Two Yale students named Obama Voyager scholars
Two Yale College students — Ethan Chiu and August Rios — are among 100 college juniors nationwide to be named 2024-26 Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholars. The scholarship program, established by the Obama Foundation and Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, supports college students who plan a career in public service.
The award offers up to $50,000 in financial aid and a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to pursue work-travel experiences during the summer between the recipient’s junior and senior year of college. Students design their own “summer voyage” that allows them to explore new communities and experiences in a chosen field. Scholars also have access to a network of Obama Foundation leaders and mentors.
The new cohort of Voyager Scholars includes students from 35 states and territories, representing 60 colleges and universities across the United States.
Ethan Chiu, a global affairs and history major from Jericho, New York, is interested in foreign policy and emerging technologies. He is currently an intern with the AI and Emerging Technology Initiative at The Brookings Institution, and he has also held internships at the U.S. Department of Defense, the American Enterprise Institute, and the American Red Cross.
At Yale, Chiu is the co-president of the Alexander Hamilton Society, a co-organizer for the Geopolitics of Technology Initiative, former president and co-founder of the Yale Foreign Policy Initiative, and a former executive board member of the Yale College Council. He is also a student fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, a director’s fellow at the Digital Ethics Center, and was a 2023-24 Kerry Fellow.
August Rios, a sociology major from Bluffton, South Carolina, is exploring solutions to the nation’s affordable housing crisis at the nexus of public policy, law, and data science. He has held internships at in the Right-to-Counsel Unit at Legal Services NYC and for the City of New Haven’s Fair Rent Commission; served as a data collector at the United Way of Connecticut; and was a Yale Undergraduate Legal Aid Association (YULAA) project lead at Statewide Legal Services.
At Yale, he is the co-director of Dwight Hall’s Urban Fellows program, which exposes undergraduates to urban challenges and solutions. He is also the co-founder and president of the Yale Student Association for Small Claims Assistance, the co-director of the Resource Access Mapping Project, and an Institution for Social and Policy Studies Domestic Policy Fellow.
Members of the 2023-2025 cohort of Obama-Chesky Voyagers, who recently completed their summer experiences, explored 63 countries and 23 U.S. states and territories. The new class will have multiple opportunities to connect with past cohorts, sharing insights, and building relationships.
