Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship
(back)

Press Announcement
(See also: Dartmouth's Press Release)
(Click on Picture to Enlarge)

The Bermuda Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee is please to announce that Mr Tucker Murphy has been selected as Bermuda's Rhodes Scholar for 2005.

Tucker Murphy attended Saltus Grammar School in Bermuda until 1995 and then moved to St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, USA. He graduated from St. Paul's magna cum laude with distinction in humanities, mathematics and science.

Tucker spent a year working in Argentina before going on to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, graduating in June 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology modified with Anthropology, magna cum laude. While at Dartmouth he excelled in a number of disciplines and among other honours received academic citations for distinguished work in Spanish literature, architecture, biology and anthropology.

Tucker is a keen athlete. In addition to running in local races, he has competed in rowing and cross-country skiing. He rowed for the varsity at St. Paul's and was stroke of the freshman heavyweight crew at Dartmouth. He also captained the St. Paul's School Cross-Country Ski Team and as a member of Dartmouth's Cross-Country Ski Team he competed in the US and Argentine National Championships.

Tucker has spent some of his spare time working to bring scientific ideas to a broad public audience. He served as a writer and Associate Editor of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, worked as the "Crittercam Intern" at the National Geographic Society and volunteered at Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vermont.

Since graduation in June 2004, Murphy has completed a studio-based architecture course with Harvard Design School's Career Discovery Program and a Wilderness EMT course in Conway, New Hampshire.

Tucker has been accepted to Merton College, Oxford to read for a MSc in Biology (Integrative Science) in the Department of Zoology.

Please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned should you want any further information.
 

John C.R. Collis
Clarendon House, Church Street
Hamilton HM11, Bermuda
Tel: 441 299 4910 & Fax: 441 292 9337
Email: johncollis@jexec.bm
www.rhodes.bm

Dartmouth College - Press Release
 (Top)

Tucker Murphy, a 2004 Dartmouth graduate, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for Bermuda. He hopes to study for a master of science degree in integrative bioscience at Oxford University in England.

Murphy grew up snorkeling and collecting shells in Bermuda, and this, he says, focused his interests in evolutionary biology. While working on another island - Tierra del Fuego - between high school and college, he read Darwin's journals and explored beaches that contained artifacts of the Fuegian Indians. He arrived at Dartmouth committed to studying biology and anthropology.

"I was lucky at Dartmouth to encounter a number of passionate professors and coaches who encouraged independence" Murphy said. "They presented education and athletics as much more than just the pursuit of a grade or a race result, and as a chance to force the limits of your imagination and your will. I'm happy for the opportunity the Rhodes will allow me to continue this effort."

At Dartmouth, Murphy studied the research of noted evolutionary biologists Stephen Jay Gould and E.O. Wilson and received the anthropology department's McKennan prize for his freshman paper on Gould's theory of neoteny. Murphy also worked to bring scientific ideas to a broader audience. In this pursuit, he served as writer and associate editor of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, he contributed to grant proposals in children's education as the "Crittercam Intern" at the National Geographic Society, and he volunteered at Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, Vt.

His interests spanned several disciplines at Dartmouth, and he received academic citations for distinguished work in Spanish literature and architecture as well as biology and anthropology. He participated on both the heavyweight crew team and the cross country ski team. More recently, Murphy completed a studio-based architecture course with Harvard Design School's Career Discovery Program.

At Oxford, Murphy plans to combine his interests in biology and design in the field of biomimetics, which adapts naturally evolved structures, materials and surfaces for use by humans. According to Murphy, this design philosophy is gaining in popularity, particularly in England, as architects and biologists alike look to nature, not only for inspiration but also for efficient and economical solutions to design challenges.

The Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes. Criteria for selection includes high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership and physical vigor.  (Top)