Jack Bayanmunkh ’26 and Lisa Shen ’23 have been selected as members of the 11th class of Schwarzman Scholars, one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowships. 

Schwarzman Scholars is a highly selective, one-year, fully funded master’s program in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Founded to address the complex geopolitical challenges of the 21st century, the fellowship brings together emerging leaders from around the world for academic study, leadership development, and cross-cultural exchange.

Bayanmunkh and Shen were chosen from a record pool of more than 5,800 applicants, and are among 150 scholars representing 40 countries who will pursue advanced study in Beijing while joining a growing global network of leaders across government, business, and civil society.

The opportunity represents a convergence of their long-standing intellectual interests, ethical commitments shaped at Swarthmore, and ambitious plans to translate global learning into local and international impact.

Bayanmunkh, a political science and economics major from Mongolia, is a social entrepreneur and policy advocate focused on expanding access to global education for Mongolian youth. He co-founded Gobi Scholars NGO and Academy, which helps students earn scholarships to top universities and builds bridges between Mongolia and global education systems. 

“My academic interest lies in the political economy of my home country, Mongolia, a developing nation situated between Russia and China,” says Bayanmunkh. “To better understand Mongolia’s future trajectory, I wanted to study China directly, particularly its economic policies toward developing countries.

“I was drawn to this opportunity because it offered not only rigorous academic training, but also the chance to experience China firsthand,” he says. “Schwarzman Scholars stood out as the only program that fully aligned with my goals.”

At Tsinghua University, Bayanmunkh will deepen his understanding of regional development and infrastructure policy.

“I’m excited to delve into China's Belt and Road Initiatives and China and Mongolia's ongoing projects within the project scope,” he says. “Also, I am planning to master the Chinese language and be able to use it in my career.”

Shen brings a different but complementary set of experiences to the Schwarzman cohort. A clinical scientist and managing director at The Counsly Group, she works at the intersection of mental health, education, and social mobility, seeking to expand access for communities facing socioeconomic barriers and substance-use challenges. 

Shen majored in psychology and political science at Swarthmore and later directed operations for a $5.5 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) study at the University of Rhode Island, developing mobile health interventions for individuals with PTSD and opioid use disorder.

“Schwarzman Scholars appealed to me as a rare opportunity to unite my scientific expertise with my entrepreneurial spirit, blending academic rigor with industry agility to translate research into scalable digital mental health technologies that reach underserved communities,” Shen says. “In an increasingly interconnected world, science must not only transcend borders, but also break barriers of access to move as fast as the crises it seeks to solve.”

Shen plans to study how China’s “triple helix” model of university–industry–government collaboration accelerates innovation.

“The mental health crisis is not confined to the U.S.; it’s a global pandemic,” she says. “My goal for my master’s studies is to advance mental health equity not only in the U.S., but also in China. I look to China’s model as a blueprint for efficiently translating health research into real-world solutions. I’m committed to moving health care innovation from discovery to delivery — from lab to life.”

Both of the scholars credit Swarthmore with helping to shape their sense of responsibility and purpose. They follow in the footsteps of previous Schwarzman Scholars Will Li '24 and, from the inaugural cohort, Jason Heo '15.