievements of Wang, Yin, and Ahmed: “Ariel, Peggy, and Fahim are extraordinary students, who are all combining their studies in Neuroscience with other areas. For Ariel, that meant completing a dual major with Economics (including an Economics thesis). For Peggy, that has led to combining Computational Neuroscience and Art and Architecture, and for Fahim, completing a dual major with Chemistry (along with a bunch of classes in the Arts). They have all shown a tremendous interest and talent inside the life sciences and in other, very different domains.”
Dominic Mao, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies for CPB and MCB, highlighted the high standards of the inductees, noting “Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa website states its members have taken coursework that ‘demonstrates not only high achievement, but also breadth of interest, depth of understanding, and intellectual honesty. The transcript of each PBK electee shows both depth and breadth without compromising rigor and excellence.”
Mao adds that Alkuraya and Ekinci have both thrived in Christina Woo’s lab (where they are completing a senior thesis). “Looking at their STEM courses, it is evident that they have carved out their own “track” in chemistry and chemical biology within our concentrations,” he says. “And Ellie Griffin is double concentrating in MCB and Astrophysics, leading to an eclectic and interesting collection of STEM courses.” To top it off, she has also taken courses in English, History of Art and Architecture, Advanced Spanish, and more.
A hearty congratulations to all Phi Beta Kappa electees!
